5 Gifts Grandparents Will Love

Here is the first thing you need to know about holiday shopping for grandparents: We just can't get enough pictures of our grandchildren. 

Whether they're printed on Kodak paper or popped in as wallpaper on our iPad screens, grandparents love, love, love looking at those precious faces. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking in the right direction:

1. Photo books

These are available on-line through sites like Snapfish.com, or you can order them when you take your digital images or film to Walgreen's, CVS, Rite Aid, or wherever you order prints. My personal favorite is a 4x6 album that fits into my purse. (Go ahead, ask me about my grandchildren.)

2. Framed photos

Help the kids make a frame using a craft-store kit, or simple materials like heavy cardboard or Popsicle sticks, then fill it with a school photo. MarthaStewart.com has a cute idea for picture frames made out of paper. 

3. Photo mugs or key chains

Take it from me, there's no better way to start the day than with the smiling faces of your grandchildren looking back at you. The same is true with key chains, or anything else a grandparent might use every day. 

4. Photo t-shirts

Hip, happening grandparents still wear these, and it's easy-as-pie these days to customize them. Michaels has plain t-shirts in a variety of sizes and colors, as well as transfer paper that you can use to print the images from your home computer. If you're a little nervous about getting the shirts just right, leave it to the professionals, like Big Frog Custom T-Shirts and More in Novi, owned by Farmington Hills residents Doug and Robin Rossman. 

5. Photo keepsake box

A small wooden box with decoupaged photos on the lid looks great on a grandparent's coffee table or dresser. You might even fill it with a few more photos or keepsakes, like a memento from a special trip.