Gifts for: Grandparents

By the time people reach grandparent age, they usually have all the "stuff" they want (and sometimes more!). For this reason, I like to stick to either consumables or small gifts with nostalgic or sentimental significance. 

CONSUMABLE IDEAS

Restaurant gift cards are easy, and easy doesn't mean bad. Both my grandfathers were raised during the Great Depression--a free meal is always nice. You can also consider gift cards for massages, manicures, housekeeping, golf courses, sports events, music or television streaming services, and other events and services.

For other ideas, think of your grandparents' favorite foods. My paternal grandfather, upon learning I like to cook, gave me the recipe for his mother's bread. I was a teenager, and guess what recipe I knew I'd be pulling out every Father's Day, Grandpa's birthday, and Christmas? My maternal grandfather loves unusual and spicy foods, so any display of unconventional food gets a once-over from me. He also has a favorite recipe, "Sacred Cake" without which his birthday is incomplete. Do you grandparents like coffee, and is there a roaster nearby? Tea, snacks, sweets? You could put together jars of dry ingredients for baked goods, if you know your grandparents enjoy baking. Be mindful of dietary restrictions like diabetes, but if there's a treat you know you can find or make, you're set.

For non-edibles, consider stationery, candles, soap, tickets to events or places (and they don't necessarily need to be "for old people;" so long as you know your grandparents would like it, why not tickets to an amusement park or zoo?), art supplies, bulbs and seeds for flowers and other plants, cosmetics, and maybe even help setting up Skype or Facetime or something similar to talk to family members who are far away.

GIFTS REPRESENTING YOUR HOME

A simple idea, great for a group of siblings and/or cousins, is a collection of little gifts representing where you live, especially if there are several locations involved. For example, one year, my two siblings and I each lived in a different state from our grandparents. We gave them three potholders, one representing each state (Arizona, Hawaii, and Texas), and a small consumable gift from each one: Arizona's Fairytale Brownies (a fantastic gift on their own; they're delicious), Hawaiian-made honey, and a Texas snack mix.

If you're looking for very specific fabrics, eBay is a good place to start--you can usually find fat quarters or by-the-yard cuts of an amazing assortment of oddly specific fabrics. In this instance, the Hawaiian fabric was found in a store in Honolulu (Fabric Mart, which has an online shop), and the Texas and Arizona prints were from eBay. Another great website is Spoonflower.

This way, the grandparents had something small and useful as well as fun treats, all of which reminded them of their grandchildren. Most cities and even small towns have some shop with locally-made consumables and/or small items: candles, chocolates, spice mixes, soaps; maybe even a book by a local author or about a place's history or folklore.

GIFTS FROM EVERYONE

If you have lots of cousins and you're close with them, you might be able to get all the grandkids working together for a present. I've done this a few times for grandparents' Christmas presents, and every time not only were the cousins willing to help, they were happy that they didn't need to come up with a gift idea. One year, I had several people help me with knitting afghans. I taught a few how to knit and they did anywhere from a few stitches to a few rows, and others just helped pick colors. 

Our grandmother ended up using this to keep warm during chemotherapy treatments years later;
fortunately she's recovered now.

Another year, I had my cousins send me pictures of their families (aunts and uncles too). Everyone chipped in a bit of money for printing the pictures and for a 100-page 4x6 photo album. At the time, there were a few of us grandchildren were pregnant, so some of the empty pages had sticky notes "saving" them for pictures of the great-grandchildren. We still send pictures now and then to keep the album updated.

Young children can get in on the fun as well. Just recently, I helped my children and my nieces and nephew make stepping stones for my mother-in-law's birthday. I purchased some kits from a craft store that came with cement mix, molds, and stones and glass to set in the cement (and added some of the random buttons and broken jewelry I'd accumulated over the years). Each child decorated a stepping stone and we used the included letter stamps to put their names on their stones. Since my mother-in-law loves gardening, having things in her garden that her grandchildren made was perfect.

Of course, a group gift doesn't need to be elaborate. There have been some Christmases that several of us chip in for a restaurant gift card so our grandparents can enjoy a nice dinner. Every time, regardless of how much work went into a gift, it's fun to write all our names on the "from" section of the gift tag.

GIFTS ABOUT EVERYONE

In my opinion, these are the most fun. I have a large extended family, so if I can think of an idea to showcase all of us, I'm all over it. One I recently saw was in a neighbor's house. She has four children, several grandchildren, and a few great-children. She had a shadowbox with "Counting my Blessings" written across the top, and three labels inside: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Each label had hooks underneath, to hold numbers representing how many of each she had. I might need to do that for my grandparents.

One gift I have made my grandparents is a birthday calendar. If you have the time and inclination, you can make your own. You'll need fourteen screw eyes, several wooden disks (or hearts or whatever shape you want) ideally with two holes already drilled in, small metal rings, hanging wire, a long wooden board, a fine-tipped permanent marker, and paint (I like acrylic best for this). You can also purchase custom ones on sites like Etsy.

Told you it's a big family

While I actually made it, I presented it as from all of us, because I had help from everyone in deciding colors and figuring out birthdays--it was very much a group effort. I was also able to go to a thrift store and buy 50 greeting cards at a dime each: enough for a card for everyone (there are 51 markers up there, but that's including our grandparents themselves and they don't give cards to each other).

Again, these don't need to be big, elaborate endeavors. I find gifts like this fun to plan and make, but I know not everyone does. There was one year we all chipped in for a collage picture frame and put pictures of us in. Our grandparents loved that, too. My in-laws loved the digital picture frame loaded with pictures of the grandkids. And really, the most important thing for them was the time spent with us during the holidays or their birthdays. They absolutely loved the sentiment and thought behind the gifts, but talking with us was the real highlight for them.

Gifts for: Your Parents

As a child, it's usually easy to find gift ideas for parents. Most schoolchildren make little crafts in art class for holidays and Mother's and Father's Days. As you get older though (provided you have a good relationship with your parents), you often want a gift a bit more special or personal. If you know your parents well, thinking of a gift will be easier. If you're stuck, here are some ideas to help you brainstorm.

HANDMADE

Being close to your parents gives you the advantage of having a better chance of knowing or finding out their clothing/accessory preferences and clothing sizes. That information makes picking patterns and colors a lot easier. Just be sure your parent would actually have a use for the item--my dad doesn't wear hats or scarves, so that's not a good gift for me to make him.

Clothing is a fairly personal choice, so you might prefer to make something different. Think about your parent's interests. My dad is a big fan of a particular college sports team, so I used the team colors to write out the college's fight song, motto, and other related things in the shape of its logo. I also did this later with several light bulb jokes (e.g.; "How many hands does it take to change a light bulb? Many, because many hands make light work.") Other sorts of collages can work well, especially if you play on nostalgia, like when my brother spent years saving ticket stubs from Major League Baseball games he went to with my dad. When they had seen every other team play our home team, he put those tickets together in a frame for Father's Day. Hobbies are good wells of ideas too. If your parent cooks and bakes, you can make potholders, pie holders, dish towels, or other kitchen accessories. Several items together can make a nice gift basket.

All the text is light bulb jokes, done in colors to help show the shape of one.

A gift basket I made for my mom: ingredients for raspberry muffins, a knit dishcloth, "pinch, smidgen, and dash" measuring spoon, and muffin forms in the shape of her favorite flowers.

Food itself is also a great gift. My dad has a sweet tooth, so homemade cookies are always a hit. He also loves my lasagna recipe. When I do make dinner for my parents (for example, for my mom's surgery last month), I like to include dessert as well.

One other idea, especially if you're on a budget: write a letter. My brother did this for our mom's birthday his first year away at college, and now Mom wants one every year.

PICTURES

Photographs of family members are often a good starting point. They sort of straddle the line between handmade and storebought, leaning one way or the other depending on what you do with them. Our mom loved getting childhood pictures of us with Santa, so the year I went to visit my brother's family out of state, we all posed in front of his neighbor's Santa decoration and got the picture printed for Mom. If you have siblings (and everyone gets along with each other), you might want to remake a childhood photograph or two, posing in the same place with similar clothing several years after the original was taken. This past Christmas, we gave my parents a set of three pictures: the three of us at each of our weddings. My brother took this a step further--our dad has a picture of his great-uncle standing by a particular rock at a national park, and one of him by the same rock. My brother got a picture of himself in the same place and pose, and had all three of the pictures put together in a nice frame. 

A scrapbook or collage can be nice. You can upload various pictures onto sites that make custom calendars, mugs, puzzles, blankets, mousepads, Christmas ornaments, and other items. Going back to my dad, while there's not much I can sew or knit for him (having already knit him two afghans), he looks forward to getting a calendar with pictures of all his kids and grandkids each Christmas, especially since we live in different states. Shutterfly has a yearly promotion around the end of November for this, so my brothers and I just upload a dozen pictures each to our shared account, arrange them on the right months, and have it mailed to me (because I live closest to our parents). 

STOREBOUGHT

A gift need not be forged by your own two hands to be special. The important part is showing that you care enough to try to think of something the recipient of your gift will enjoy. For the past several years, my mom has requested a membership to a sewing club for Christmas. Split between us kids, it's not expensive. 

One of my dad's favorite gifts is gift cards to restaurants. He enjoys taking people out to eat, and knows that if suggests a particular place because he has a gift card, whoever he invites is less likely to feel indebted for the meal. My godfather is similar--when his (adult) children ask him for ideas for Father's Day, Christmas, or his birthday, he requests a gift card to a place they both like so they can go together and spend some time catching up.

Other storebought ideas to get you thinking: consumables or decorations from your hometown (this works better if you don't live where your parents do), particular things that catch your eye you know they'd like (for example, my dad likes to write notes and he wears a tie to work--I've gotten stationery and a tie with his favorite sports team on them),or any items they've mentioned they would like--a gift doesn't need to be a surprise.