The Best Personalized Gifts for Grandparents: Homemade or Store Bought

Are you a plan-months-ahead gifter? Or a last-minute gifter?

Regardless of your gifting style, one thing is certain. When it comes to giving gifts from your little ones to their grandparents, personalized gifts are always a favorite. Choose something that their favorite little people created or that reminds them of their grandkids every time they see it.

This is our comprehensive list of our favorite items to make or buy for grandparents. All are personalized. All are sweet. All will give grandma and grandpa the feels.

Make: hand towels.

Aren’t these pretty little hand towels so sweet?

Canaan and I had so much fun making these for his “Sparky”. You can customize these to any style.

We have one Grandma who leans toward classic and simple style and one who loves all things colorful. We made a set of these simple hand towels for Canaan’s classic and simple-styled “Sparky.” And the apron (see below) for his color-loving “Grammy”.

They are super easy to make.

You need a good quality towel. One that is not too “fluffy”. A thicker, more heavy-duty flour sack towel works well and is timeless. We love these ones. You’ll also need some fabric paint that won’t wash off when you wash the towels. These are holding up well, but keep in mind, they will definitely last longer if they are treated more as decorative than for heavy-use.

Hand towels. Step 1.

Wash your towels. This is important in case they shrink slightly.
I pre-washed on hot with other towels from around our house.

Hand towels. Step 2.

Map out where you want the design to fall on your towel.
You can hang up the towel to see where you want the design to fall lengthwise and measure to make sure it’s centered widthwise.
Make a light mark with a pencil where you want the center of your child’s handprint to fall.
Decide if you want words in addition to the handprints. Will you want those words above or below the handprint? Plan accordingly.

Hand towels. Step 3.

Set up your station.
On a craft table or a hardwood or tile floor (or any surface that is easily wipeable), set your towel, a paper plate with a generous squirt of your fabric paint on it, a paint brush and a couple damp paper towels or baby wipes.
Put a smock on your kiddos (or just strip them down to their diapers like we do) so no paint accidentally splatters on their clothes.

Hand towels. Step 4.

Use the paint brush to generously paint your kiddo’s hand.
Quickly, place his or her hand on the towel, pressing down.
Pull his or her hand off by lifting straight up so as not to smudge the paint.
Immediately wipe his or her hand off with the wet paper towels or baby wipes to avoid any rouge paint flying around on the way to washing hands at the sink.
Wash hands thoroughly.

Hand towel. Step 5.

Congrats, you conquered your wiggly kiddos and got a successful hand print!
Using the fabric paint and a paintbrush (or fabric paint pens if your feel more comfortable), add the words to your towels.

Hand towel. Step 6.

Allow towels to dry thoroughly before using.

Don’t trust your lettering? Use a stencil!

Make: hand print, footprint ornament.

We did this for Christmas last year for the grandparents and it was a huge hit.

They loved getting a keepsake for the tree to remember how big (or little) his feet and hands were at Christmas-time. And it’s so fun to look back this year and see how much he has grown.

We used this kit. It was really easy to use. The ornament has held up perfectly through last Christmas and being stored for the year, and the kit comes with everything you need (including a little plastic poker to make the hole at the top and the ribbon to string through).

Buy: grandma’s scoreboard.

Does you grandma (or grandpa) love to talk about their growing brood of kids, grandkids (and maybe even great-grands)?

Give them this gift they can display in their home to remind all visitors just how many little legacies they are accumulating.

Make: DIY glass photo ornament.

Let’s be honest here, all grandparents love getting photos of their grandkids.

Are you gifting someone who also loves ornaments? Make them a photo ornament. It’s the best of both worlds.

Here’s a good tutorial on how to make a simple photo ornament from Fynes Designs.

Make: a sweet treat.

It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone loves getting a special treat made with love.

Here are a few of our favorite treats to make. As a bonus, have your little one(s) help you measure, pour and mix.

You may be surprised that your kiddos are excited to help even at a young age. “C” LOVES to sit on the counter (if you feel more comfortable, this little “kitchen helper” stool is a game changer).

With really little kids, I find it much less stressful to have all the ingredients out and ready for quick assembly.

Make: apron.

Making a handprint apron is basically the same process as making the handprint towels (see above).

And like the towels, you can customize these to any style. As I mentioned earlier, we have one Grandma who leans toward classic and simple style and one who loves all things colorful.

We made a set of the simple hand towels (see above) for Canaan’s classic and simple-styled “Sparky” and this apron for his color-loving “Grammy”.

Again, you want an apron that is good quality AND simple. Follow the same instructions as the towels:

Apron. Step 1.

Wash your apron. This is important in case it shrinks slightly.
I pre-washed on hot with towels from around our house.

Apron. Step 2.

Map out where you want the design to fall on your apron.
Hold up the apron or measure to make sure the design is centered and placed exactly where you want it.
You can make a light mark with a pencil where you want the center of your child’s handprint to fall.
Decide if you want words in addition to the handprints. Will you want those words above or below the handprint? Plan accordingly.

Apron. Step 3.

Set up your station.
On a craft table or a hardwood or tile floor (or any surface that is easily wipeable), set your apron, a paper plate with a generous squirt of your fabric paint on it, a paint brush and a couple damp paper towels or baby wipes.
Put a smock on your kiddos (or our preference, just strip them down to their diapers) so no paint accidentally splatters on their clothes.

Apron. Step 4.

Use the paint brush to generously paint your kiddos hand.
Quickly, place his or her hand on the apron, pressing down.
Pull his or her hand off by lifting straight up so as not to smudge the paint.
Immediately wipe his or her hand off with the wet paper towels or baby wipes to avoid any rouge paint flying around on the way to wash hands at the sink.
Wash hands thoroughly.

Apron. Step 5.

Congrats, you conquered your wiggly kiddos and got a successful hand print!
Using the fabric paint and a paintbrush (or fabric paint pens if your feel more comfortable), add the words to your apron.

Apron. Step 6.

Allow apron to dry thoroughly before using.

Don’t trust your lettering? Use a stencil!

Make: DIY photo coasters.

As previously stated, 10 out of 10 grandparents love getting photos of their grandkids.

Give grandma and grandpa a practical gift that lets them keep those photos of the grandkids out where all visitors can see (and fawn over) them. Tutorial right here from The Teacher’s Wife.

Make: DIY small glass magnets.

This is another gift that keeps photos of the grandkids out in the open at grandma and grandpa’s house.

These are a super cost-effective and an easy DIY project. Plus, there is no more appropriate magnet to use to hold up you kiddo’s artwork made especially for grandma or grandpa!

Find the glass magnets tutorial here from The Creative Place.

Or hates to cook but loves to serve appetizers such as cheeses and jams on a cool cutting board? This personalized cutting board is such a unique gift! It does require a special tool, but it is easy to find on Amazon and reasonably-priced. The wood burning tool and a wood cutting board are all you need.

Plus you can even have your kiddo create the artwork for it. Here is a tutorial to help you get started.

Buy: custom wood grandparent / grandchildren sign.

We love this sign.

It’s simple, classy and goes with any decor and style. Submit each of the grandkids’ names and birthdates and you have a super-custom piece of artwork that grandma and grandpa will never tire of.

The Best Personalized Gifts for Grandparents: Homemade or Store Bought