Choosing Christmas gifts for grandparents can at times be difficult, especially since many if not most grandparents have a home full of just about everything they need. Having seen several lists of what are deemed to be the “worst Christmas gifts for grandparents”, it is easy to see why gifting grandparents with things like cookbooks or knickknacks that must be cleaned or dusted aren’t the best ideas for gifting purposes.
Many grandparents have already or are in process of downsizing their homes to smaller abodes, so the last thing grandparents or elderly people need or want is more “stuff” to fill shelves and spend time on cleaning. Finding the perfect Christmas gift for a grandparent doesn’t have to be expensive, can certainly be homemade and dearly loved, and the more personalized the gift is the happier the grandparents will be.
While many grandparents love to receive new photos of their grandchildren for Christmas or other occasions, a new twist on the photo gift is to make a homemade iron on transfer and put the grandchildren’s picture on a sweatshirt or t-shirt for grandma and/or grandpa to wear proudly. Using fabric paint for the grandchildren to put their little hand prints on the front or back of the shirt is also a nice idea, and some parents even have their children use a fabric marker to write a special personalized message on the sweatshirt for an inexpensive gift.
Both grandma’s and grandpa’s love to bake cookies with their grandchildren, so one homemade gift idea might be to make “jar gifts” from your kitchen with dry ingredients for making cookies, brownies, muffins, cakes etc and place the ingredients in wide mouth jars or Mason jars in layers, decorated by the grandchildren with pretty ribbons and recipe instructions.
Another nice Christmas gift idea for grandparents requires a little help from the parents for making a homemade calendar with computer software with photos of the grandchildren for each of the twelve months. The grandchild(ren) can help select some of the best pictures to be used on the homemade calendar for a personalized touch, and may even want to use some decorative stickers for special dates like birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. Kids can make some kitchen magnets with self-photos using magnetic sheets, or plain kitchen magnets in various shapes with small photos applied, poems, special phrases or quotes.
For grandparents who have gardens, making some personalized stepping stones with clay kits is another cheap gift idea that grandparents will love, or handprint clay kits for young children to give their grandparents with hanging ribbon to display on the walls of their home. Personalized Christmas ornaments are lovely gifts for grandparents to trim their Christmas tree each year, and many other do-it-yourself craft kits for making grandma a necklace or bracelet and many other homemade craft gifts.
For Christmas, grandparents of all ages and abilities love nostalgia. Giving thoughtful gifts that bring back memories of long ago and perhaps forgotten over the years can brighten the smile on a grandparent’s face, being reminded of fun family times and family gatherings with a digital photo frame to cycle through important happy events. Grandchildren making a homemade scrapbook with help from mom and dad is another inexpensive but well thought out gift for grandparents to cherish.
Many grandparents love to read books but may have difficulty reading books with poor eyesight, which makes audio books a great gift option. Noise-cancelling earphones or headphones with volume controls allows grandparents with hearing impairment to enjoy listening to their favorite music or TV shows without difficulty. Senior grandparents who have difficulty getting around on their own, but enjoy activities to keep their mind sharp, find gifts like crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, board games, dominoes and crafting supplies wonderful gifts for grandparents to keep active.
Deciding on the best Christmas gifts for grandparents of any age is just a matter of knowing what their interests and hobbies are. Gift Grandma and/or Grandpa with a luxurious shower gift set or bath set
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Food is good. Gift cards to restaurants, a “fruit of the month club” or credit with Allan Brothers steaks for fish or meals. Why not a massage? A day at the spa? Foot rubs and personal pampering, like pedicures and manicures (it’s hard for us old fat people to do a good job on ourselves) are always appreciated. There are only so many places you go wearing a shirt with your grand kids faces on it. Please. Give us an iPhone or digital device loaded with photos we show off instead. Pay our cell phone bill for a month. Give us certificates for classes at the local college, or a Kindle with credit towards books we want to download. Not feeling rich? Then volunteer to paint, clean, do laundry, rake leaves, shovel snow, haul firewood, deal with contractors, wash and detail the car, get the car serviced so we don’t have to wait in those cold or too hot and drafty waiting rooms on hard plastic chairs and deal with the mechanic. Socks are good. Any kind of gift we can eat, watch or consume is much more appreciated after the first t-shirt…We’re old. Not boring.
It really depends on the age, likes and abilities of the recipient. Gadget gifts like an iPhone, Kindle, iPod or iPad etc are fine for younger grandparents who want them, but the older “senior citizen” grandparents 70 years old and older that I asked what they’ve liked and not liked receiving for Christmas said they don’t like receiving electronic gifts that they have to figure out how to use. Several of the 70+ crowd told me electronic gifts are “too complicated” and they have no desire to learn how to use them. Two elderly ladies (I’m guessing they’re in their early 80′s) said they don’t like or want pampering type gifts or gift cards for pedicures or manicures etc, saying they don’t like strangers working on them. Perhaps a family member doing those things would be okay with those ladies, but taking them to a spa or salon was a no go. Out of the 24 elderly men and women (all grandparents) that I asked what they like and want as Christmas presents, most of them said they’ve received a digital photo frame they love looking at, grandma’s love their sweatshirts with their grandchildren’s names and/or pictures on them, and specifically personalized gifts meant the most. One grandpa and grandma in their mid to late 60′s said if they receive one more plain ol photo frame with a picture of their grandchildren in it as a gift for Christmas this year, they said they’re going to give it right back and tell their daughter and son in law that year after year of giving the same exact thing showed no thought put into the gift vs the effort they themselves put into choosing Christmas gifts for their own kids and grandchildren. My impromptu poll of grandparents was very interesting to say the least.
Definitely personalize your gifts! Just go to any of the online photo stores and you can find a zillion different products to personalize, like ornaments, clothes, blankets, mouse pads – I challenge you to find something you can’t personalize!