Elvis Gave Lisa Marie Birthday Presents She ‘Shouldn’t Have and Couldn’t Appreciate’
Elvis Presley was often in Las Vegas to perform, putting distance between himself and his wife and daughter, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley. He rarely came home for events like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but Priscilla ensured that Lisa Marie was able to spend her birthday with her father. They traveled to Vegas to see him, and he would spoil his young daughter with hotel suites full of gifts. Priscilla didn’t think that many of these were appropriate for children.
Priscilla Presley did not think the presents Elvis gave Lisa Marie were appropriate for a child
When Elvis was away for residencies or tours, Priscilla did her best to keep him updated on their daughter’s life. She sent care packages with photos and home videos. She also brought her to Las Vegas so that Elvis didn’t have to miss Lisa Marie’s birthdays. Elvis showered her with gifts, but Priscilla didn’t think the presents were appropriate for a young child. She shared the type of presents he gave Lisa Marie in her book Elvis and Me.
“Lisa and I visited him in Vegas for her birthdays, having huge parties in the suite, where she received everything from slot machines to two Saint Bernard puppies (a gift from Colonel [Tom] Parker’s) to an entire room filled with balloons — everything, in short, a two- or three-year-old shouldn’t have and couldn’t appreciate.”
Priscilla said that Elvis liked to spoil Lisa Marie, and the over-the-top presents were proof of this.
Priscilla Presley said her husband believed gifts could make up for his absence
Elvis also lavished Priscilla with gifts when he was home.
“It was important to me that Elvis be home for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but he’d invariably call and say he couldn’t make it, then try to compensate by bringing home extravagant gifts like a marble jewel box filled with diamond rings, necklaces, and earrings, or a whole wardrobe of handpicked designer clothes from a designer in Vegas,” she wrote.
She didn’t want these gifts, though. Instead, she wanted Elvis to be home with her and Lisa Marie.
“But that wasn’t the point,” she wrote. “I didn’t want the furs and jewels — I had all I could possibly use — I just wanted him home. It was a constant effort, single-handedly trying to keep up family traditions.”
Elvis gave Lisa Marie a priceless gift for her 4th birthday
Elvis gave Lisa Marie material gifts for many of her birthdays, but he found a more meaningful gift for her fourth birthday.
“In the latter part of ’71, I was visiting Graceland. Lisa pushed her baby buggy through the hall, and I said to Elvis, ‘Can you imagine? She is soon going to be four years old. What are you going to give her for her birthday?'” writer Janelle McComb said in an interview. “Elvis paused and said, ‘I don’t know. She’s all we have and is our most prized possession. I want Lisa to know what the important things in life are. Money is not important. It is fleeting, and all this is just vanity.'”
McComb wrote a poem for Lisa Marie so that Elvis could pass on the message that he loved her more than material possessions could convey.
