Gifts for Grandparents

Grandparents are the hardest people on most gift lists, for one specific reason: they have everything they need and nowhere to put anything else.

Which means the usual approach, find an object they might like, is working against you. The good gifts for this group share one quality. They get used up.

Why "I do not need anything" is usually true

It is easy to hear it as politeness. Often it is a straight statement of fact.

A household that has been running for fifty years has the kitchen sorted. Many are downsizing rather than accumulating, sometimes into a smaller place where every new object displaces an old one. Another ornament is not a gift in that context, it is a small problem to solve.

So take them at their word and send something that disappears. Food, drink, something to use. Nothing that needs a shelf.

What actually works

Something good rather than something big. This is the group most likely to buy the mid-range version of everything for themselves all year. A properly good tea, a nice bottle, real chocolate. Quality over volume is the whole trick.

Something to share. Grandparents tend to like gifts that involve other people. A grazing box that comes out when family visit does more than something they consume alone.

Something that arrives. If they are interstate, the arrival is a large part of the gift. A parcel on the doorstep is an event in a quiet week, and that matters more than the contents.

Not too much of it. Two people, often smaller appetites. A hamper built to feed six can become an obligation rather than a treat. Judge the size to the household, not to your affection.

What to send

All in stock at the time of writing.

The reliable ones

• Ultimate Tea & Biscuits Hamper. Three tea blends with a cup and infuser. Hard to beat for this group: used daily, takes almost no space, and the cup stays.
• Gourmet Cheeseboard Hamper. Olives, quince paste, crackers and a wooden board. It comes out when family visit, which is the point.
• Box of Treats Hamper. Eleven sweet and savoury items, alcohol free, enough to last a while without overwhelming a two-person house.

If they enjoy a drink

• Connoisseur's Wine Collection Hamper. A red and a white with tapenade, flatbread and chocolate almonds. Two bottles means neither has to compromise.
• Chateau Tanunda Shiraz & Gourmet Wooden Crate. A good bottle with olives, macadamias and shortbread, in a crate that gets kept and reused.
• Veuve Clicquot Champagne Celebration Hamper. For a milestone birthday or a significant anniversary, where the label is doing part of the work.

For a grandparent who is unwell or on their own

• Tea & Comfort Hamper. Tea, an infuser cup, socks, an eye mask and pillow spray. Warm rather than celebratory.
• Warm Wishes Hamper. Alcohol free, practical, and built around things that get used.

More in gourmet hampers and gift hampers.

The part that is not the hamper

Whatever you send, the card does more work here than with almost any other recipient.

Photographs of grandchildren, something specific a child said, a line about when you will next visit. If the gift is standing in for a visit, the note is the part that acknowledges it. Every order includes a free personalised gift card, and this is the group to actually use it properly on.