Gifts for grandparents

Why is a CD of songs from their era a good gift?

A CD of the songs from their teens and early twenties is a grandparent gift that gets played, because most people stay attached to that music for life. It often lives in a car or kitchen that still has a CD player, and needs only a press of play. Streaming services ask for an account, an app and a password; a CD asks for none of them.

How to choose the songs

• Work out the years they were roughly 15 to 25, and start with what was on the radio then.
• Ask your parents what played in the house, at family parties and in the car when they were kids.
• Include their wedding song or first dance if you can find out what it was.
• Add the songs they used to sing to the grandkids, even if they’re nursery songs or hymns.
• Ask for clean versions if there’s any doubt.

Put a family photo on the cover and a printed tracklist inside so they can see what each song is. If two grandparents share it, a mix of the songs from the year they met makes it about both of them.

Have the list but no burner? We’ll burn it to a custom CD with a printed tracklist, or with a photo of the grandkids as the cover.

What are good gifts for grandma?

Good gifts for grandma include a photo book of the grandchildren with real captions, her recipes typed up and bound, letters and drawings from the grandkids, and a CD of her songs for the kitchen.

A photo book with real captions

A year of the grandchildren, printed, with a caption under each photo saying who, where and what happened. Captions turn a stack of photos into a story she can show her friends.

Her recipes, typed up and bound

Collect the recipes she’s known for, type them up, and have them printed as a small book. Copy her handwritten notes onto the pages. Give her one and keep one for the family.

Letters and drawings from the grandkids

Have each grandchild write a letter or draw a picture, and put them in a folder or frame. Older grandkids can write about a favorite memory with her.

A CD of her songs for the kitchen

The songs she danced to, sung by the voices she grew up with, ready to play while she cooks. Our songs for mom list has picks that suit a grandmother as well.

What are good gifts for grandpa?

Good gifts for grandpa include a CD of the songs he grew up with for the truck or garage, a day out with the grandkids, and a new framed photo of him with the grandchildren.

A CD for the truck or the garage

If he still drives something with a CD player, a disc of the songs he grew up with will live there. Our songs for dad list is written for exactly that man.

A day out with the grandkids

Fishing, a ball game, a car show, a walk somewhere he used to go. The time is the gift; the photos from it make a second gift later.

A framed photo of him with the grandchildren

Take a new one on purpose, print it properly and frame it. Grandparents are often the ones taking the photos, so they rarely end up in them.

Shopping for a dad or grandpa who has everything? The same rule applies: give him something only the family can make, rather than something he’d buy himself.

How do you give grandparents recorded family messages?

The easiest ways to give grandparents recorded family voices are a recordable storybook, short phone messages played together at the next visit, or recordings burned to a CD. None of them asks a grandparent to learn new technology:

• A recordable storybook. These picture books let a child record themselves reading each page; the grandparent just opens the book.
• Messages from the whole family. Ask everyone to record a short message on their phone, then collect them in one place and play them together at the next visit.
• Recordings on a CD. If you have recordings saved as audio files, you can burn them to a CD yourself so they play on the stereo. Our guide on how to burn a CD walks through it.

What songs should go on a CD for grandparents?

Songs for grandparents fall into two groups: the songs from their own youth, and songs about family that the grandkids can choose. For the first, start with the decade they were young in. For the second, our lists of songs for mom and songs for dad include plenty that fit a grandparent, and our anniversary songs cover the golden-anniversary classics if they’re celebrating together.

For grandparents who grew up with records and tapes, our guide to nostalgic gifts has more ideas in the same spirit.