The best gifts for grandkids are ones the parents say yes to, with a little of you inside. Below are 34 ideas for granddaughters and grandsons from babies to teens, in three budgets, with long-distance gifts marked. Filter by age, star your favorites and share the shortlist with the parents.
Updated by the Frugal Santa elves
Every idea has a budget, an age band and a few tags. Filter by age or by long distance, star the ones that fit, then send your shortlist to the parents so nobody doubles up. Shopping for more of the family? Browse all our Christmas gift ideas.
A cloth book with clear pockets. Fill it with you, the porch and the dog, so your face is a friend before the next visit.
Plant it together on a call in spring, then ask for a photo each week as it climbs past the windowsill.
One for their house and one for yours. Read a chapter together on every video call until you reach the end.
They answer a prompt and mail it to you, and you write back on the next page. By summer it holds both your handwriting.
Write the dishes they ask for at your house on cards, in your own hand. A teen learning to cook will use them, then keep them.
Give one every Christmas. By the time they leave home, they have a box of their own for their first tree.
Each letter of their name is one piece. Many listings are for ages 3 and up because the letters are small parts, so check the label.
Soft fleece for naps on your couch and the car ride home. It tells them which blanket is theirs at Grandma's house.
Kid stationery plus envelopes already stamped and addressed to you, so writing back takes one step instead of four.
Teach them the game you played at their age, like crazy eights or gin rummy, then let them beat you.
Pre-cut wood and a little paint. Build it on a visit, then they hang it where they can see it from the kitchen.
Teach the first stitches in person and the rest over video. Point the camera at your hands and go slowly.
Set up a matching board at your house. Each of you sends one move a day by text or on a call, and a single game can last until spring.
It waits in your hall closet with their name on the tag, which says they can sleep over any weekend they like.
You read each page aloud once and the book keeps it. At bedtime, every page they turn plays your voice.
Record a short goodnight into its sound box. Check the age on the tag, and pick one whose battery door closes with a screw, since small batteries and toddlers don't mix.
They are the hero of the story, and many let you add a dedication from you on the first page. Order early: each copy is printed to order.
Every picture of you together from the last few years, video-call screenshots included. Kids read it like a storybook about themselves.
Bought online from the US Treasury and held until they grow up. A parent has to open a linked account for the child first, so ask before you buy.
Their own rolling case for the trip to your house. Tuck a note inside for them to find on the first night.
A short rod with a push-button reel and a tackle box, plus the promise of an early morning out with you.
Puzzles and stories arrive every month with their name on the label. Ask about the best page when you call.
Jumper cables, a warning triangle and first aid for the trunk. Show them how the cables go on before the day they need them.
One for them and one for you. Open them together on a video call and make the same little creatures side by side.
Pre-measured mixes and kid-size tools for a baking day at your house. Add your own cookie recipe on a card for next time.
A year of visits and a standing reason to go together. Many family plans cover two named adults, so ask whose names go on the card.
Lessons the parents already wanted to book, paid for by you. Ask which class and which night before you sign them up.
Science, horses or theater: the week they would pick. Put the brochure in the card so they can circle the dates.
A ballet, a play or a choir concert, for the two of you. Dress up, then hot cocoa on the way home.
One at their house and one at yours. Tap yours and theirs glows. Many need a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, so check both homes first.
For slow walks to the park with you now, and for hauling a beach bag when they outgrow the ride.
A hotel with a pool an hour away is plenty. Draw the route on a paper map and wrap that.
Load the first book of a series you read as a kid, then ask how far they got every time you talk.
Their team or their band, your treat, and the drive there together.
Start with the parents. Before you shop, text them three questions: what each child is into this month, what they already own, and any house rules about noise, screens, sugar or space. Their answers spare you the drum kit that moves to the garage by New Year's.
Then pick a gift with you in it. Grandparents can give what busy parents often can't: time, a skill and a familiar voice from far away. Teach a card game you played at their age. Record yourself reading a bedtime story. Book a day out for the two of you, or give them their own sleeping bag for nights at your house.
Last, match the gift to the age more than the price. A toddler loves the box it came in, and a teen loves an hour of your full attention. The ideas above are sorted both ways.
14 of the 34 ideas here cost less than $25 when we priced them at US stores this October. The best of them come in pairs or come with you: two copies of one chapter book so you can read along on calls, a pen-pal kit with envelopes already stamped and addressed to you, or a deck of cards with a book of games you can teach.
Small gifts also start traditions. An ornament with their name and the year, given every Christmas, becomes a box of their own by the time they set up a first tree. A sunflower kit opened in December turns into weekly photos in June.
With several grandkids, a small budget each keeps things even. Filter the list to under $25, then look through our cheap Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers for the rest of the family.
Shop for the grandchild in front of you. A granddaughter who builds rockets wants the rocket kit, and a grandson who bakes wants the apron. Ask the parents what each one is into right now, because a seven-year-old's favorite thing can change between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Age matters more than anything else. For children under 3, skip anything with small parts: US safety rules ban them in toys made for that age, and the age label on the box tells you who a toy is for.
From 3 to 5, pick things to make and pretend with. From 6 to 9, kids want a real skill, and you can be the teacher. From 10 to 12, choose a project that lasts across visits. Teens want practical things and time alone with you. Each step below has ideas from the list and a link to more for that age.
The best long-distance gifts keep working after the box is open. Send one thing they keep and one thing you share. A recordable storybook or a stuffed animal that plays your voice brings you to bedtime from three states away. Two copies of the same chapter book or craft kit give a video call something to do, with more to talk about than school.
Mail is still a thrill at six. A pen-pal kit with envelopes already stamped and addressed to you brings letters back, and a magazine with their name on the label arrives every month between visits.
For teens, a pair of touch lamps says hello without a word: tap yours and theirs glows. Then plan the shipping. Order early, send it straight to their door, and check the Christmas shipping deadlines before the last week. Show only the long-distance ideas.
A gift with their name on it says this one is theirs, not the whole family's. For little ones, try a wooden name puzzle, a blanket with their name across it or a storybook where they are the hero. Check the age on puzzle listings: many are for 3 and up because the letters count as small parts.
Personal can also mean made by you. Write your recipes on cards in your own hand for a teen who is learning to cook, or fill a photo book with every picture of the two of you, video-call screenshots included.
Order early. Most personalized gifts are made to order, and sellers need days to print, cut or stitch them before they ship. Spell the name twice before you pay, and ask the parents about nicknames: a puzzle that spells the wrong name can't be fixed. Show only the personalized ideas.
Ask the parents first, or ask them to share the kids' Christmas wish list. On your next call, ask the kids what they would tell Santa. Little ones answer that faster than a plain question about presents.
Or let them tell Santa himself. On a live video call, a child talks with Santa, an AI video character, about their year and their wishes. A grown-up starts every call for a child: you during a visit, or the parents at home. Santa sticks to child-safety rules: no questions about personal details, and no promises that a gift will come.
After the call, the wishes come back to the grown-up who started it, as a list with store prices, lowest first. To let the kids call from home, give the family minutes, then ask the parents which wish is yours to buy. Grandkids who are 18 or older can get a link to Santa's interview instead.
When a box can't make it in time, send something that travels by email. An e-gift card to a bookstore or toy store they love works at any age. Federal rules have covered that money since August 22, 2010: it can't expire for at least five years after the card was bought or last loaded.
A day out needs no box either. Print the zoo membership, the swim lesson booking or two show tickets and slip it into a card the parents hand over on Christmas morning. Leave the savings bond for another year: you need the child's Social Security number to buy one, and you must hold it five business days before it can go into the account a parent sets up.
Or send the call itself. Gift minutes arrive as a code on a gift card: print it, save it as a picture or send the link. The parents open it on the redeem page and sign in with their email. Minutes don't expire.
Set one budget per grandchild before you shop, so the youngest and the oldest feel equally spoiled even when their gifts look nothing alike. Every idea on this page has one of three budget bands, so filter to the band that fits each child.
Check one item's price at three stores, and add the shipping before you compare, since you may be mailing it anyway. A store that ships free to their door can beat a lower sticker price plus a trip to the post office.
Santa's wish list can do the comparing for you. After a live video call with Santa, the grown-up who started it gets each wish back with prices from several stores, cheapest at the top, and a link to each. Hold on to receipts, too: Target's policy lets you ask for a price match within 14 days of buying.
Last, share your shortlist with the parents and the other grandparents, so nobody opens two of the same scooter.
Either works; ask the parents which helps more. For money that grows, a savings bond from the US Treasury starts at $25, but a parent must open a linked account for the child first. A gift card to a store they love is quicker.
Give time and experiences: swim lessons, a zoo membership, two show tickets or an overnight trip with you. Books and a magazine subscription rarely count as clutter.
Keep the budget the same, not the gift. A toddler's wagon and a teen's concert ticket can cost about the same and both feel like the best gift.
Yes. Any grown-up with minutes can start a call for a child who is with them. Read how calling Santa works first.
See gifts for toddlers, Christmas gifts for teens, Christmas gifts for kids and our gifts by age guide.
Only this browser, on this device, holds your stars. They never reach us. When you share the list, the link holds short idea codes after the # mark, the part of a web address that browsers don't send to the site.
Pass the parents our ideas for Christmas gifts for Grandma and Christmas gifts for Grandpa.
Live videoA grown-up starts the call, and the kids tell Santa their wishes on a live video call. The wishes come back as a list with store prices, lowest first. $1 a minute.
Call Santa
