Welcome to our official guide for great ideas for older parents and grandparents! Les (Jess’ dad) is, of course, here to give you his thoughtful and cool ideas, but we also included some great ideas for moms and grandmas. So please enjoy and don’t forget to check out even more ideas on our shop page🙂
For The Men (From Les)
Well, it’s that time of year again. The holidays are once again upon us. As wonderful as this time of year is, it can also be daunting. Hopefully, my gift guides can relieve some of the pressure. Lately, I’ve been noticing all of these cute items for baby girls. You pick up one outfit and almost immediately find another even cuter. I buy that one and then stumble upon another. Geez, I never once imagined the effect that a granddaughter would have on me. Mr.Tough guy is now the softest one on earth. Yikes! Give me strength.
Anyway, let’s see if I can remember some of the cool stuff I came across this past year. I have to start by going through my belongings. When I see something unique, I usually buy it. Ha.
When I was living in NYC, I ran across a guy who restored vintage radios and installed Bluetooth in them. I bought one and have been totally happy with it. It’s nice to listen to my music on a vintage piece. I wondered if any retailers sold anything similar. Well, Crosley has exactly that. Well, not quite exactly. It’s a new retro radio. It’s beautiful and sounds great. (I bought one for my cabin.)
Something else I bought for my cabin was a vintage cuckoo clock. I remember one in my grandma’s house. It not only makes me feel good, but I can tell what time it is without looking at the clock. Just count the cuckoos. Ha, who knew? (Grandma never informed me). They are easily found online. Most clock repair shops have a few. Make sure it has a silencing lever so as not to keep you awake. I leave it on so I know when to get the hell out of bed.
Every once in a while, I’ll stumble into a shop that seems to carry a different kind of product than run-of-the-mill gift shops. One such shop exists in Healdsburg, CA. called Forager. I walked in because of a Giardino natural tablecloth with a fantastic grapevine pattern. It wasn’t inexpensive, but I just couldn’t resist. It will be perfect in my outdoor kitchen when I am feeding the masses. (I do that sometimes.) It’s always easier for me to cook for others than for myself. Plus, I then have someone to talk to. Ha!
This tablecloth will enhance our already beautiful tablescape.
At that store, I also picked up a graphite pencil in the shape of an old writing quill. It’s just beautiful sitting on my desk. I have always preferred pencils to pens. It’s probably because I make a lot of mistakes. The pencil is titled Graphite Object by Battle Studio. I went on their website, and they have many more designs. It is probably not worth the money except that it is just damn cool. I like being damn cool.
In my travels, I was behind a Ford Bronco like my own, but when he hit the brakes, a large circular brake light lit up behind his spare tire. Wow, again kinda cool. So I went online and found one. It was very affordable, and it was plug-and-play. It was installed in about ten minutes. Easy peasy!
Another thing for my vehicle that my son turned me on to was a car antenna that is in the shape of a large caliber gun shell. Now I am not a gun guy, but again kinda cool for a red-blooded American man. I can hear Jess rolling her eyes as I type, ha. Plus, you don’t have to worry about it in a car wash. It’s only about 4 inches high. So it’s not a statement, it’s just slick.
With all the work I do around here, I make a lot of sawdust. It’s a mess! I’ve had all sorts of shop vacs to clean up. They’re great, but usually have a filter to clean when you empty them. Eventually, the filter has to be replaced. Well, I discovered the Shark Messmaster. There is no filter to clean or replace. Everything goes into a built-in container that you just lift out and empty like the trash. Piece of cake. You can put a plastic trash bag in it so you never have to clean it, just throw the bag away, yeah, impressive. Love making my life easier.
I have a few apple trees on my property, and all of a sudden, they decided to produce. Yikes, what am I gonna do with apples? I can only bake so many pies. I have a bow and arrow, but my kids refuse to put an apple on their head for their William Tell father. Then I thought of apple sauce. I can give it to my neighbors for the holidays. Yay! So I needed an apple peeler corer. Found one at Williams-Sonoma. Seeing as I live in Sonoma, how could I pass it up? Worked great and am on my second batch. I’m gonna need more neighbors.
As long as I’m in the kitchen, let me tell you about my new knife honer. Steelport is a knife company in Portland, Oregon. I know they are passionate about their knives. My metal knife honer seems to have disappeared. Funny, so have my car keys. I should’ve shaken down the grandkids before they left the premises after Thanksgiving. Anyway, in my search for a new honer, I wandered into a beautiful wooden handled ceramic honer from Steelport. I have never seen a ceramic one. It is so beautiful, I don’t even care if it works or not. I know Steelport knives and cannot imagine it won’t. BTW, their knives are extraordinary too.
This time of year, I start looking for calendars, so I know where and when I’m gonna be next year. There are all sorts of cool ones out there. I’m a Chicago native, and I found one called the Brick of Chicago. It pictures different brick buildings throughout the city. All of which I am familiar with. It’s a desktop one, so I will also buy a wall calendar with big numbers. Ha. Whatever your guy, dad, or husband is into, I am sure a calendar exists for that.
I have a tendency to always have a toothpick in my pocket. I guess I got into the habit when I was a teenager, thinking I was a badass dude. Anyway, I found a silver toothpick box to keep on my table. It looks great and keeps my badass toothpicks close at hand. I love it.
Lately, I’ve been craving malted milk shakes (oh oh, reverting to my youth again). So, of course, I bought a single-stem mixer. I found a vintage one on Etsy. Most evenings, I will have a strawberry malt for my after-dinner drink. I remember my father and I walking to Kainz Dairy in Chicago when I was a kid. He would get a banana malt, and I would get a strawberry one. Seems like yesterday. My nightly routine has become one of my small pleasures in life. I need all of those that I can get. It takes a little practice to get the malt perfect, but once you’ve got it, it’s like riding a bike. You never forget.
As you guys know, I travel the planet extensively. I have found that European men seem to dress much less casually than American men. I like that. The holiday season is when I can get away with dressing up whenever I leave the house. I don’t mean a suit, but a nice shirt or a nice T-shirt and a sport coat do wonders for my mental state. When it gets a little chilly up here, I will even break out the fedora. I may not be GQ material, but I can fake it pretty well, ha! It’s amazing what a nicely starched white cotton dress shirt can do for one’s appearance. When buying a white dress shirt, just put your hand inside of it and see if you can see your hand through it. If you can, the cotton fabric is not quality enough. You don’t want to be able to see your hand through it. Anyway, that’s my system. It seems to work. I always find the