10 Caring Gifts for People With Dementia

Choosing a gift for someone with dementia can feel surprisingly hard. 

You want it to mean something, bring comfort, or give a sense of familiarity. But, so many well-meant gifts end up tucked away in a drawer, quietly forgotten.

Caregivers often pick gifts based on what they’d enjoy or what they think their loved one needs. But dementia changes how someone experiences the world. A decorative item or even a gadget that feels “thoughtful” may now feel overwhelming, impractical, or frustrating.

For many caregivers, the worry isn’t just what to give, but how it will be received. Will it bring a spark of joy? Or will it quietly remind them and you of how much everything has changed?

The good news is that with a little thought, the right dementia gifts can bring comfort and help seniors feel more like themselves. In this guide, we’ll show you how to choose these presents by keeping your loved one’s dignity at the heart of it all.

Before you start shopping, it’s important to think about what truly makes a gift meaningful for someone with dementia. Here are the key principles to help you pick something appropriate:

According to the IDEAL Programme study, based on a UK cohort of 1,547 people living with mild–moderate dementia, 30.1% reported moderate loneliness and 5.2% severe loneliness. To counter this feeling, JubileeTV brings caregivers and their elderly parents closer. It does this by supporting seamless video calling for dementia and bringing familiar faces to the TV screen, making dementia patients feel cared for.

Caregivers can also troubleshoot the TV remotely, eliminating frustration when patients can’t remember how to switch inputs or turn on a channel. JubileeTV is best for mild to moderate stages of dementia when the person can still follow familiar TV shows and benefit from reminders.

Lap blankets are compact, seated-weight blankets that rest across the thighs, providing gentle pressure to help people with dementia settle during meals, visits, TV, or travel.

One popular brand in this space is the Protac KneedMe, a sensory-stimulating knee (lap) blanket. It’s filled with movable EVA plastic balls that deliver deep, dynamic touch-pressure and gentle resistance to stimulate the tactile and proprioceptive systems to support body awareness and calm.

The blanket has a non-slip back, an outer hand pocket (with an inner clip for a fidget), and comes in two weights (≈3.2 kg and 4 kg). 

The blanket's deep pressure stimulation helps by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing anxiety, and improving emotional regulation. This is helpful for dementia care, given that 40-76% of patients experience agitation and aggressive behaviors.

This is best for all stages of dementia as it adds warmth and steady pressure to support focus during TV, crafts, and meals, but doesn’t require them to follow any complicated instructions.

Familiar photos and simple contact hit two proven levers in dementia care: reminiscence and social connection. A systematic review found reminiscence therapy using prompts like photos and videos improved cognition, mood, communication, and quality of life for people with dementia. There are plenty of good options, but for dementia patients, we recommend digital frames that families can run from afar and that don’t require seniors to press buttons.

ViewClix is a senior-friendly digital photo frame that families manage remotely. You can push new photos from your phone, drop in through video calls, and even run small group calls. 

Dementia research links social health, everyday connection, proximity, and feeling included to better functioning over the course of the disease. ViewClix operationalizes this at home by keeping beloved faces on display, letting relatives add new images, and allowing you to call without the dementia patient intervention.  This gift is best suited for all stages of the condition, because it supports daily reminiscence and spontaneous contact.

Unlike conventional music players with complex interfaces, the Simple Music Player (SMPL) device only requires seniors to do one thing: lift the lid to start the music, close it to stop playback. The retro-inspired design intentionally resembles vintage radios from the 1940s-1960s, making it immediately recognizable as a music-playing device to seniors.

A 2024 network meta-analysis of 14 randomized trials found that rhythmic and active music therapy improves cognitive functions in people with dementia. The Simple Music Player brings those benefits to life by allowing you to load familiar songs that your loved one can start/stop playing with a single motion. This gift is best for early to mid stages of dementia because it’s easy to use but still requires some adoption.

Games represent one of the most thoughtful and therapeutic dementia gifts. Relish Life offers a comprehensive range of games and puzzles specifically designed for different dementia stages.

The standout products in Relish Life's collection are their stage-appropriate jigsaw puzzles, which range from 13 pieces for advanced dementia to 100 pieces for early-stage patients. All puzzles come with conversation starter cards.

A comprehensive review of serious games for dementia care found that when early-stage and middle-stage patients used memory games, they improved multiple cognitive abilities. These included short-term memory, reaction time, and problem-solving and communication skills.

This dementia gift is best for all stages because it makes them feel like an adult, spark conversation, and are doable without much help.

Water painting activities represent one of the most accessible and therapeutic art forms for individuals with dementia. 

Quokka's Water Painting Dementia Activities stand out as a good choice for families seeking therapeutic art options. This 10-pack kit features nature-themed designs that require only water to reveal vivid tropical vacation scenes. These paintings fade as the sheet dries within 20 minutes, and they can be reused.

Art creation activates multiple brain regions simultaneously, promoting neuroplasticity in areas typically affected by dementia. Studies using neuroimaging show that drawing and painting trigger reorganization of prefrontal white matter with multivariate patterns of cortical and cerebellar activity.

This is particularly significant because these regions are involved in executive function and goal-directed behavior, areas commonly impaired in dementia. This makes art and painting activities best for early to late stages of dementia. 

RecallCue turns a tablet into a large day clock and shared calendar that families manage from their phones. The display shows day, date, time of day, and weather. Plus, caregivers can push reminders, messages, and photos, even start auto-answer “check-in” video calls, so the dementia patient doesn’t have to tap anything.

People with dementia often experience sundowning, i.e. feeling extremely confused, anxious, or agitated when the sun goes down. Most of them go through psychomotor disturbances, which include agitation and restlessness, as well as cognitive disturbances, like confusion and disorientation.

Dementia technology like RecallCue addresses these challenges by providing consistent temporal anchoring that reduces anxiety and repetitive questioning. This is best for all stages of dementia; in early to mid stages, the large day/date/time display promotes independence and cuts “What day is today?” loops. In later stages, caregivers can run everything remotely, such as schedule reminders, leave photo notes, and auto-answer check-ins to keep a routine and connection to the outer world.

The therapeutic value of memory books stem from their ability to provide external memory support when their internal recall systems fail. A study found that reminiscence therapy using memory books significantly improved the quality of life of dementia patients in 89% of analyzed seniors.

Memory books are best for early to moderate stages when the person can still recognize faces and read simple labels. 

Silverts makes adaptive pajamas designed for older adults and caregivers. Options include open-back nightgowns and two-piece sleepwear with easy fasteners, soft and stretch fabrics, and cuts for assisted dressing or self-dressing.

The open-back nightgown design allows caregivers to dress patients without the stress of lifting arms overhead or navigating complex closures, making the experience more enjoyable.

Clothing-related agitation represents a significant challenge in dementia care. Sensory under or overstimulation is hypothesized to be one of the main causes of agitation episodes in dementia patients. A study found that environmental and tactile stimuli, including inappropriate clothing textures, can trigger behavioral disturbances that increase caregiver burden and reduce quality of life.

This makes this gift appropriate for all stages of dementia. You can choose self-dressing pajamas early on; transition to assisted-dressing or open-back styles as sequencing or mobility becomes harder. 

Asking individuals with dementia what they want represents person-centered care that honors their remaining autonomy and preferences. Instead of guessing, ask your loved one what they’d enjoy and decide together. You surface their preferences (food, music, an outing, a comfy sweater, or a photo book) and shape the gift around who they are today. 

Involving those with dementia in small, everyday choices supports identity, autonomy, and social health. An international study by Frontiers in Psychiatry identified everyday autonomy, such as“making one’s own choices,” is a key social health marker for dementia patients. In plain terms: participating in small decisions helps people feel more like themselves and more connected.

This idea works for all dementia stages, as you can adjust the gift to their abilities. In the early to mid stages, many people can state clear preferences. Ask open questions and browse options together. In mid to late stages, shift to supported choice. Give two simple options, pictures, or touch-and-feel materials, so the person can make the decision.

The right gift for someone with dementia meets them exactly where they are, while honoring who they've always been. Based on what we’ve shared, these are our top recommendations according to the stage of dementia and end goal:

If you had to choose just one gift to keep your loved one engaged, connected to family, and more independent, choose JubileeTV.It lets you drop in with video calls straight to their TV so you can stay in touch and send automated reminders. Plus, JubileeTV gives you full control of your elderly family member’s TV so you can change channels, troubleshoot problems, or raise the volume for them from wherever you are.