Grandma Stories» christmas gift ideas for grandparents

Christmas For Grandparents – Personalized Christmas Gifts For Grandparents

Grandma — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:37:52 +0000

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 for enjoying a soothing, warming and body-ache-reducing luxury bath or shower, perhaps with a bottle of their favorite women’s perfume or men’s cologne for a nice xmas present. As always, it truly is the Thought behind the gifts given that counts not the price tag, no matter how cheap the gifts may be, your thoughtful gift will be appreciated and cherished for many years.

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Grandfather Birthday Gift Ideas For Grandpa’s Birthday

Grandma — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:05:36 +0000

Grandpa’s birthday is coming up soon so I’ve been trying to come up with some really good ideas of what to get him for his birthday. Even though Grandpa’s birthday isn’t one of the so-called milestone birthdays, like if he were turning 50, 60, 70 or 80, his birthday is an important occasion and I want to make sure his gifts are things he would want and enjoy having.

As always, I pay very close attention to what Grandpa says, and by being thoughtful about gifts for people, I can usually come up with some great gifts for his birthday or as Christmas gifts etc. There isn’t much that Grandpa “needs”, so whenever I’ve asked him directly what he might want for his birthday, the usual answer is something like getting him a new bottle of his favorite cologne.

This year for his birthday, I want to get him something really special, something I know he would really like and be very happy to receive as a birthday gift. A couple of years ago, he had mentioned in passing conversation how someone he knows was talking about a new GPS Navigation System the guy had received as a birthday gift, and sure enough Grandpa thought the GPS was a really cool gadget and said he might like to get one ‘one of these days’. Grandpa does love his gadget gifts, that’s for sure, and I’ve found some very unique gadgets over the years that he really enjoys.

Well, either for a previous birthday present or as a Christmas gift a couple of year ago, I surprised Grandpa with the same exact GPS gadget that the other guy has and boy oh boy was Grandpa excited about getting that as a gift. That’s what thoughtful gift giving is all about and it’s a lot of fun for me as the gift giver. Grandpa hasn’t talked about any particular gadget gifts on the market that he would like to have, but he has talked about how having just network television has become increasingly boring, especially during weekends when sports games are being shown on cable television channels and we haven’t had cable television for years.

Grandpa had fun recently playing with an iPad someone else owns, and I’ve seen him checking out the Kindle ereader too, so either or both of those may become gift ideas for him at some point in the future. Of course, considering how much Grandpa enjoys doing fun things like fishing, hunting, golf etc, sports-themed gifts for Grandpa are always a good idea. I’ve noticed there are some new/newer sports type electronic games that can be played on the tv that just might be a hit for Grandpa when he’s feeling bored or wants to engage in game playing.

Having said that, I thought well.., maybe it’s time things change and we start looking into bundle packages for cable tv by DirectTv or some other cable provider company that serves our area. Grandpa and I had researched options for cable television, satellite tv and HDTV’s etc quite awhile back, but for the timebeing we decided to get a couple digital converter boxes and continue to use our non-digital tv’s. We’ve focused our energies and money on getting out of debt as fast as possible, and we’ve managed to accomplish quite a lot of that since we curtailed most of our spending on gifts for Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions.

Apparently, a local network television station is battling to be able to continue airing sports on their network station, which is the channel Grandpa usually turns on when he’s wanting to watch sports. Grandpa couldn’t watch the Rangers play and win the game against Tampa because we don’t have cable television, and “watching” the baseball game on an internet animated play-by-play simulator showed me how much Grandpa would enjoy having cable tv and be able to watch his favorite sports shows and movies.

Grandpa’s birthday this year is going to be a very special one, and he deserves every one of the gifts he’s going to receive, including finally getting digital cable tv hooked up and happily handing him the remote so he can relax and watch his favorite shows and sports games. Grandpa isn’t having just a one-day birthday party this year; Grandpa’s going to be enjoying a long weekend of fun and games for his birthday this year. His birthday this year will include what are commonly referred to as “experience gifts”, rather than gifting Grandpa with a lot of ‘stuff’ he doesn’t want or need.

Coming up with gift ideas for this particular man, husband, father and grandfather is pretty easy for me. Grandpa doesn’t ask for anything, nor does he want for anything. Whenever there are things he or I really want or need, we just go ahead and buy them for ourselves because we can and these sort of gifts or gadgets aren’t things that would be appropriate to ask for as gifts because they’re a bit higher priced than what would be considered reasonable.

I can hardly wait for Grandpa’s birthday to arrive because he is going to have the biggest smile on his face when he sees what very special and unique ideas I have planned for his birthday celebration. Birthday parties are fun, with delicious favorite foods and birthday cake, birthday cards and gifts made especially for the birthday boy. Grandpa’s birthday this year just might turn out to be his favorite birthday celebration thus far, and I’ll be camera ready to capture each activity and every happy smile and fun experience as they occur.

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Bad Gift Emporium – When It’s The Thought That Counts is Bad Gifts

Grandma — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:58:32 +0000

Heard of the Bad Gift Emporium? The Bad Gift Emporium is a site dedicated to re-gifting a gift received that are unwanted gifts. Bad Gift Emporium is the online version of people standing in those long return lines and gift exchange lines at stores to return bad gifts, since the belief of it’s the thought that counts is just a lie.

A bad gift may be both radiant or repulsive to the gift recipient, depending on the eye of the beholder. If you’ve ever stood in the gift returns line to return or exchange a bad gift, or a White Elephant gift you don’t want, check out Bad Gift Emporium at badgiftemporium.com

The day after Christmas is always a popular day for people to go to Bad Gift Emporium, which makes the bad gift site show up on the list of trending topics at Google Trends. Remember, it’s the thought that counts…..right? Wrong.

If you received a few gifts that you don’t want or don’t like, Bad Gift Emporium is the site of the day to explore, trade or compare your own bad gifts collection with the gifts that have been submitted.

Remember the old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? That’s one reason why Bad Gifts Emporium is so popular right after Christmas. No driving to the store and standing in those long lines to return bad gifts anymore. Just head over to the bad gifts official website and turn in your bad gifts or unwanted gifts for someone else to enjoy.

At Bad Gift Emporium, people upload photos of bad gifts they received with hope that some visitor will see it and want to take their gift off their hands. Some people may have to keep their bad gifts, especially if they live with the bad gift-giver, so those people just share photos of the bad gifts they have to keep and put up with for a verrrry long time.

If nothing else, checking out the Bad Gift Emporium website can be a fun and entertaining site to visit just to see what sort of things people consider to be a bad gift. Plus, it further proves the point that it’s the thought that counts is just a bunch of bull.

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Gooseberry Patch Christmas Books, Cookbooks, Calendar, Gifts and Recipes

Grandma — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:04:26 +0000

Christmas will be here before you know it, and if you like Gooseberry Patch Christmas cookbooks loaded with great country recipes as much as I do, you will love the new Gooseberry Patch cookbook. As a mother and grandma, cooking is not just a necessity but is also one of many fun activities or hobbies to be enjoyed. When I discovered the Gooseberry Patch company a few years ago, I was immediately hooked on the delicious recipes found in all the cookbooks I could find to buy.

Needless to say, I’ve been starting my own collection of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks that I will have a great time experimenting with when the kids and grandkids come over. Since I’m an avid reader of books of all kinds, especially cookbooks with great recipes and stories, I was thrilled to receive my very first cookbook by Gooseberry Patch.

I have so many recipe cards filling recipe boxes in what I jokingly refer to as “Grandma’s Kitchen”, I really need to take the time to use the organizer I bought from Gooseberry Patch, and then choose a couple of my best recipes to send to Gooseberry Patch for possible inclusion in their next cookbook.

Seriously, if you haven’t heard of GooseberryPatch, you are missing out on some of the best cookbooks and recipes available thus far. Even kids get in on the cooking action with the Gooseberry Patch series called Kids in the Kitchen, and if you haven’t yet seen the Kids in the Kitchen Kit with book included, now that makes a great Christmas gift for kids who enjoy cooking. (making mental note right now)

I’ve also been meaning to buy some of the cookware, serving bowls and dishes, and the braided baskets and placemats the Gooseberry Patch company makes are already on my Christmas list. I’ve already ordered the new Gooseberry Patch Christmas cookbooks11 and 12, and they should be arriving sometime next week.

Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks

Even if I don’t receive any of the Gooseberry Patch gift items from my Christmas list for Christmas this year, you can bet I’ll go right out and order them for myself. I’m sure I’m not the only one who ever buys Christmas gifts for themselves, right? Considering the fact that I’ve been gathering recipes and doing some initial cooking/freezing in preparation for Thanksgiving and even Christmas, the brand new Recipes for Kindness Cookbook by Gooseberry Patch will come in very handy.

Gooseberry Patch is donating a dollar from each purchase of their new cookbook called Recipes for Kindness to the Feeding America charity, and I’m happy to do my part to help needy families in America. Gooseberry Patch will even send you a free catalog!

Recipes for Kindness is the first book in a new series of cookbooks, with lots of good ideas for little acts of kindness we can all do to be kind to others, plus some of the best holiday inspiration and recipes Gooseberry Patch customers will enjoy.

By the way, the full-color watercolor artwork in this new collectible cookbook are beautiful. This soft cover cookbook has 48 pages of great recipes and is 5 Â½ inches sq. Check out this brief video of Gooseberry Patch founders Jo Ann and Vickie talking about the Recipes for Kindness cookbook.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gooseberry Patch has a large variety of cookbooks for kids, and my grandchildren and I will have lots of fun incorporating cooking many of these recipes into our usual activities. Oh, I must not forget to tell you that the Gooseberry Patch 2010 Calendar is the coolest thing ever and I can’t wait for it to get here because I have special dates, parties and family occasions coming up that I must keep track of since we do a lot of entertaining.

I can’t possibly list all of my favorite things from Gooseberry Patch, but I can tell you that my Christmas list is growing by the day! These Gooseberry Patch Christmas ornaments are the cutest things ever, don’t you agree?! I’ve got my eye on a couple of the Gooseberry Patch quilts and throws, the 3-piece set of Cast Iron Cobbler Pots (plus the cobble mix), and the Christmas nightlights are very cute too.

There are so many Christmas-themed serving bowls, baskets and tablecloths for me to choose from, it’s hard to me to choose just one. I’m glad that Gooseberry Patch offers gift certificates too, since I admit to being one of those Grandma’s who has everything already and is hard to buy for. Not anymore!

Since I love to cook and try out new recipes, Gooseberry Patch cookbooks is probably one of the best Christmas gifts for grandparents my children or grandchildren could buy for this old grandma. This grandma’s kitchen is going to be smelling really good over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays especially with all the cooking I’ll be doing, and I bet my kids and grandkids won’t be able to stop eating once they have tried some of my newfound recipes from Gooseberry Patch.

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Homemade Christmas Gifts For Grandparents-Personalized Grandparent Gifts

Grandma — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:25:28 +0000

Homemade Christmas gifts for grandparents vs. personalized grandparent gifts, which is best for grandma and grandpa? It can be a challenge to think of new Christmas gift ideas for grandparents, especially when Christmas shopping for elderly or senior grandparents who have everything already or grandparents who don’t live nearby. Gifts for grandparents, especially Christmas gifts for grandparents over 70, only requires a little creative thinking and time to find unique grandparent gifts grandma or grandpa will love.

Thoughtful Christmas gifts for grandparents are those that take care of needs, solve problems, keep them comfortable and show them you care. The best gifts for grandparents are tailored to their tastes, interests, hobbies and activities. Grandparent activities or hobbies may include things like bowling, golfing, fishing, hunting, gardening, boating, traveling, cooking, needlepoint, crafts, sewing, reading and volunteering. Many grandma’s and grandpa’s of all ages are also computer geeks, internet surfers, web-savvy, techie/gadget electronics lovers.

Best Christmas Gifts For Grandma and Grandpa

Today’s grandmother and grandfather are younger thinking than in past generations, keeping active by walking, hiking or playing tennis, and have a longer life expectancy. All grandparents love gifts that focus on their grandchildren, especially recent photos put in a digital photo frame that holds a lot of pictures. With a little help from you in learning how to add photos to a digital picture frame, grandma and grandpa will enjoy the pictures of their grandchildren for years to come.

Another favorite gift idea for grandparents are personalized Christmas gifts for grandparents and collectibles that take into account the personal interests, wants and needs of grandma and grandpa. Have you considered a family ring or mothers ring as a great keepsake gift for grandmothers and grandfathers?

There are many family ring designs to choose from, often personalized with genuine birthstones or simulated stones signifying the birth month, and/or names of each child or family member. Jewelry gifts for grandmothers or grandfathers may be rings, bracelets, charms, necklaces, pendants, lockets, gold or silver cufflinks, money clip, new wrist watch or pocket watch are all appreciated by grandparents.

Christmas Gift Baskets and themed gift baskets are a personal favorite, as gift baskets are a simple and inexpensive gift idea for grandparents regardless of their interests and hobbies. There are gift baskets that meet the needs and tastes of every grandma and grandpa regardless of age or ability, and you can’t go wrong giving your special grandparent a perfect gift basket filled with goodies or delectable gourmet snacks.

If your grandparent is living in a nursing home or senior care center, choose appropriate Christmas gifts that won’t take up a lot of room or add a lot of clutter, but pay close attention to what things grandma or grandpa may be needing or replaced because of wear and tear.

Bathrobe

Nightgown

Undergarments

Comb or brush set

Slippers

Cologne or perfume

Bath products, powders or lotions

Books or magazines

Word search or crossword puzzles

Chocolates or candy

Lap tables make a great gift!

Playing cards, dominoes or board games

New pillow, sheets, quilt or comforter

New clock or clock radio

CD player and CDs of their favorite music

Large button Universal TV remote

DVD player and/or favorite movie collection

Gift Cards, Restaurant Gift Certificates, large print books, lap blanket or throw, Grandma brag books, money and TIME spent together with family and friends are some good Christmas gift ideas for senior citizens and younger grandparents.

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