The short answer
The best gift ideas for grandparents bring the family closer or make everyday life more comfortable. Think a photo book of the family’s year, a digital photo frame everyone can send pictures to, a memory journal to fill in, or a day out with the grandchildren. Most grandparents value time and connection over more things, so favour experiences, photos and treats that get used up.
The best gift ideas for grandparents aren’t really about things. After decades of birthdays and Christmases, most grandparents have the ornaments covered. What they’d love more of is time with the family, a window into the grandchildren’s lives, and small comforts done well. The ideas below work as gifts for grandma, gifts for grandad, or presents for nan and grandad together.
What grandparents actually want
Grandparents range from fifty-something cyclists to great-grandparents in their nineties, and plenty are more online than their grandchildren. So start with the person, not the label. Four things tend to matter most:
- Time: a day out, a visit, a regular call that actually happens.
- Connection: feeling part of the grandchildren’s lives between visits.
- Comfort: small everyday pleasures, done beautifully.
- Less stuff: many are downsizing, so clutter-free gift ideas are often the kindest choice.
Shopping for your own mum or dad, newly promoted to grandparent? Our gift ideas for mum and gift ideas for dad have plenty more.
Ollie’s tipTell me they’re downsizing and I’ll look for presents they’ll use up or do, not store.
Gifts that bring the family closer
The presents grandparents keep longest tend to have the family in them.
Photo book of the family’s year
Birthdays, first days at school and the holiday where it rained, printed and captioned. It will live on the coffee table and be shown to every visitor.
Digital photo frame the family can send pictures to
New photos arrive straight from everyone’s phones, so the kitchen fills with the grandchildren’s week. Set it up and add the family before you wrap it.
“Tell me your story” memory journal
A question on every page, from “What was your first job?” to “How did you two meet?” Filled in over a year, it hands the family their stories in their own handwriting.
Framed drawings by the grandchildren
A crayon portrait of Grandad in a proper frame and mount stops being fridge art and becomes something for the hallway.
A family photoshoot, all three generations
One photographer, one sunny morning in the park, and a portrait for the mantelpiece with everyone in it for once.
Everyday comforts
Small things they’ll use every day, done well.
Heated throw with an auto-off timer
Warmth on the sofa without heating the whole house, and it switches itself off.
Cake by post from a small bakery
A different cake every month for three months. Lovely with a pot of tea, and gone by the weekend.
Cushioned lap tray
For the crossword, the jigsaw or breakfast in bed. Small, but used every single day.
Lambswool touchscreen gloves
Warm on the school run, and still able to reply to the family group chat.
A reading pillow with arms
Proper back support for sitting up in bed with a book or a tablet. Ask any student: they’re brilliant.
Gifts for their hobbies
- Garden birds: a feeder that suckers to the kitchen window, or a nest box with a camera that streams to their phone.
- Puzzles: a wooden jigsaw with little shaped “whimsy” pieces, or a jigsaw made from a favourite family photo.
- Baking: a glass-domed cake stand for the Sunday bake, plus a child-sized apron so a grandchild can help.
- Reading: two copies of the same novel, one for them and one for a teenage grandchild, so they can compare notes.
- Music: concert tickets with a grandchild as their date, or a family evening where each grandchild plays them one song and says why.
Ollie’s tipTell me what’s stuck to their fridge door. It’s the quickest way I know to find out what they love.
Experience gifts for grandparents
Ask most grandparents what they want and the answer is some version of “just to see you”. Make it an occasion:
- A day on a heritage steam railway with the grandchildren, and a picnic
- A pantomime, one grandchild at a time, so each gets them to themselves
- A “teach me” afternoon: they teach the grandchildren to bake, fish or wire a plug, and you bring lunch
- A family lunch where the grandchildren do the cooking, and the washing up
Gifts for grandparents from grandchildren
From grandchildren, handmade nearly always wins. You supply the materials and the postage; they supply the love (and the glitter).
- Toddlers: a handprint pressed into a clay tile, dated on the back.
- Primary school: a homemade calendar with a drawing for every month and every family birthday marked, or a letter on “why my grandma is brilliant”.
- Teenagers: a day spent doing the grandparent’s hobby with them, properly, phone in pocket.
- Grown-up grandchildren: lunch out, and you pay.
Gifts for grandparents who live far away
Distance changes the brief: you’re sending connection by post. Chan and Mogilner (2017, Journal of Consumer Research) found that experiential gifts strengthen the relationship between giver and recipient more than material gifts, because of the emotions felt when the experience is enjoyed, even when it isn’t enjoyed together (more in what the research says). So an outing near their home still brings you closer. Try:
- A meal out at their favourite local place, booked and paid for from afar
- A recordable storybook: they read it aloud, post it back, and are there at bedtime
- Stamped postcards addressed both ways, so letters go back and forth all year
- The travel booked for a visit, which might be the best present of all
Gift ideas for grandparents by budget
For Christmas gifts for grandparents from the whole family, pool your budgets into one bigger present from the top band. From a single grandchild, the first band is plenty.
| Budget | Ideas |
|---|---|
| Under £20 | A clay handprint tile, stamped postcards, a homemade calendar, a window bird feeder |
| £20–£50 | A photo book of the year, a memory journal, a wooden jigsaw, framed drawings, a reading pillow |
| £50–£100 | A heated throw, a digital photo frame, cake by post, a nest box camera |
| £100 and up | A family photoshoot, a steam railway day for everyone, a visit with the travel booked |
How Ollie helps with presents for grandparents
Describe each grandparent in a sentence or two and add them to your Christmas or birthday list, with a budget for the list or a different one just for them. Here’s an example:
My grandad, 79. Plays bowls twice a week, video-calls the grandchildren every Sunday, hates clutter. Around £40.
A bowls player who never misses a video call? Let’s keep it clutter-free:
- Something for the bowls bag he’d never buy himself
- A way to see the family’s week between Sunday calls
- A treat that gets eaten, not stored
Ollie decides what kinds of present would suit them, then finds real, in-stock products from independent shops that deliver to your country and fit the budget, each with a reason. Keep what you like, pass on the rest, and mark what you buy so he won’t suggest it again in later years. At the end of the year, you can start next year’s list with the same people. Planning presents for the whole family? Our Christmas gift planner shows you how.
Describe your grandparents in a sentence or two and Ollie will find in-stock presents from independent shops that suit them and fit your budget.
Try Ollie freeCommon questions
What do you buy grandparents who have everything?
Give them time, stories and things that get used up. A day out with the grandchildren, a photo book of the family’s year, a memory journal to fill in, or a monthly treat like cake by post all add to their life without adding to the cupboards. If they’re downsizing, skip ornaments and anything else that needs a shelf.
What can grandchildren give their grandparents?
Something they made or did themselves. A handprint tile, a framed drawing, a homemade calendar or a letter about a favourite memory will usually mean more than anything from a shop. Older grandchildren can give time instead: a day doing their grandparent’s hobby with them, or lunch out that they pay for. Parents can help with materials, frames and postage.
What is a good gift for grandparents who live far away?
Anything that keeps them in the family’s everyday life. A digital photo frame the family can send pictures to, a recordable storybook for bedtimes, stamped postcards for letters back and forth, or an outing near their home all work well. Best of all, if you can manage it, is a visit: the travel booked and the date in the diary.
What is a good present for a grandparent in a care home?
Small comforts that need little space. A soft, washable blanket or cardigan labelled with their name, a favourite hand cream, and treats they can share with visitors (check dietary needs with the staff first). Photos matter too: a small album with names written under each face helps visitors and staff start conversations. Ask the home before buying anything electrical, as some have rules about it.
What are good Christmas gifts for grandparents?
A photo book of the family’s year is hard to beat at Christmas, because it gathers up everything they loved or missed. Pair it with something to look forward to, like a steam railway day or a pantomime booked for the new year. For something small to open on the day, choose a wooden jigsaw or a jigsaw of a family photo: a treat for the quiet days after Christmas.