Picking out the perfect gift to celebrate a loved one’s birthday can be difficult, especially if you are trying to buy it for your grandma who is much older than you. You might rack your brain trying to think of what she would use or cherish, but there’s no better way to learn what birthday gifts grandmas like than from grandmothers themselves. 

That’s why Capture chose 10 grandmas to tell us about their favorite birthday gifts. While we offer 20 years of experience preserving memories, these grandmas offer insight that only grandparents can provide. 

Keep reading to learn about the best grandma birthday gifts including personalized jewelry, handmade quilts, memory scrapbooks, weekend getaways, personalized cookbooks, and so much more, all from grandmas who told us about their favorite birthday presents. 

Jump to:

• Grandma Mary: Personalized Jewelry
• Grandma Jane: Handmade Quilt
• Grandma Lisa: Memory Scrapbook
• Grandma Sue: A Weekend Getaway
• Grandma Ellen: A Family Portrait Session
• Grandma Rachel: Personalized Cookbook
• Grandma Anna: Vintage Perfume
• Grandma Kate: Gardening Kit
• Grandma Sarah: A Letter from Her Grandchild
• Grandma Nina: Spa Day Package

1. Grandma Mary: Personalized Jewelry

Grandma Mary has always loved jewelry, but she told us that her favorite gift ideas were those that were personalized. So, she shared some of her most cherished personalized gifts including a necklace with her birthstone and a bracelet that reads, “I love you, Nana.”

She said, “These gifts meant so much to me not because they were beautiful jewelry pieces, even though they are. They mean so much to me because my grandkids put thought into each one. They are items that I will hold dear to myself for the rest of my life.”

So, where can you get personalized gifts for grandmother? Places like Etsy and Amazon often have sellers who will personalize jewelry by engraving a special message or adding a fill-in date, name, or even a family photo. They can also personalize other items like coffee mugs, silk pillowcases, keychains, tote bags, and tech gadgets. 

2. Grandma Jane: Handmade Quilt

Grandma Jane, known as GiGi by her grandchildren, proudly showed us her favorite birthday keepsake: a handmade quilt with a patch by each one of her 9 grandkids. Each square shows the love and family memories of each grandchild and creates something that warms both GiGi’s body and heart. 

Jane enthusiastically told us about each patch, what it meant to her, and why this thoughtful gift was so important to her. One of her grandchildren learned how to convert 35mm slides to digital to include his favorite picture of him and GiGi while squares from younger loved ones had hearts, sunshine, personal messages, and loving designs. 

Let your memories shape your ideas for the quilt to create one of the most meaningful presents for grandma's birthday. Try to include special experiences and memories that you share with your grandma or include sections based on her favorite interests and hobbies. 

3. Grandma Lisa: Memory Scrapbook

When Grandma Lisa shuffled through her Memory Scrapbook a tear came to her eye. The thoughtful gift was made with old Polaroid pictures, meaningful drawings, personalized designs, and pages dedicated to the happiest memories that Lisa shared with her only grandchild. 

Lisa pointed out a drawing of a hummingbird and told us that when her grandchild, David, was just a young child they would spend the day together watching birds flutter in and out of their birdbath. They always talked about wanting to see the elusive hummingbird and when it finally came, it created one of their most special memories together. 

That’s why a memory scrapbook is such a personal and sentimental gift. You can get lots of great supplies from Walmart or other stores, but even if you don’t know how to scrapbook, you can convert photos to digital to create a digital scrapbook or add all your favorite photos to a digital picture frame. Either way, these are the types of thoughtful gifts for elderly grandparents that mean so much. 

4. Grandma Sue: A Weekend Getaway

All Grandma Sue wanted for her birthday was to spend more time with her long-distance children and grandchildren. Last year, she got her wish when they surprised her with a last-minute weekend getaway to her favorite vacation spot: the beach. 

She told us this was the perfect gift because nothing could compare to spending time in the sunshine with her favorite people. She was able to create new memories and get away from the life she called, “mundane and boring.” But the trip rejuvenated her soul and as she told us about splashing around in the water, relaxing at the hotel, and eating at her favorite spots, she never stopped smiling. 

A weekend getaway is one of the best gifts for grandpa or grandma and allows you to spend more time with them. Just make sure you bring an old video camera along with you to capture home movies of the special experience!  

5. Grandma Ellen: A Family Portrait Session

No birthday present, Christmas gift, or Mother’s Day gift is more important to Grandma Ellen than her family portrait. She explained, “It’s so hard to get every family member together. We all live in different places leading busy lives.” That’s why her grandchildren created a plan to get the entire family tree together for a professional family portrait. 

While it took a lot of planning, they were able to get the whole family together to capture a special memory and create an heirloom that can be passed down from the matriarch to children, grandchildren, and future generations. 

Additionally, you can also use the family portrait in a memory book, add it to a personalized photo frame, or use it to create wall art for the best grandma ever. 

6. Grandma Rachel: Personalized Cookbook

There’s nothing like grandma’s cooking and family recipes are as big a part of memories and the family legacy as anything. That’s why Grandma Rachel always keeps her personalized cookbook handy. She showed family recipes that have been passed down to her throughout the years as well as newer ones created by other family members. 

As she flipped through the pages, you could almost see the memories of sharing these special meals pass before her eyes. Each recipe was a part of her life story from the Thanksgiving stuffing to the old-fashioned pear preserves, homemade fudge, and broccoli casserole. 

To make a family recipe book, try asking your grandfather, parents, cousins, and other relatives for their favorite meals. See if you can scrape up some of Grandma’s recipes without her knowing as well. Then, put them all together into a DIY book. 

You can even add decorations, share special memories, or include relevant old fashioned camera pictures of your family eating meals. Additionally, you can also include a grandma’s kitchen gift box with an engraved cutting board, personalized kitchenware, or other items to create a great gift that your grandma will always remember. 

7. Grandma Anna: Vintage Perfume

One of the most nostalgic senses is the sense of smell and as soon as Grandma Anna, or Mimi, sniffs the flowery scent of her favorite perfume, she starts to tell us about her youth and the day she met Grandpa. Mimi said that she had stopped wearing perfume for years, but after mentioning her favorite perfume from years ago during a grandkid and grandparents day out, her grandkids decided to do something about it. 

On her next birthday, she received her favorite perfume, and her memories, stories, and experiences came flooding back to her. She wears it often, but it’s not just the fragrance that is so special, but the memories Mimi associated with it. 

If you get your grandma perfume, you can include it in a gift set complete with other items including favorite movies, old photos, flowers, gift cards, and anything else that your grandma loves.  

8. Grandma Kate: Gardening Kit

Grandma Kate has a green thumb and claims that her gardening is the reason she still feels so healthy and youthful. Other than her family, her gardening hobby is the most important thing to her, which is why it meant so much to receive garden tools, books, seeds, and other items last April for her birthday. 

Since then, she has also made memories by creating a new garden with her grandchild. She told us, “We document everything with photos that mean the world to me. Watching my grandchild grow just as fast as the tomatoes just, well, makes me smile!” 

Even if your grandma isn’t already into gardening like Grandma Kate, this can be a great gift to not only improve her quality of life, but to share new memories by creating a garden together. If gardening doesn’t seem to align with your grandmother’s interests, you can choose a different hobby like music, dance, or rock polishing! 

9. Grandma Sarah: A Letter from Her Grandchild

Sarah is a relatively new grandma, so her grandchild is only 2 years old. Because of that, she couldn’t expect jewelry, scrapbooks, family portraits, or a weekend getaway, but what she did receive was so much better. 

On her birthday she received a letter from her 2-year-old granddaughter complete with special drawings, scribbles, and photos. While it was obviously written by her daughter, Sarah could tell that the feelings that were expressed were 100% from a 2-year-old saying things like, “I love when Grammy plays with me and gives me new toys.”

Regardless of whether you’re 10 or 50, a letter to your grandma can mean everything in the world. You can express your feelings, reminiscence about vintage camcorder memories, include poetry, and much more. You can even get all the grandkids together to write a letter together that is sure to bring a smile to grandma’s face. 

10. Grandma Nina: Spa Day Package

Another fantastic grandma gift is a spa day, which is exactly what Grandma Nina got as her 50th birthday gift idea. She laughed as she mentioned the humor involved that told her she needed a spa day now that she was, “over the hill.” While the humor was great, the gift was even better because it gave her a chance to pamper herself for once. 

Grandma Nina said that even though it’s been almost 5 years, she still feels better because of her spa day. The memory lasts forever, and it was an experience that she never would have bought for herself, which makes it an incredibly unique gift. 

While a spa might sound expensive, not all of them are pricey. Plus, you can go with your grandma to experience the tranquility yourself. Try comparing different spa packages in your area to find one that offers the types of services you think your grandma would love for an affordable price. 

Conclusion

There is a wide range of different grandma birthday gifts to choose from, but the best gifts are thoughtful. Whether you choose unique presents for grandma like a recipe or memory book, weekend getaway, or spa experience, or go with more traditional keepsakes for grandmothers, it’s sure to make her birthday better. 

If you plan on using photos for a picture frame, memory book, quilt, or other personalized gift that grandmothers love, make sure you preserve the photo in high quality digital format first. Capture offers the first-ever touchless photo album scanning service, which means we can digitize all the photos in your albums without anyone having to touch them or risk damage. You can even give your loved one the gift of preserving memories themselves with our digitizing gift ideas.

Click here to learn about our photo scanning offers today!