Today has been spent getting the last of our gifts together. My husband and I both have sets of grandparents in Florida and today was the day that I needed to get a gift out to them. I don’t know about you, but I find that grandparents are difficult to give to. As we get older, it seems we accumulate so much stuff. I already feel as though I have a rapidly growing collection of belongings and the need for things just isn’t as strong as it used to be. On my husband’s side, there are six children. Six children, plus their children, plus their children’s children…well, that equals a lot of stuff every Christmas.
My husband’s grandparents had encouraged us to give what we would have given them to charity. Although I think that is very thoughtful of them, I still wanted to give them something special that they could actually enjoy.
What do I give someone when I can’t think of anything else to give them? Why, pictures of my children, of course! I had taken so many pictures of our children over the holidays and was excited to get copies made of them to give to the grandparents.
A recent addition to our Dollar Tree were some beautiful photo albums (which I picked up over half a dozen of, for occasions such as these) and a quick stop over to Sam’s Club to pick up prints, and I had all the ingredients I needed to make a beautiful holiday gift.
I remember when we lived far away from my nephew; there was just so much I felt like I missed out on with him. I wanted to know what everyone else knew. I wanted to know what his favorite color was, what his favorite book was, what his favorite time of day was…things that I felt like I should know as his aunt. Unfortunately, when you live far from your family, these are just everyday occurrences in their life that you don’t get to be a part of.
In this album, I tried to recreate some of the special moments of our days together. I wrote about what my son’s aspirations were at the tender age of four (anyone looking for a top chef on their staff?), what my daughter loved to sleep with, our experience with Santa, what my son wanted for Christmas…all of the things that I know that they would want to know. 
A special letter, a little holiday ribbon, and our gift was ready to go. I am hoping that it will be a memorable one for them and a way for them to feel like they are just as much a part of our lives as if they lived right next door.
I am avoiding the post office at all costs, so I put the shipment information into RedRoller.com (be sure to read that post on this great mailing service!) and put the packages outside of our door. The boxes were ordered, for free, from the UPS website and the labels were printed on the back of some of my recycled computer paper.
Total cost per gift (including shipping)- $9.00
We also included one of my son’s art projects, just to add that special touch that only he could add to the parcel. His picture of “Monsters” will be loved by them all.
Do you have a favorite gift that you have given for the person who has everything? Sound off by clicking my comments button. You don’t have to secretly lurk here- I would love to get some new ideas for my family.
P.S.- Aren’t my kids so dang cute? You can definitely comment on that!