70th Birthday Gift Ideas for Parents and Grandparents

In many Hong Kong families a 70th birthday is a proper occasion: a banquet at a Chinese restaurant, longevity buns on the table, three generations in one room. Finding a gift to match is harder than it sounds. Most people turning seventy already own what they need and say they want nothing at all. The presents that land best tend to do one of three things: make daily life easier, give them time with the family, or bring back memories. Here are ideas in each of those groups, most of which you can buy or arrange locally.

• What do they do every day? Morning walks, tai chi, mahjong, gardening on the balcony, video calls with grandchildren abroad. A gift that fits a daily routine gets used.

• Do they like gadgets, or avoid them? Be honest. A clever device that sits in its box helps nobody.

• Would they rather have a thing or a day out? Many people at seventy value time with family more than any object.

Technology makes a good gift when it removes a hassle rather than adding one. Set everything up before you hand it over, and show them how it works.

• A tablet with a large screen for video calls, TV dramas and news, with the icons they use most on the home screen.

• A smart speaker that plays Cantonese opera or the radio, sets reminders and answers questions by voice.

• A digital photo frame that relatives can send new photos to from their phones, so a grandparent sees the grandchildren every day.

• Wireless earphones or a TV listening device for anyone who has started turning the volume up.

A memory book is one of the most personal gifts you can give. Gather old photos from siblings and cousins, add a short note from each family member about a favourite moment, and have it printed as a photo book. Include the early years, too: their parents, their first home, their wedding. If the old prints are fragile or stuck in albums, scan them first so the originals stay safe.

For a simpler version, ask every grandchild to write or draw a card, and bind them together with a family photo on the cover.

Gifts that bring the family to the same table are often the ones remembered longest.

• A custom jigsaw puzzle made from an old family photo. Many print shops and online services can make one, and putting it together with the grandchildren is half the gift.

• A good mahjong set or Chinese chess board for the regular weekend game.

• Large-print puzzle books for crosswords, sudoku or word games.

• Gardening kit for a balcony or windowsill: herb pots, a small watering can and good tools.

Look for things they would use daily but would never buy for themselves.

• A health check package at a clinic or hospital, which many families give for milestone birthdays.

• Good walking shoes with proper support, fitted in a shop rather than ordered online.

• A massage cushion or foot massager for tired legs after a day out.

• Fine tea and a new tea set, whether they prefer pu'er, tieguanyin or jasmine.

• A pampering hamper with hand cream, a soft scarf, a warm blanket for air-conditioned rooms and their favourite snacks.

• A family portrait session with a photographer, so every generation is in one picture.

• Yum cha or dinner at a restaurant they loved years ago, if it is still open.

• A short trip back to their hometown or somewhere they have always meant to visit, with the family handling all the planning.

• A harbour cruise or an afternoon tea for a quieter celebration.

Many seventy-year-olds have a cupboard of VHS or camcorder tapes they haven't been able to watch in years: their own wedding, the children's school sports days, Lunar New Year dinners from the 1980s and 90s. The players are long gone, and in Hong Kong's humidity the tapes may be growing mould.

Having those tapes and the old photo albums digitised makes a gift that is hard to beat. You can play a few minutes of old footage on the screen at the birthday banquet, put the photos on a digital frame in their living room, and share everything with relatives overseas who can't come to the party. Start a few weeks ahead so the files are ready in time.

Capture HK digitises photos, albums, slides, negatives, videotapes, cine film and audio. Your files can come back on a Memory Box USB, in Google Photos, or preloaded on The Frame, our digital photo frame (HK$520), which makes a ready-to-give present in itself. See our The Frame page and videotape digitisation, or get an instant estimate with our free quote.