X-mas Ideas for Grandparents

This year I am giving my parents and my in-laws photo books. I'm using www.shutterfly.com to create them. But right now www.snapfish.com has a sale on them, 5X7 books are only $9.59 and that is 20 pages cloth cover. And if you want to do a mini 2X3 book, they are only $4.79!! And then of course they go up from there. They also have calendars like previous posters have mentioned, they have classic for $15.19 and Premium for $22.39. What's nice about these sights is you can upload your photos, pick your themes and add text under or above your photos.
Also, every year I put an ornament with the kids names on it on top of their gifts. I usually get these at holiday craft shows at the local high schools.
Have a great Holiday with your new baby :)
J. in Macomb

2 moms found this helpful

We are doing silhouettes this year. We are going to follow the directions here:

http://scrapbooking-paper-crafts.suite101.com/article.cfm...

and then we will put them in pretty frames for the grandparents (and one for us too!). I looked into having it professionally done, but it's really expensive so I found these directions to do it myself.

Good luck!

Hi H.!
What I did one year was to pick out a children's book (we have used "guess how much I love you" and "oh how far you will go") and make a photo album with the words from the story under each phono. Went over well with the grandparents!

My in-laws live out of state so we only see them once a year or so. For Christmas this year I purchased a picture frame from www.dynamicframes.com, it holds a 4 x 6 size picture, and it's spring loaded so it actually holds up to 36 prints in the one frame. They are $19.95. I printed several pictures of my daughter from this year and pre-loaded it with some pictures, now when we send them new pictures they can just load them in and won't have to worry about getting another frame.

A couple years ago I made hand towels with my kids foot prints on them. They were very easy to make. They sell white towels at Michaels. I put their foot prints, name, & year on them then put a thick ribbon across the bottom.

R.

People have made some great suggestions!!! There are also different "handprint calendars" you can make if you want to go the super inexpensive route. Just google handprint calendar and a few different sites will come up. They're a cute idea. I had a friend last year who did the art with her daughter and then scanned in the handprint pictures and printed off multiple copies of the handprints to give to lots of family members far away.

Good luck!!! We have family in 4 different states (and none near us) so presents are hard to come by that are meaningful and easy to mail!

H. -

Visit shutterfly.com. They make calendars, books, and many other items using pictures you supply. I've made a book and it's very simple. You just have to upload your pictures to the site and they do almost all of the work. The gifts are a big hit! Have fun with it.

If you scrapbook you can make a small 8x8 album for them of the baby. You can add to it as the years go by. I made one for MY grandmother (the kids great grandmother) and she LOVED it. She would bring it out anytime anyone would come over.

Snapfish makes wonderful photobooks and they are pretty cheap and really fun to make-you can do it in a sitting at the computer and they will even deliver it to their house for you. We have done these for all the grandparents at least once a year and they really love it. Also you could order other things on their website like calendars and coffee mugs which really make nice gifts too. Best of luck.

I actually did this for my grandma and am giving it to her this year - I bought a scrapbook calendar kit at JoAnn's. It is so CUTE! I tried looking online for an example for you, but couldn't find it. I bought it at the store and its normally $19.99, but w/a 40% off coupon, you'll get a better deal :)
The kit is SO simple and comes with EVERYTHING you need to get it done. All you need are your pictures!! Then, when the year is over, they can take the pages and stick them in an album to keep them perserved. In the kit, each month is themed, and everything coordinates so it is so simple to put together :) Since your baby is so new, you could even make the pages and leave out the pics and then give your parents new pics each month to add in. :)

Take a look at the Shutterfly website. I made my parents a photo book last year of our daughter and it turned out beautifully. You can EASILY upload your photos for free and then EASILY design a book. I did a larger book (28 pages) and it was 50 bucks or so...I believe they had smaller books as well which were less money. They also have other items such as coffee mugs and key chains. I have tried the hand print thing several times with my daughter and never had any success with it looking like a hand. Good luck!!

I do not know if the grandparents live in state, but my daughter's do not so we are buying them all webcams; they came in different price ranges....that way they can see and talk to my daughter as often as they like...

This will be our second xmas, but for her fist I made a photo album for each letter of the ABC's...for example A=arrival...took a lot of time and it did get $$$$, but very fun and they all just loved them!

Another cute idea is getting an ornament for grandparents or you can get one that you can have names put on.

Good luck

H.
Congrats on the new arrival! I have oredered many things from snapfish.com in the past as well as just recently that were not outrageously expensive but look great! Last year I ordered a photo poster and then got a clear plastic poster frame from michaels using their 40% off coupon of course and I was able to put over 20 photos of our kids on it, this year just last month I got my mom a photo book it is really nice, hard cover and I added captions and put 23 photos of the grandkids in it, named it Nana's brag book and presented it to her as she leave for the winter soon, that was less than $18 snapfish offers coupons online too and specials, this week is their mug for $9.99 the latte sized one, anyhow with these gifts your baby's grandparents can have his smiling face with them all the time. I have been on their site often now trying to come up with cute gifts for my day care families and their kids...I am a picture taking crazy woman here and I email the parents everyday all the photos but I think making something with them, maybe a yearly calendar would be better
good luck they will love anything with his photo I am sure
E.
nursery times

How about a personalized calendar with pictures of the grandchild with grandparents as the star! You can make them at home, or Costco, or many online sources.

We do a calendar for my parents every year and they love it! We include all the grandchildren now and it's a great way to look back on the year and see how the kids have grown!

Last year my husband and I had to come up with a 1st year as grandparents gift. We decided to do the calendar which went over so well that we have requests for them again this year. They did cost us quite a bit of money. Then, for my daughters 1st birthday I was going to try handprint plaques made out of plaster....what a mess! We ended buying an inexpensive picture frame at IKEA..one with three picture openings. We placed a picture in the center opening, a hand print in one side and a foot print in the other side. We made the hand and footprints out of Crayola model magic. It's easy to use and air dries. We secured everything to the background board with double stick tape. All in all, it was quick, easy, and cost us very little money. Everyone loved it! A web site called Red Envelope offers something similar. Take a look for ideas.

Mugs with children on it. Calendars made via Kinko's with grandchildren's photos on it (they are only around $20 each for 12 month calendars with photos for each month- or Year on a page calendars are around 7). Keychains, pictures in nice frames, hand-made cards/frames from grandchildren- it almost seems endless when you think of what they use (magnets with grandchildren on them- like those sickyback business card magnets- except put photos on them...I hope some of this may help you :)

A frame that says "Grandparents" which includes a picture of them with your little one in it.

The handprint plaque is a good idea too - Grandparents love anything related to their grandchild!

Hi H.~

I also am in the same boat. My son is 4 months old. (first child) I went to Micheals, or Joannes walked around for cheap but cute ideas. I am makeing memo boards for the grandparents. It is an easy project and super cheap. Those stored also have little wooden frams that you can buy and paint and do what ever too and then put a picture of your baby in it. Just thought I would share my ideas. And this is coming from someone who has never made a craft in her life.lol
Take care,
A.

For my sons first christmas, I made an ordnament for each grandparent. I went to michaels and got a pack of plain white bulbs, and then I traced our sons handprint on the bulb, and wrote "I love you Grandma/papa" or whomever you where giving it to. I then put the year at the bottom , and they were a hit!!! You could also have your baby fingerpaint (They are never to young), and then write a small note to the grandparent, and put it in a frame.