If you ask a grandparent what they’d like for Christmas or birthday, it’s likely that they’ll say ‘I don’t need anything’ which makes it difficult if you want to give them a gift to show how much you care about them. Here, we have a few suggestions for gift ideas with a difference including homemade presents for grandparents and even ideas for those that 'have everything'.
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If your grandparent spends a lot of time at home, they could appreciate snuggling up under a personalised blanket that holds a wealth of memories.
These ideal winter presents come in a range of sizes with prices starting from about £30. Using one or more of your favourite family photos, you can design a memorable Christmas gift – you can include photos of all the family and beloved pets and can often choose between fleece and sherpa blankets.
They are washable and easy to design. You simply choose from an assortment of design options or upload your own design; add the photos you want to use and one of the suppliers will do the rest.
Lots of companies offer this service; for example Vistaprint. If you have a limited budget, you can find an inexpensive flannel version on Amazon.co.uk. Currently, there are also options on Etsy.
You can choose to put a text message on the blanket or just to use photographs. If you have a slightly smaller budget, you can also find personalised cushions on some of the same websites – and again you can use a collage of photographs or a single image.
Grandpa’s Story or Grandma’s Story is a fantastic present that will delight a grandparent and could become a family heirloom in years to come.
These are guided journals designed to record special memories which can then be shared with the family.
The keepsake journal, either hardback, clothback or paperback, provides writing prompts including questions about early childhood, school years, work and travel, love and family, character and values and words of wisdom, with space to write letters to the family.
There are also similar journals such as the one entitled ‘Memories for My Grandchild.’ The range of journals, priced from about £15 can be found on Amazon.
Exploring personal DNA can be fascinating, providing information on a person’s ethnic breakdown, tracing ancestry through time, helping build a family tree and finding long-lost relatives.
There are plenty of DNA testing kits available at the moment and some of the most popular include ancestry.co.uk, myheritage.com, and livingdna.com. DNA testing kits can usually be bought for less than £50.
The Red-Letter Day company offers a magic gift box for Christmas which costs around £100 but allows your grandparents to choose from 4,450 experiences including supercar days, gourmet dining experiences, afternoon tea, spa escapes, animal encounters.
If your grandparent has ever fancied a bungee jump, now is their chance. The experience e-vouchers are sent to your inbox and are valid for 24 months.
Christmas hampers are more traditional presents for grandparents but are always welcome.
There’s a wide range of hampers on offer with an equally wide range of price ranges. There are vegan options, gluten free options and hampers crafted for many different tastes. Take a look at Fortnum & Mason, Regency Hampers or Prestige Hampers for the best options.
These newspaper books come in leather or leatherette hardcovers and contain front page news from every year of your grandparent’s life allowing them to relive the biggest news stories and events from their lifestyle.
The cover will have the recipient’s name and chosen date embossed in foil on the cover and you can choose to add a handwritten personal message on the first page. The thickness of the book depends on the age of the recipient but for every front page there’s a ‘remember when’ page so your grandparent can add photos or written memories relating to that year. Prices start from around £45.
A digital picture frame, about the size and shape of an ordinary picture frame, displays multiple photos in a slideshow format on an LCD screen.
Connected to the internet via a phone line, it’s possible to download new pictures to display on the screen. It’s a great way to display photos and to be able to view them without having to dig out a photo album or flick through the images on a Smartphone. Prices vary from about £50. For the best picture frames on sale in the UK, visit the Buyers Guide website.
Give your grandparents the opportunity to learn a new skill – whether it’s cooking, gardening, photography or sports.
Today, there are a wide range of classes either online or in-person on offer. If your grandparents have always wanted to hone their cooking skills, there’s a whole range of places running half-day, full day and evening masterclasses from breadmaking and tapas to sushi and cooking the perfect steak.
Some of the country’s best cookery schools are listed in Olive Magazine. A website called Masterclass has a library of over 200 classes that can be watched on a computer, TV, phone, tablet. Buy a class and your grandparent could also download and watch the class offline or they could choose an audio-only lesson. What’s more, if you buy them a masterclass, you could share the experience with them.
There are food and drink, music and writing classes, to name just a few. The full list is available on the Masterclass website. The classes start at £10 per month – and you take a year’s subscription.
If your grandparent enjoys celebrating with wine or champagne, why not give a personalised wine gift?
Buy your choice of wine or champagne and then present it in a personalised wooden box. The Personalised Gifts Shop offers a range including a wooden box, which will hold either two bottles or one bottle and a wine glass which is suitable for most wine, champagne and spirit bottles and will feature the recipient’s name and a ‘Happy Birthday’ message to the lid. The same company does personalised glasses, coasters and personalised cheeseboard gifts. Farrar and Tanner have an excellent range of wines, including rare vineyard wines, in personalised presentation gift boxes with prices starting from about £24.
These are becoming more popular and one of my favourites is “Words With Wine.”
This is a subscription that combines reading and wine drinking. A subscription includes a carefully chosen fiction book that will enable your grandparent to explore different literary genres and emerging authors, a full-sized wine bottle, book and author insights, tasting notes and food pairing suggestions and access to an exclusive online book and wine club. There are options for those who prefer their drinks to be non-alcoholic. One off-gifts start from less than £30.
The Happily Ever Book Box Company offers a pamper and book package. In each box, the recipient receives a new, surprise book from their favourite genre, vegan chocolate, a surprise beauty product, a bookmark and a hot drink (tea, coffee or herbal tea) and a note letting you know which animal charity your box has raised money for.
This is an extra special gift for a special anniversary or other event.
You will need to provide your grandparents’ address where the sundial will be used and a custom-made sundial will be calibrated for that precise location. The engraving can include the couple’s names and the anniversary they are celebrating. This is a gift that will last for generations. One of the company’s manufacturing sundials priced from about £70 is The Metal Foundry. These elegant sundials are unique, eco-friendly and sustainable gifts.
It might be beyond the budget to commission a watercolour portrait of your grandparents as an anniversary gift, but it is possible to turn your favourite photograph of them into a watercolour artwork.
You simply upload your photograph on a site such as Turned Art and a team of professional designers create a watercolour print by hand.
You can change the artwork in terms of the overall style, colour and background to make it a truly personal artwork and you’ll be able to view the portrait before the final version is printed. Prices start from around £30 and you can choose to have a canvas produced.
These inexpensive presents are ideal for younger children to give to grandparents – of course anything handmade is bound to delight a grandparent.
Choose a selection of family photographs, stick them onto a strip of cardboard, laminate them and add a ribbon to make a personalised bookmark.
If you need instructions find these here.
This will take some time so make sure you plan ahead for your grandparent’s birthday, Christmas or anniversary.
You will need to gather as many old photographs as possible – if you’re doing a heritage album, you’ll go as far back in time as possible. Add family recipes, letters, family stories.
You can scan everything and using a publisher app, create and print your own album. Even a simple family photo album with pictures from family gatherings and special moments will be a lovely present.
Find or create a beautiful jar and fill it with coloured strips of paper, each with a special memory or a reason why you love your grandparents written on it.
Grandparents will appreciate any gift that has been made with time and love – and sweet treats are always welcome.
There are so many recipes for everything from chocolate truffles, fudge and biscuits to jams, chutneys and lemon curd. By choosing or making the perfect packaging, you’ll add something extra special to the gift – so if you’re making a delicious treat, look for pretty boxes or jars and decorate them with ribbons or bows.
For some ideas, take a look at the Olive Magazine website, The Better Homes and Gardens website or The BBC's guide.
This is a wonderful present for a grandparent giving them unlimited free days out to the five RHS gardens, priority access to events and exclusive reduced rate tickets to RHS flower shows.
Not only that, there is entry to the gardens for both the member and a family guest or two children (or four children for joint memberships). There’s also free entry to over 200 partner gardens. If you buy a membership as a gift, it is presented in a beautiful gift pack with a £5 voucher, annual plant planner, two packets of seeds and a copy of The Garden magazine.
Rather than buying a bouquet which will fade and wither within a couple of weeks, consider gifting a rose.
English Roses provide a whole range of celebratory roses which make a sustainable and eco-friendly gift that will bring pleasure for years to come. The rose will come with a customised gift wrap and a personal message and will be priced around £30. The Golden Bouquet Rose is an excellent golden wedding anniversary present.
As any keen gardener, of any age, will confirm, planting, weeding and seed sowing can cause sore knees, even if you’re only working for a short time.
Garden kneelers can make everything so much easier.
Choose from simple cushioned kneeling mats, keen pads that are strapped to the gardener’s knees and kneeler stools which comprise a padded cushion on a metal frame with legs that can be used as a seat when pruning or planting and weeding in containers.
Flipped over, they can be used as a kneeler with the folding seat legs functioning as handles to help the gardener get up and down. Some even have pockets for carrying tools.
If your grandparent enjoys gardening but lives in an apartment without a garden, they might appreciate being gifted a planter – and you could provide the plants to fill it.
Gardeners World has a selection of the best planters. Perhaps your grandparent would enjoy creating an indoor or outdoor herb garden? Growing an indoor herb garden brings nature into the living room, adding beauty and fresh scent to the interior and providing fresh herbs for cooking.
Growing herbs outside is extremely easy. They don’t take up much space and can be planted in containers or window boxes. You can plant all the culinary herbs together in the same container – but be careful with mint which tends to spread and take over. Some of the best are listed here.
Time is often one of the most valuable gifts you can give to a grandparent so why not arrange a surprise family day out?
It doesn’t really matter where you go – whether it’s a picnic or a trip to the park, a day in London, a visit to a wildlife sanctuary or just a local café for afternoon tea. Plan a surprise and make sure family and friends are waiting to welcome them. This is a particularly nice surprise if some family members have travelled to be there.
Create an occasion for your grandparents. Invite them to dinner by sending a ‘real’ printed invitation and create a restaurant-type atmosphere with name plates, candles, and a printed menu.
This is an ideal present for younger children to give their grandparents – they can prepare all the table decorations, decorate the place names and the menus and even serve part of the meal.
This may be one of the more expensive gifts, but it is a truly unforgettable experience that will give your grandparents a fabulous view of the local area.
Many hot air balloon companies will also include a glass of bubbly after landing. Balloons Over Britain is a syndicate of several balloon operators, most of whom have been offering balloon rides for more than 30 years. You’ll find plenty of locations offering rides on the website.
If your grandparents are living in an older property and would love to be closer to family members, think about taking them to visit a Beechcroft development – and perhaps out for afternoon tea afterwards.
They will be surprised at the space, style and specification of Beechcroft’s new homes and it’s always enjoyable to look round a show home.
The Buy A Gift website features a number of luxurious gifts that would be ideal for grandparents but our favourite is a two-night stay in one of a range of chic, sophisticated hotels across the UK or Europe.
They could book a luxurious stay in a city or in the country with breakfast included. Priced just under £200 at the time of writing, the voucher for this hotel is valid for 12 months from the date you purchase it.
The Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden is home to both The Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera.
Buy your grandparents gift vouchers and they’ll have the chance to enjoy some of the world’s best performances and to relax in the Piazza Restaurant, Piazza rooftop terrace or café or, as ticket holders, they would be able to book a light meal in the magnificent Paul Hamlyn Hall Dining Room, at the heart of the Royal Opera House.
A five-star dining experience on a vintage steam train must top the list of luxurious experiences.
Your grandparents will be able to relax in an Art Deco vintage rail carriage pulled by a steam train. Travelling from London to Surrey, they’ll enjoy a freshly prepared five-course meal with wine. Virgin Experiences offer this trip, which departs London Victoria, at the time of writing. You may find the current journeys offered on this train on the Virgin Experiences website.
If your grandparents are still driving, how about buying them a fun car sign with a picture of a vintage style car and text that reads ‘Elderly driver, please be patient, thank you!'
In red, black and white, it’s vivid so won’t be missed and at 14 cm by 14 cm it isn’t too big. It comes with a suction cup to attach to the window. Similar signs read ‘Old and Slow. Sorry!’ and 'I’m Way Too Old to Be Driving.’ It’s easy to find these on websites like Amazon and Etsy.
There are some really funny slogan t shirts around – as long as your grandparent has a sense of humour!
Take a look at ‘I’m not old, I’m vintage’ t shirts or those that state ‘Vintage’ and your grandparent’s date of birth. There’s a wide range of choice on Amazon.
If you don’t want to spend a great deal of money on a funny present for a grandparent, you could think about buying a pair of slogan socks.
There’s a lot of choice on Amazon and most are priced at less than £10.
A company called AlzProducts produces a range of great gifts for those suffering from dementia – although many of them are not limited to those with dementia and would make great grandparent gifts.
These gifts, selected to stimulate, engage and provide soothing entertainment, include jigsaws, painting gifts, a huggable sensory companion/music player, radios, singalong CDs, traditional games such as snakes and ladders and much more.
These can be found on the website alzproducts.co.uk.
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