Celebrating Grandparents’ Day: Gifts and More

Grandparents’ Day 2024 is nearly here. People around the country will be celebrating Grandparents’ Day with loved ones on Sunday, September 8th, 2024, slowing down and taking time to recognize the relationships that make life special.

The loved ones in our lives, our friends and family, make every moment special.  They guide us with wisdom, help us through hard times and are there to make the good times shine all the brighter.

Maybe you celebrate Grandparents’ Day every year; maybe this will be your first celebration. Either way, it’s a great day to acknowledge the moments that matter with the grandparents in our lives and show our gratitude.

Why We Celebrate Grandparents’ Day

Grandparents’ Day was established formally in 1977, when a joint resolution was introduced in the Senate to designate the first Sunday after Labor Day as “National Grandparents’ Day.”

With that resolution, Grandparents’ Day was officially established, with the purpose of “honoring grandparents,” giving them the opportunity to show love to their grandchildren, and to help children become aware of the “strength, information and guidance older people can offer.”

While these are the official origins of National Grandparents’ Day, the value of celebrating the bond between grandparent and grandchild runs so much deeper.

With age come wisdom, courage, tolerance, patience, and so many other human attributes that are universally extolled as virtues. For many grandparents, loving grandchildren represents their second effort at parenting, whereby they can apply everything they learned the “first time around” to the benefit of their own children’s children.

You don’t need to look far or even reflect much to see the sort of special bonds that many children have with their grandparents. Those fortunate enough to be blessed with grandparents on either or both sides of the family tree often develop lifelong relationships with their grandparents that are without equal for their uniqueness and esteem.

The love we learn to foster for our grandparents (and that grandparents grow for their grandchildren) is something that can be better experienced than explained or understood from afar. And, thanks to National Grandparents’ Day, we have a special date on the calendar to celebrate those relationships each year.

So, with no further ado, here are some great ideas for celebrating this special holiday, along with some equally special Grandparents’ Day gifts.

Grandparents’ Day Celebration Ideas

While there are many ways to celebrate Grandparents’ Day, the most important gift you can give is the gift of time. As we get older and time gets scarcer, it becomes one of the most precious resources that we have.

Therefore, some of the most creative celebration ideas for Grandparents’ Day have more to do with how you spend time than what you’re actually doing. With that said, here are some of the most creative and enjoyable ways to spend time with your grandparents, and these activities are amenable to nearly anyone.

• Hold a grandparent interview. Grandparents have the benefit of experience, and were around for years before their children, and many years before their grandchildren. Therefore, their memories and experiences hold treasures that must be appreciated and recorded now while we still have the benefit of hindsight. Carve out a few hours to sit down and talk with your grandmother or grandfather (or both of them together) about special life experiences they have that only they remember; the formative years from when they were younger. Ask them about times and places that are no more, or that have changed greatly with the years, and about important life events. These sorts of informal interviews will give your grandparents’ an opportunity to reflect fondly on the special times in their lives, and will give their children and grandchildren a great chance to absorb and learn from them.

• Share a hobby or take them to do something they love. Our grandparents all appreciate different things. Perhaps you have a grandparent that appreciates theater, or one who appreciates golf or baseball. Taking your grandparents to a show or a game is a great way to spend quality time and engage them in their interests. Alternatively, you could plan time to share a hobby with them - be it working on a puzzle, doing arts and crafts, crocheting, making preserves, cooking, or even something else.

• Make a meal together. Set aside a day to make your grandparents’ favorite meal, or even better, plan a cooking or baking session together, after which you can all enjoy the fruits of your labor as a family. You can learn their favorite recipes to pass onto future generations too.

• Go through an old photo album together. This is a great, relaxing activity that nearly anyone can go through with their grandparents. Like an interview but more interactive, poring over old photo albums will reconnect your grandparents with people and places in their memories and will give them a golden opportunity not only to relive those times, but to share the joy of it with their families.

Great Grandparents’ Day Gifts

National Grandparents’ Day is also a great time to give gifts to show your love and appreciation. Here are only a few of the Grandparents’ Day gift ideas to spoil your loved ones.

• Give a cookie gift box and cherish the treats together. Walker’s offers several cookie gift boxes and tins that make great treats for grandparents. The all-butter goodness of Walker’s Shortbread is best shared with a pot of tea, and of course, with loved ones.

• A framed photo of a special moment shared. A personalized, framed photo is a good gift for just about anyone. Here is a great opportunity to recapture a special moment and give it new life. It could be a still from their wedding, a picture of their friends from long ago - or even a new picture of yourself and your siblings, or yourself with them. All of these, in a personalized frame, can make quite an excellent, sentimental gift.

• Personalized decor. If you have a grandparent that loves flowers or houseplants, a personalized vase, pot, or watering can is an excellent gift. So too might be another decorative element such as a shelf or desk ornament.

• Something to indulge a hobby or favorite activity. Does your grandparent love board games? Reading? Making preserves? Painting or other artistic pursuits? This one is really open-ended. Think about what your grandparents love and then back form a gift around that. There are endless opportunities here!

This only scratches the surface of what some great Grandparents’ Day gifts might be. Get creative, think outside the box, consider their interests, and take it from there. And, remember the greatest gift of all - your time. This Grandparents’ Day, make it a point to make new memories with the special people that represent some of the greatest blessings you’ve ever been given - your grandparents.