I have a reputation in my family of observing people and giving good, possibly unexpected gifts—cuddly Uniqlo fleece jackets and socks for my parents’ first winter up north in years, a blank book from Liberty on our trip to London just as Mom’s guest book was running out of pages, nice mixing bowls and some cookie cutters for the niece who’s living off campus for the first time, and who loves to bake—their responses told me I’d chosen well.

But my parents are attempting to pare down for the final time, my siblings have plenty of stuff, and shipping things across the ocean is expensive. I’m thinking about giving “experiences” or symbolic things, and looking for ideas.

There is an exhibit in town that I think my mom would find really interesting—75 years since the Meeting at Potsdam in Cecilienhof, ending WWII. It has an app to guide you through the rooms. I’ve asked a sister to quietly install it on Mom’s phone, and will arrange with Mom a time when she has a few hours free. The surprise will be that I’m at the exhibit, ready to Videochat (need to make sure this is allowed) as she tells me which rooms to go into and what to focus on. (There is also a book, but she says it’s too scholarly).

What non-tangible gifts have you given or received? Did they go over well?