Last-minute Christmas gifts for grandparents you can print tonight

The short answer

When shipping cut-offs have passed, a printable gift is the only kind that still arrives on time. Download a guided memory book, a large-print family game or a recipe keepsake, print it at home or at a copy shop, put it in a folder with a ribbon, and give something they will fill in with you over the holidays. It takes about an hour, including the trip to the print shop.

Every December the same thing happens: the thoughtful gift for Grandma gets left until the shipping windows close. The usual rescue is a gift card, which is fine but says nothing. The alternative below says a great deal, costs less than most gift cards, and is ready tonight.

All the gifts on this page are digital PDFs. You pay, the download link appears on the confirmation page and in your email within a minute, and you print. Every file includes both US Letter and A4 sizes, and all of them come with a 30-day refund, even after download.

How to make a printable look like a real gift (20 minutes)

1. Print at a copy shop if you can. Staples, Office Depot, FedEx Office and most local printers will print a PDF on 24 lb paper and add a simple coil or comb binding while you wait. Ask for single-sided for memory books, so the pages are easy to write on.
2. Or print at home on plain paper and put the pages in a ring binder or a presentation folder. A binder is actually better for a memory book: pages come out, get written on at the kitchen table, and go back in.
3. Add the first page yourself. Write a short note on the inside cover: who it is from, and one question you most want them to answer. That turns a printout into a gift.
4. Wrap it like a book. Ribbon, brown paper, a pen tucked into the bow. A good pen matters more than you think for someone who will write 100 pages.

1. A memory book they fill in with you

The gift that keeps giving all year: a guided journal of specific questions about their life, in large print, with space to write. The two-book sets cover both grandparents or both parents, so nobody is left out on Christmas morning.

For one person, choose Grandma, Tell Me Your Story or the Grandpa, Mom and Dad editions. For parents, the Mom & Dad Memory Book Set pairs both.

2. A game for the Christmas table

If the whole family will be in one room, bring something to do that is not television. The Family Table: Christmas Edition has six games for mixed ages, large print, with a facilitator page so nobody has to be the organiser.

Also quick to print and easy to run: Christmas Music Bingo (you play the songs from any phone) and the Left-Right Christmas Game for passing a small present around the table.

3. A recipe keepsake

For the grandmother whose recipes live on index cards and in her head: a printable archive with recipe cards, story prompts for each dish and preservation pages. Give it with a promise to cook one recipe together over the holidays.

→ See The Recipes We Kept

4. Letters to a grandchild

A gift for the grandparent who would rather write to someone than answer questions. Letters to My Grandchild includes ten letters for future milestones, 64 prompts and family tree pages. Give one copy per grandchild if you like; the licence covers your household.

→ See Letters to My Grandchild

5. A family-history kit for the researcher

For the relative who has been “meaning to sort out the family tree”: The Ancestor File is a 61-page research binder with pedigree charts, family group sheets, a research log and a completed example family. It is the kit we would give a beginner who wants to do it properly on paper.

→ See The Ancestor File

6. A milestone book for a December birthday

If a birthday falls near Christmas, the “years and wishes” books are a different shape of gift: one wish or memory per year of their life, written by family and friends. See Eighty Years, Eighty Wishes and the 60, 75 and 90 editions.

7. A December calendar for someone who lives alone

For a parent in their own home or in care, The December Activity Calendar gives one small, dignified thing to do each day of the month, with large print and no assumptions about mobility.

8. A personalized book, made in a day

If you have a day rather than an hour, a personalized keepsake book is made to order from a name, a date and a place: the year they were born, the sky above their birthplace, or the year they married. The finished PDF is emailed to you to print. See personalized books.

9. The free option

Short of money rather than time? The free Family Story Starter Kit is a 13-page workbook for choosing one family story, one photograph and one person to ask. Print it, add a handwritten note, and you have a gift that costs nothing but means something.

10. Your own questions, printed large

The simplest gift of all: print our questions to ask grandparents in a large font, put them in a folder with blank pages, and sit down together on Boxing Day. The answers are the gift; the folder is just where they live.

Before you print: three checks

• Paper size. Choose US Letter in North America, A4 almost everywhere else. Both are in every download.
• Print at 100%. Turn off “fit to page” so large-print text stays large.
• Single-sided for anything to be written in. Double-sided is fine for games and calendars.

What usually goes wrong

• Printing at midnight on an inkjet with a low cartridge. A copy shop is faster and looks better.
• Choosing the biggest book for someone who would prefer a small one. A finished 50-page book beats an unfinished 200-page one.
• Giving the book and walking away. Sit down for the first page together; that is the moment the gift actually happens.