I always struggle with this because at some point my parents are going to get sick of receiving gifts from my son (two years old) that say "grandma" or grandpa.
Do you have any other ideas for gifts for moms and dads (from our children) and grandparents? I dont want to spend more than $25 each. It would be a gift coming from son to daddy and grandson to grandma and grandpa.
I also ran into this situation - what i do now is create calendars for each grandparent with pictures from through out the year- the gift that continues to give all year round! I use walmart.com to create it and they cost about $17.00. Good luck!!!!
I agree with a couple of the other responses. You can never go wrong with photo mugs! Grandparents love pictures! Walmart takes about 3 weeks for them to come back & they are only around $9. Happy Thanksgiving!
I LOVE the pain your own pottery places. I made a trivet last year w/ my boys' handprints for my sister's birthday. It turned out so cool I made one for my mom and my aunt as well. They are so personal from kids w/o being "for GRANDMA and GRANDPA" It's also nice because it is something they made. I think I paid $12 for the piece and you can do cookie plates, platters, coffee mugs...all kinds of things depending on how much you want to spend.
ONE WARNING--make sure you plan ahead because it usually takes a week to get the piece back after you paint it since they have to fire the glaze. I ended up giving an unfinished product to my husband because their kiln was broken for a week so I couldn't get the pieces fired.
One option would be for you to get them something from yourself and then nothing "Purchased" from him. He;s old enought to make something for them. Let him make something with playdough even if it's just a ball and let it dry. Or help him make pictures. When My daughter was his age I let her make pictures and framed them for them and I helped her make them christmas ornaments. It's nothing much, but much more memorable. Good luck!
Every year since my first son was born, I have been making a personalized planner for my dad, with the kids' pics on the cover. It says "Opa's Planner." He is self-employed and travels a lot, so when I bought this the first year, I thought it would be OK. He then REQUESTED it the next year. So it's become the annual "from the boys" gift. It was around $10, and I have Office Max make it--just go to the printing counter and ask about their planner templates with photo covers. The whole thing takes less than a week.
Then, last year I made a photo calendar of the kids for my mom and a couple other relatives. Others saw it and felt hurt that they didn't get one. So now, this year, THAT is the "from the boys" gift I am getting everyone else. It's practical, and they love to have these "framed" pictures every month. I LOVE Costco for this--the calendars are $9.99, and there are many templates from which to choose. If your photos are electronically stored, it's a breeze to upload and drop them into the calendars, and you can change the layouts on each page. There is also a special feature where you can have them print in special occasions on the squares themselves, then save and import the dates. So this year, I can just "highlight" all the birthdays and anniversaries I need dropped into each calendar (since some will be slightly different). Shipping is reasonable, too, and it takes about a week. It's a fun project and I think the hardest part is narrowing down the pictures! (I try to choose by the seasons...so June gets outside/swimming pictures, October is the boys in their most recent Halloween costumes, etc.) Good luck!
Walgreens and Walmart have a lot of choices of gifts with children's pictures on it - everything from t-shirts to puzzles, mousepads, coffee mugs, etc. You also might be able to find a digital picture key chain for $25.
Hobby Lobby has mugs and picture frames that the kids can decorate as well as handprint and footprint molds that are very inexpensive.
Happy Holidays,
S.
well, I can tell you that I went through the same thing for the last several years. I have been using Shutterfly for my pictures for a while now, and printing little picture books here and there when we have special events, but didn't really think anything of it. One day my grandmother saw one that I made and really liked it, which gave me the idea. I made a picture book for all the grandparents and great-grandparents of what our kids have done for that year, cute pictures I had taken, milestones in our lives or our family's lives, things like that. They ran me about $12 each and when they got those for Christmas they were so excited! I was actually just told by someone else a few weeks ago how much that meant to my husbands grandmother, and it's almost a year later! So, needless to say, I'm doing it again this year. It's just a nice way for them to see everything that has happened throughout the year, even if they don't get to see them every day. And if it's for daddy, they have a number of other products that you could get, depending on what type of guy he is. I've been very happy with every product I have received from Shutterfly. Hope that helps!
Go to snapfish.com. They have all kinds of gifts that you can put pictures on. Mousepads, coffee mugs, desk organizers, calendars, christmas ornaments, magnets, coasters... lots of neat ideas. I did coasters for my mother and mother in-law last mother's day and they turned out great and it is so easy to down load your pictures to their website. If you do not have a digital camera, you can take your 35mm pictures and have them put on a disc, download them to your computer and then drag them to the snapfish website for your gifts too. One of the pictures I used for the coaster sets was done that way (with an older picture) and you can't even tell the difference. Grandparents love pictures. Maybe you could start a tradition. Have fun!
This year I went to shutterfly.com and made brag books for the grandparents. You can plan out the whole photo book with pictures you upload and you can add captions/descriptions. The book was under $15 and then you can also purchase a leather case for them to keep it in when it is in their purse or other spot. My MIL who never has anything nice to say was effusive with the praise over this gift. She even called me a "jewel" for having made it for her (yes, I sent it early and told her she could open it right away or wait until Christmas).
I know that the holidays are approaching quickly but, I always try to put together a scrapbook calendar for the grandparents. I go to Archivers and buy a calendar kit and then add my own pictures. I tend to do some of my own pages but still use some of the stuff that is in the kit. But this is a nice gift to give and to make. If you are not crafty or creative do not worry the kit basically does it all for you anyway. Good luck! and Happy Holidays!
T.
