What to Tip Aging Parents' Helpers at the Holidays

We are having the same dilemma. Our dad has an aide 4 hours per day. The first half of the year, his aide was terrific. She went back to school. The second half of the year he had a different, equally terrific aide, and she is still with him. Do we stiff the first one? That's not fair. She also helped him transition from independent living to assisted living, which was huge. I think $500 for a year, for a part time aide, is a good amount. Now the question is how to divide up the bonus. BTW we pay $462 per week for the aide.

We are having the same dilemma in our family. Our dad has dementia and has a caregiver for 4 hours every day. I think that $500 for one person who has attended our dad for the entire year is good, for a half-time aide. Two sisters think that is the amount we should give to the most recent constant caregiver, who has only been working with our dad since the last half of June, when she phased in and the other one phased out. The other one also gave our dad excellent care but worked the first half of the year and we haven't even seen her in months. Do we stiff her? She helped our dad cope with a traumatic move from independent living to assisted living, and I think she deserves as much as the current person. But how much is that? I am thinking $400 each; when I am being miserly I think $300 each would be good. That is still more than the $500 I would pay one single person for a full year, and is a little more than what we pay the agency for the aides per week. How much they actually make per hour, I don't know.

I would like to know how much to tip for a period much shorter than a year. Also, I pay a total of close to $2000 per week for my husband's three caregivers (thankfully, with the help of the very expensive long-term care insurance we were prescient enough to buy). We are by no means wealthy and I could not afford anywhere near that amount of money, or help, without our insurance coverage. I don't feel comfortable asking our children to chip in. Two thousand dollars in caregiver tips sounds extravagant and unaffordable to me. I would appreciate others' specific suggestions about how much to spend, including both cash and gifts.