Gifts for Grandparents

Since Hanukkah is early this year (yay!) and Besta just had a birthday, we have been working on a couple of projects that might be helpful for those of you in need of grandparent gifts for Christmas. Grandparents are such special people, so we always try to make sure they get especially meaningful gifts.


Gift idea #1 is embroidered artwork. If your little one is like Sylvie, who has recently moved past the scribble stage and into her "stick figure period," this is a great way to forever capture some of those adorable drawings.

On the left is "Owl and Tree" for Grandma and Papa and on the right is "Bug" for Besta. We put ours in frames but this would also be great for making pillows or dishtowels. If you've never done embroidery before, this is a perfect first project because imperfect embroidery will only add to the charm. An embroidered hand print is also cute (and faster). You can even buy custom embroideries, although it looks like she is no longer taking orders for this Christmas.


Gift idea #2 is photo coasters. Thomas' mom told me she needed some new coasters and since Besta loves photos, we wanted to make her some photo coasters. I looked around and saw this idea for tissue paper coasters and figured if Modge Podge can seal tissue paper to tile then why not photos? We already had some white tiles left over from our bathroom tiling, so I ordered some 4x6 pictures in black and white from Costco. I trimmed them down to 4x4, Sylvie gave each tile a coat of Modge Podge and we stuck on our photos.

Modge Podge is also a sealer, so we did 5 or 6 thin coats of Modge Podge on top, waiting 15 minutes between each coat, to seal the photos to the tiles. Last, we added felt squares to the bottom to protect Besta's table.

This is so easy, so inexpensive and really beautiful. Another similar idea is a photo tile to display. I think my mantel might need a few of those.


And here are a few other ideas from past grandparent gifts: Photo clock 1, Photo clock 2, Artwork handkerchiefs,  Photo frames with interviews (so easy and I think this was one of the grandparents' favorite gifts).