present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

So, this is sort of a hard weekend / week coming up for me. Since my parents were unable to sell their home on LI this year, they are renting it out for a year and moving to their house down in NC. This is the house I grew up in, the only "home" I ever knew. My parents bought it 5 years before I was born and it was always home.

I'm very close with my parents and it's hard to see them move... even though I know I will be moving OOS in the next couple years, it is so strange to not have my family on LI anymore. My two cousins are still here, but that's it. My brothers, aunts/uncles, and now my parents are moving away. I think it was harder on me because my mom kept giving me things as she was packing - my great aunt's silver tea set, my grandmother's china dessert set, etc. I'm honored to have it, but it felt so... final to get it.

This is also really hard for my mom. She is having a hard time with the move.

ANYWAY...

I wanted to give them something sentimental before they go away, but have no idea what. My mom is NOT a "collector" of any sort. She's not into stuff that sits around collecting dust, but she appreciates sentimental things. It's not really a housewarming gift, as they have had this house in NC for several years. They are downsizing, too, so I don't want to give them something they don't have room for.

Part of me was thinking to skip the sentimental stuff and get them practical things to use down there -- GC to the spa for mom and golf lessons for dad. (They belong to the golf club.) But I'd rather do that for Christmas and get them something more meaningful now.

Any ideas?

ETA -- something having to do with LI or NY would be great. Maybe a basket with "NY" things you wouldn't find in the south so easily? Any ideas? I've lived in NC and NY, and there were always NY things I missed. Maybe a basket so they can "take NY with them"

I wish I had thought of this earlier b/c I would have taken the old photo albums and scanned the pictures of memories we've made in the house. Then I could have made a photo book for them. Maybe I will enlist my dad to help me with that so I can do it for them for Christmas...

Message edited 11/20/2009 11:36:37 AM.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Do you have time to round up your parents and your siblings and have your picture taken in front of the house?

I think it would be a nice reminder of what came from the house and how it held a warm loving family.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Unfortunately, no. That is a really good idea, though. My siblings both live OOS, in two different states. We'll all be together in MD for Christmas, but we won't see each other before then.

We will definitely have to do that before the house is sold, though. Since it's not sold, we can do a family photo in the future. Thanks for the idea!

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

I like the NY basket idea...

Do you have any pictures from growing up in different parts of the house?

Like mom cooking in the kitchen, the christmas tree set up in the living room, kids playing in the bedrooms, etc... that you can maybe put all together in a digital photo frame or regular frame? That might be nice.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Does your mom cook? Maybe a NY Cookbook?
Some NY christmas ornaments?

A basket of bagels?

A sign that says, HOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS.
or HOME IS WHERE YOUR MOTHER IS
something along those lines

Maybe do a scrapbook of some house pictures, favorite memories.

Go to the beach and get a little sand, put it in a small vial or plastic bag/jewelery bag.

Copy of the newspaper the day she moves

are we getting close? can you tell us more about mom/dad and how much you wanted to spend?

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Personalcreations.com has a really cool gift idea. It's a picture of the house on an ornamanet or framed. I love this idea.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

How about a drawing of the house?

We lived in MI for a few years and my DD, although she is young, was born there. Our realtor's wife (who is an amazing artist) gave us a black and white sketch of the house (its some time of pen drawing - I do not know what the technique is called).

Anyway we have it framed in our house and it is a nice memor for us and for our DD to know where she was born.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

I know someone who had their house key from their childhood home dipped in gold and put it on a chain for their mom.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

So many great ideas, thanks! I think I may need to save a lot of this for Christmas, though, since they will take time to get. (My parents leave Wednesday.) I absolutely LOVE the hand painted ornaments and am definitely going to get one for my parents! They are beautiful!

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

My DHs aunt and also his sister commissioned someone to paint a picture of their home...

I believe it's a watercolor - it's framed. They came out really beautiful.

Maybe you can have an artist paint a picture of their NY home? To hang in their NC home?

I can find out the artist that DHs aunt and sister used if you like.

Again - this might have to be a Christmas present conisdering you only have a week.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

I don't know where you are on LI, but if you have time to go into Huntington tonight, go over to Book Revue on NY Ave (just North of 25A). They have on hand matted prints of Ralph Pugliese photos. He's a fantastic LI/NYC photographer who does landscapes and recognizable landmarks. They have them in different sizes so you could get one large one or a few small ones. You could likely find a frame for the larger pieces at Michaels or AC Moore too.

Good luck. I can only imagine how hard this weekend will be for you.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

Posted by Cpt2007



Good luck. I can only imagine how hard this weekend will be for you.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

I love the idea of a drawing or a painting of the house. That would be very special.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

In a basket, how about a couple of bottles of LI wine, baseball caps of their favorite NY teams, maybe some home decor with lighthouses on it?

I'm not sure where you live, but in Babylon, Bay Shore and Sayville there are nice decor stores where you might get a sign with their town name on it.

Re: present for my parents, who are moving OOS?

are there bulbs or other perinennial plants at the old house? you could dig some up and wrap them for your Mom to plant in NC. its still warm enough there to plant bulbs.

I love so many of the other ideas too!

I hope you get through the weekend ok