Christmas Gifts for Parents Who Live Far Away

When your parents live far away, Christmas can feel like the one time a year you are supposed to make up for all the other months. The best Christmas gifts for long-distance parents keep you present long after the wrapping is gone: photos that keep arriving, calls that are easier, a visit to look forward to. Gifts that need no shipping are a big help. Our top pick is a song about your family, because it carries your childhood and your life now in one piece they can play for anyone who stops by.

Hear an example of a Songbond song

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your parents' names and your stories.

12 Christmas gift ideas for parents who live far away

1. A song about your family ($39.90). The house you grew up in, the thing Dad always said on long drives, the childhood nickname Mom still uses. Songbond turns it into an original song, ready within 24 hours, with nothing to ship.
2. A photo frame you fill from your phone. A digital frame you set up before you send it, then keep adding photos to all year. Every new picture shows up in their living room. Usually $80 to $180.
3. A visit. Your flight home, or tickets for them to come to you. Put the dates in the card so they can start telling the neighbors.
4. A tablet set up for video calls. Load the apps, sign them in, and make the call button the only thing on the home screen. Usually $60 to $150.
5. Dinner at their favorite restaurant, on you. Call ahead and pay for a meal for two at the place they love in their own town. Usually $60 to $150.
6. Help around the house. A cleaning service, a handyman visit, or snow cleared for the winter. It is the help you would give if you lived nearby. Usually $80 to $200.
7. A food box from your town. The bakery they loved when they visited, or the local specialty they always ask about. Usually $40 to $80.
8. A calendar of the grandkids. One photo for each month, with every family birthday already marked in. Usually $25 to $40.
9. A guided memory journal. A book of prompts about their own life, from first jobs to how they met, that they fill in over the year. Usually $20 to $35.
10. Kids' drawings in the mail. If you have children, promise a drawing or letter every month of next year, and keep the promise. It costs stamps, and their fridge will fill up.
11. A monthly delivery. Flowers, fruit or good coffee arriving every month, so they hear from you between calls. Usually $30 to $60 a month.
12. A family video message. Everyone on your side says one thing they love about them, cut into a short video they can watch on the TV. Free, apart from an evening of your time.

How to choose for parents far away

Think about what their week looks like without you in it. Some parents are busy and happy, and would love a way to see more of your life. Others find winter lonely, or the house harder to keep up. The right gift fills whichever gap is real.

• If they want to see more of your life: the photo frame, the calendar or the family video.
• If the house is getting to be a lot: the help around the house or the monthly delivery.
• If they simply miss you: the visit, the tablet for calls or the song.

Open it together, even from far away

Parents who live far away can end up opening their gifts alone, after the calls are done. Change that this year. Ask them to wait and open your gift on a video call, with everyone on your end in the room. Mail it with a note on the box asking them to open it with you. If you are giving a song, play it during the call, so they hear it with your voices around it and not in a quiet kitchen later. Then leave something for afterward: a card that says what you will do together on your next visit.

Make a song for your parents

Create a Christmas song for your parents from your family's stories. It is ready within 24 hours, and express delivery gets it to you in about an hour, with no shipping and no cutoff date.

Also in the Journal: a personalised song as a Christmas gift and songs about moving away.