Take 2 bottles of a nice Chianti one for the hostess and another for your uncle....
Linda C

When my dad turned 90, we all tried to outdo each other with funny silly cards, but there were no gifts. Is there a charity that he really loves? Maybe a school or church? Make a donation in his name.

If the people in the family can work together, a great group gift is a electronic picture frame, if everyone can contribute pictures.

Give him a 20-year subscription to a magazine. :-)

dcarch

A lightweight, large handheld magnifying glass to help when reading.

I know from experience that it's a welcome gift for folks that age!

SharonCb

How a little basket of goodies with candy, cookies and a dvd to watch?

This may or may not sound like something your family would want to do. When my MIL turned 80, we had everyone who came to the party write a letter or card with a memory of a good time. If anyone had a picture or photograph, even better. We did the same for my parents 60th anniversary. That seemed to be the most cherished gift of all, as it was positive proof from friends and family that could be read and enjoyed, over and over. Put those in a pretty box or scrapbook. For someone that age, the gift of taking a little time to preserve a moment in their life is a valuable thing.

For my mom's 90th, I had a bunch of aprons made that were printed with things that she says, one with a recipe for her famous whiskey sours, one with everything she serves for Thanksgiving, etc.

Here's a picture of us modeling the aprons.

I ordered them from Cool Aprons and they were very inexpensive. We had a lot of fun with them and she got a laugh out of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: cool aprons

I would give something really indulgent, decadent, and consumable that he probably wouldn't buy for himself but you know he would really enjoy. A bottle of some special wine or liquor, some fine cigars...

Just chiming in to say I LOVE claire_de_luna's idea. It nearly brought tears to my eyes thinking of what it would be like to receive a scrapbook or decorative box filled with letters from friends and relatives talking about good times we'd shared.

If Uncle Fred likes to eat out, a gift certificate is good. Used to work for my DFIL (he's 92). We've bought him a book of Wendy's certificates, card for Bob Evans or Big Boy, and certificates for Hotdog Heaven. Those things he loves better than the restaurant gift cards we get my parents (in their 70s). He's in assisted living now (and in a different state than we are) so we've sent him cookie bouquets the last couple of years. He loves them. We've found he appreciates consumable best!

Does Uncle Fred drink? At 90, bring him a bottle of wine or his favorite tipple.

Have fun at the reunion!

Fearlessem, My parents said it was the high point of their lives, and my MIL talked about it for MONTHS. It took some advance planning for one party, as we sent (with the invitation) a self-addressed, stamped envelope with a deadline, for people to send in their contributions early so we could arrange everything into a scrapbook. At the other party, we had an open box for everyone to drop their ''gifts'' into which made it easy, and the ''unwrapping'' of each memento was savored.

There's very little people that age need or want any longer. Nobody writes letters any more, and if you think about it...that's a generation of people who used to write and receive letters regularly. Bringing back an ''old-fashioned'' custom seemed like a true measure of respect, when I think of how people used to hope/look for a letter from the mail carrier. Most people I know would treasure a letter so personalized. It's truly about the gift of time, in more ways than one.

I'm no help at all, my mother has a zillion pictures and she keeps giving me copies and I stick them in drawers....

Elery's Dad only wants McDonald's gift certificates, he and his wife go there nearly every morning for coffee with their friends, he swears they have the best coffee. He's 87, BTW, and he does like it when I make homemade bread and homemade jam to go with the certificates.

I'm horrible about gifts, I decide and then change my mind and obsess and fret about whether they'll like it and end up buying something stupid and then thinking I should have done something else. Gift certificates are really good when I'm buying gifts!

Annie

The party was a huge success!!

Uncle Freddy had NO idea!
I ended up getting him a cute mug...it was a peanuts mug with Charlie Brown. I filled it with candy and also gave him a card with money.

Funny story~~~I go to get my hair done on Friday. There is a card store next door so I pop in to get a really nice card for Fred. I was just so happy to be out of the house I browsed around a bit.
At the counter the lady started to ring me up and comments about the 90yr old card...how wonderful to reach 90 yadda yadda yadda.
She asks for my loyalty card and I did not have it so she looks up my phone number and no luck so she asks for my name and I always spell it instead of saying it...she stops and asks if I have family in the area.
I say yes.
She asks if I am related to Fred Fardone...to which I respond "the card is for his dad"!!
Here the lady at the store is good pals with uncle Freddy's son and she knew all about the planned party at the beach ect....small world huh??

Frank and I lived in Philly for 22 years and really were the only Fardones...I move to NJ and I am surrounded by them!!
I would put a head count at prob 60-70 people at the party...a great big friendly bunch. I felt right at home!

I will post pics to FB later today or tomorrow.

Cheers!
Susie