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A Heart-Felt Grandparent Gift
Rated by 3 members
I was half-watching our three kids — ages 12, 10, and 5 — wrestle around the family room as I sat writing out our Christmas gift-giving list. The holiday was fast approaching and I still hadn't come up with a gift idea for my parents. I wanted to give them something personal and unique that somehow involved our three children but stayed within our budget.
I was musing over my dilemma while trying to get Brittany, Ally, and Trevor to stop roughhousing. I knew it was just a matter of time before their laughter turned to tears. But as they twisted and turned, tumbling and rolling over one another, I had an idea. Maybe I could put their zest for body contorting to good use.
"Do you guys want to make a really special gift for Grandma and Grandpa?" I asked. "We could spell out just how much we love them and show them how much they mean to us."
After changing into blue T-shirts and jeans, the kids lined up against a bare, tan wall as I got out our digital camera. "Let's use your bodies to spell out the message, 'WE LOVE YOU'!" I said. "You can take turns making each letter."
Brittany and Ally sat on the floor facing each other, with their knees bent up and touching. They held their arms straight up on an angle and smiled while forming the W.
This is more like it, I thought, as I snapped the photo.
For the E, Brittany — the tallest — stood straight up, facing to the right. Trevor — the shortest — stood next to her, also facing right. Ally — the middle one — sat down next to Trevor, with her legs straight out facing right. When Brittany and Trevor lifted their arms, they made an E.
After using various combinations of all three children to make each letter, including an exclamation point with Trevor balled up as the dot, we printed out our artwork on photo paper and cut out each one in letter shapes. I hung the photos in a floating picture frame and admired our work. It was definitely a one-of-a-kind gift.
My parents couldn't have been more pleased when they opened their present on Christmas morning. "This is beautiful," my mother said, as she studied each photo. Though the gift didn't cost much to make, it was clear by the tears in my mother's eyes that she thought it priceless.
Member Comments On…
A Heart-Felt Grandparent Gift
I think this may be my favorite idea out of all the Dream Team columns I've read. Simply brilliant, and so much fun. If we try this, I'll email the results. Thanks for the great idea!
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I enjoy scrapbooking, so this year, both sets of grandparents will receive a "scrapbook in progress". I have designed the layouts of the pages, included a picture for Dec '07 along with an explanation that they will receive a double page layout each month during '08 of the girls. I went with the 8 x 8 size so that it won't require a lot of pictures or extras to put together the pages. I have also used the stepping stone kits before. These were a big hit.
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We started a tradition for the Grandparents when their first Grandchild was born. We got them a live Christmas tree to decorate in honor of their Grand daughter and then they planted it in the yard. This was 10 years ago. Since then they have 6 more grandchildren, so they have six more Christmas trees in the yard. It was funny because last year 3 of them were born so we had to get 3 trees. It was so funny, but they decorated every single one. They have now marked each tree with a color ribbon representing each child and this year we decided to make homemade stepping stones to place in front of each tree with their names on it. This would work for anyone with a big yard.......heehee!
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Every year we do calendars for the grandparents, great-grandparents, aunties, etc. We take pictures throughout the year for it. The grandparents love it and it's fun seeing how much the kids have grown from one year to the next. You can get them printed VERY fast at Kinko's. If you have more time, they're only $9.99 at Costco.
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Very creative, Grandparents are tough! Earlier this year my Dad was ill and hospitalized for a time, I printed out letter outlines that filled a reg. piece of paper, that spelled "get well papa", had the children color the letters then we took photos of them holding the letters. We made 8x10 size and then hung the two pics in 8 1/2x11 page protectors on his hospital wall as an encouragement. He & my Mom loved the photos! We also gave then the letters too.
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It's not homemade, but we went to Flipclips for Mother's Day and gave each of the grandmas a little flip book of each of the kids.
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Last year we made grandma a moose sweat shirt. I took one of each kids feet painted it brown with puffy paint. and had them "stamp" it on the sweat shirt. then I used their hands as the antlers. again painted them brown and stamped them on the shirt. I had my oldest do the details of eyes and the nose. My mom cried everyone loves it!
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What an adorable idea!! It really made me laugh and think how much our kids would love doing this--thanks for the inspiration. I can't wait to try this!
Emily
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As a grandparent I want you to know this would be a gift I dream about. Good job Mom!!
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My kids are young so I get the gift for them and they make the card and they sing her chrisstmas song they made up my babies are only 4 and 1.
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