Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Grown Son

Grown sons are famously hard to buy for. Ask what he wants and he says nothing really, or sends you a link to something he could buy himself tomorrow. The best Christmas gift for a grown son is something good enough that he would never splurge on it, or something with family history he cannot get anywhere else. Our top pick is the second kind: a song about him, from the parent who remembers the boy he was.

Play a real Songbond song

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry his name and your stories.

12 Christmas gift ideas for your grown son

1. A song about him ($39.90). The Little League game he still talks about, the car he saved up for at 17, the way he looks after his own kids now. Share them and Songbond turns them into an original song, ready within 24 hours.
2. His grandfather's watch or tools. If something is sitting in a drawer, give it to him now with a note about who wore it or used it, and when. It will mean more than anything new.
3. A proper chef's knife. One good knife beats a block of cheap ones. Add a honing steel and show him how to use it. Usually $60 to $150.
4. Good leather boots. Work boots or dress boots, built to be resoled rather than thrown away. Usually $120 to $250.
5. Tickets to a game, with you. His team, two seats, and the drive there together. Usually $80 to $300.
6. A meat thermometer and grill tools. If he grills, an instant-read thermometer ends the guessing for good. Usually $30 to $80.
7. A full detail for his car. Inside and out. It is the job he keeps meaning to get around to. Usually $100 to $250.
8. A book of his childhood. Scan his school reports, drawings, team photos and the letter he wrote to Santa, and have it printed. Usually $40 to $80.
9. A leather wallet with his initials. Plain, slim and made to wear in over years. Usually $40 to $120.
10. A day doing what you did when he was a boy. Fishing at the same lake, a hike on the same trail, pancakes at the same diner. Put the date in his card.
11. A burr grinder and a bag of good coffee. For the son who starts every day with a cup. Usually $40 to $100.
12. A photo of him with his dad or grandpa. Find one from when he was small and frame it next to a recent one of them together. Usually $30 to $80.

How to choose for him

Look at what he uses every day and what is worn out. Sons often keep using a cracked wallet or a dull knife for years. Replacing that one thing with a good version gets noticed every time he picks it up.

• If he is practical: the knife, the boots or the car detail.
• If he is a new dad himself: the photo with his dad, the childhood book or the song.
• If you want more time with him: the game or the day out.

When your son is not a talker

Many sons, and many parents, find it hard to say the soft things out loud. That is fine. You do not need a speech. Give the sentimental gift quietly, after the busy part of the day is over, maybe while you are washing up or walking him to the car. Say one sentence, I made you something, and let him open it on his own time. A song or a letter lets you say what you mean without either of you having to find the words in the moment.

Make his song

Create a song for your son. Tell us about him and his song is ready within 24 hours. Nothing ships, so there is no holiday cutoff: express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: mother-son dance songs and why a song makes a good Christmas gift.