Gifts for Grandparents Who Have Everything

Your grandparents have a full house, a full closet and a standing rule that nobody should buy them anything. After fifty-odd years of birthdays and holidays, more things are the last thing they want. The best gifts for grandparents who have everything are memories, outings and small comforts that take up no shelf space. Here are 12 ideas that work any time of year. Our top pick is a song about their life together, because it holds the whole story and still fits in a pocket.

Hear a song Songbond made

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

12 gifts for grandparents who have everything

1. A song about their life together ($39.90). Share how they met, the houses they lived in and the things the grandchildren always hear at dinner. Songbond turns it into an original song, ready within 24 hours. There is nothing to dust and nothing to store.
2. A map of every home they have lived in. A framed print with a small heart on each address, from the first apartment to the house they are in now. Usually $40 to $90.
3. A day trip to the town where they met. Drive them there, find the old dance hall or the church, and have lunch somewhere on the main street. You will hear stories you have never heard.
4. An afternoon labeling old photos together. Sit down with the shoeboxes and write names, places and years on the backs before nobody remembers who is who. It costs a pen and a pot of coffee.
5. Tickets to a tribute band from their dating years. The music they danced to at twenty, played live at a local theater. Usually $40 to $90 a seat.
6. A tree planted for the family. A fruit or flowering tree in their yard, chosen together, that the grandchildren can watch grow. Usually $50 to $150 including planting.
7. A class in something new. Painting, bridge, pickleball, a cooking course. Grandparents who have everything often still want new things to do. Usually $30 to $100.
8. A binder of letters from every grandchild. One page each, in a proper binder they can take off the shelf and reread. Collect them quietly over a month.
9. Their hometown newspaper, delivered. A subscription to the local paper from the place they grew up, so they can keep up with the names they still know. Usually $10 to $20 a month.
10. A night at a bed and breakfast. Somewhere an hour away, with a porch and a big breakfast. Usually $150 to $300.
11. The night sky from their wedding date. A star map print showing the sky over the town where they married. Usually $40 to $90.
12. A family membership at the zoo or botanical garden. Somewhere easy to walk, with benches, that they can visit with the grandchildren all year. Usually $60 to $150.

How to choose for grandparents who have it all

Ask what they would miss most if it were gone. For most grandparents the answer is not a thing. It is the stories, the people and the places. Choose the gift that gives them more of one of those.

• If they love to reminisce: the song, the map of homes or the photo labeling afternoon.
• If they love company: the zoo membership, the tribute band or the day trip.
• If they have just downsized: the hometown paper, the bed and breakfast or the letters.

The one-in, one-out rule

Many grandparents are quietly trying to own less, not more. They are sorting drawers and giving away the good china. A gift that adds clutter becomes one more thing for the family to deal with later. Before you buy, ask yourself one question: could they use it up, visit it, listen to it or plant it? If the answer is no, choose again. If you must give an object, make it something that replaces an old one, and offer to carry the old one away.

Make a song for your grandparents

Create a song for your grandparents. Tell us their story, and the song is ready within 24 hours. If you are seeing them tomorrow, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: Grandparents Day songs and songs for a golden anniversary.

More personal gift guides

• Meaningful Gifts for Older Parents
• Meaningful Gifts for Long-Distance Grandparents
• Long-Distance Gifts for Grandma
• Meaningful Gifts for Grandpa