Need Help with Your 80th Birthday Poem and other 80th Birthday Ideas?

An 80th birthday poem - when someone turns 80, it is a special thing for all those who are close to that person. In today’s world, it is not often that people will reach 80 years of age, so this grandma or grandpa has had the grace to be with you all these years.

No doubt, when you are thinking about 80th birthday ideas, you will want to do something for them that is really special. One of the things that you can incorporate, simply because it is so universal that it transcends any age and time, is an 80th birthday poem.

Age Is A Quality Of Mind

If you left your dreams behind,
If hope is lost. If you no longer look ahead,
If your ambitious fires are dead –
Then you are old.
But if from life you take the best
And if in life you keep the jest,
If love you hold –
No matter how the years go by,
No matter how the birthdays fly,
You are not old! In another 80 year

The 2 things that you want to think about most as you go about coming up with birthday verses are how appropriate it is and the presentation. Let’s talk a little about “appropriate”. You want to get a poem that makes the birthday person feel really special.

That is what differentiates poetry from ordinary writing. It is written to express emotion and feeling is a way that ordinary writing would not. But you still have to be careful. There are a lot of 80th birthday party verses that can be sad. Sad is not what you want for this occasion. You’re having a party, so if you are going to have an 80th birthday poem, you might as well throw in some 80th birthday jokes in there.

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear
purple.

If you’re not writing an 80th birthday poem yourself, you can borrow one, and it would be more interesting for the birthday boy or girl if you went back to when they were younger, looked for a poem they really liked and used that.

If you want to write the 80th birthday poem yourself, you will come up with something really good if you can get a collaborated effort from other people who are close to the birthday boy or girl. They know them probably as well as you do or even better and they can contribute great lines that you can throw in there.

80th Birthday Poem for Grandpa

It's your 80th you better smile
It's your 80th you've been alive for a while
You've got wrinkles as deep as the Canyon Grand
And bunions needing paper sand
You've got memories (though now they're fading)
And medicines we know you're hating
You've got your share of aches and pains
And your joints act up before it rains
But phooey your trials and tribulations
And the worst of "getting old" sensations
You've got a family that loves you dear
Willing to talk or lend an ear
So...
It's your 80th you've been alive for a while,
But it's your 80th, you better smile!

We had mentioned that the other thing about an 80th birthday poem is its presentation. Imagine how you would feel if someone read you a great poem and then presented it to you in such a way that you could keep it for ever, well preserved and beautiful. That would make you feel great, right?

So think about ways in which you can make your birthday verses more lasting. You can have it framed. You can take a video of it being read and present the disk as a present that the birthday boy or girl can watch whenever they want. You can have it done in special material, even cloth, and then have it preserved so that it will last.

The idea is to let them have the poem with them to read or listen to whenever they want.

80th birthday poem for Grandma

Grandma I love you,
I know you love me,
No matter what I do,
or how mean I be.

Your the best cook in town,
with the softest lips,
your there to hug me when i fall down,
And to collect my apple pips.

Every time I see your garden it looks better.
so many flowers and trees.
oh and on my birthday you always write a letter.
and send a pot of honey tastier than the bees.

So I just want to say I love you Grandma in so many ways

So who gets to read the 80th birthday poem? It has to be someone special to the person whose birthday it is - a daughter or a son, their spouse, a grandchild or anyone who’s close. The closer the person who reads the poem, the better the effect.

Children are especially good for this kind of thing. For one, they will ensure that you keep your 80th birthday poem short – you don’t want verses upon verses that will let people’s minds wander as it’s being read. Get the child to go through the poem with you beforehand. Explain to them the meaning of the occasion, and then the meaning of the poem so that they can read it with true expression.

If you have to coach them through it, kids are fast learners, so go ahead. Inject some fun into it with that joke that we talked about, and don’t forget to tell them to hug grandma or grandpa when they are done!

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