What are the best Christmas gifts for grandma? Well, as the leader of, Sixty and Me, a community with 100,000s of grandmas, let me start by telling you what NOT to get… candles, slippers, clothes or bath salts! If we wanted any of those things, we would get them ourselves. 

So, What ARE the Best Christmas Gifts for Grandma?

A few weeks ago, I asked the women in our community to tell us what they wanted to receive from their friends and family for Christmas. We had hundreds of responses, including quite a few surprising ideas!

So, if you are looking for a gift for a very special grandma, look no further! We have you covered.

By the way, my intention here is not to give you a specific list of presents to buy. After all, we are all different. Instead, I hope to give you some ideas to work with. This way, you can customize them to the lucky grandma in your life.

Here are the best Christmas gifts for grandma, according to grandmas.

Memories Are More Important Than Material Possessions

Sometime around your 50^th birthday, you start to realize just how much stuff you have accumulated over the years. With your kids out of the house, you may even begin the process of downsizing, or, at the very least, organizing your life.

Unless a physical object has emotional significance or genuine practical value to the grandma in your life, don’t even think about giving it to her at Christmas. Not only will a generic gift show a lack of thoughtfulness, but, it will more than likely end up adding to her clutter.

Don’t get me wrong, as grandmas, we appreciate almost any gift. After all, gift giving creates connections to the people we love.

But, when you are thinking about the best gifts for grandma, don’t forget that memories are better than material possessions.

Some Free, Moderately Expensive and Expensive Meaningful Christmas Gift Options

Record a video of you and the grandkids with a special Christmas message (Free).

Fill a handcrafted photo album with your favorite family pictures (Relatively inexpensive).

Book a dinner at our favorite restaurant and invite the grandkids (Moderately expensive). If you don’t know which restaurant to choose, you can always use OpenTable to leave it up to them.

Buy the grandkids and us tickets to our favorite sporting event or concert (Moderately expensive). Once again, if you don’t know which music event to select, Ticketmaster can let you leave the decision to grandma.

Organize a weekend trip for the family, or, if we live out of state, pay for us to visit you (Expensive).

Gift Cards Are Surprisingly Popular with Grandmas

Having just said that memories are more important than material possessions, you might be surprised to find gift certificates on your list of the best gifts for grandma.

To be completely honest with you, I was somewhat surprised that so many women in our community mentioned gift certificates as among their favorite Christmas gifts.

Talking with several women in our community, they told me that gift certificates combine thoughtfulness with practicality; The giver can choose the gift certificate and the receiver can pick something that really works for them.

Once again, this comes back to the point that women our age don’t want to add to the clutter in our homes. We only want to acquire items that are beautiful or useful.

What are the best gift cards to consider? Well, it depends! If grandma is struggling financially, a gas gift card may be more desirable than a spa gift certificate. That said, here are a few creative options that you may not have considered:

Etsy Gift Cards – Etsy has an amazing collection of handmade items. Unfortunately, Etsy’s strength – its variety – it also its weakness! When you buy an Etsy gift card, you get the benefit of giving something handmade and personal without the risk of it ending up in a box in the garage.

Does the grandma in your family love to relax while reading? Why not combine a gift certificate from Amazon.com with one from Wine.com or Teavana?

Is your grandma the kind of person who just wants to make the world a better place? Why not consider a gift card from an organization like DonorsChoose.org?

If the special grandma in your life loves to travel, you might want to check out hotels.com or Airbnb? Both have gift cards and are the gateway to plenty of exciting travel adventures.

Are prescription costs a concern for your grandma? One of the more practical options to consider is a gift card from Walgreens or CVS?

Why Not Give the Gift of Health and Vitality this Christmas?

If there is one thing that I have learned by talking with the women in our community it is that vitality is essential to getting the most from life after 50.

When you feel healthy, vibrant and full of energy, you are more likely to explore, grow and learn. In short, life is better when you are healthy.

One option that you might want to consider is a gentle yoga for seniors DVD set. Over 20,000 women over 50 have used this particular one and the feedback has been amazing!

Another option would be a gym membership or gift card for a local yoga class. Just make sure that you do a little reconnaissance first to make sure that you select an activity that grandma will love!

Consider Experiences Instead of Extra Stuff When Choosing Christmas Gifts for Grandma

While not universally the case, most of the women over 50 that I know – and I know 1,000s! – are more interested in experiences than extra stuff.

Women over 50 are smashing aging stereotypes and exploring, traveling, learning and growing. We love gifts that help us to see more of – and get more from – this amazing world in which we live.

One woman told me that her favorite gift of all time was a day at the race track. For 4 hours, she drove a selection of sports cars in the presence of a professional trainer. Another took her first flying lesson. One lady took an Italian cooking class. Another grandma learned to sail on Lake Union.

Shopping for experiences used to be difficult. Fortunately, sites like Cloud9Living.com (U.S) and TrulyExperiences.com (U.K.) make the process of finding the perfect experiential gift easy.

Ultimately, the best Christmas gifts for grandma are the ones that show that you care enough to understand who she is as an individual. That said, by following the guidelines in this article, you will be ahead of the game.

So, stick with experiences, help her to build happy memories and keep her healthy. And, if all else fails, a well-chosen gift card will always be well received!

What do you think are the best Christmas gifts for grandma? Do you agree or disagree that memories, experiences, health-related items and gift cards the best way to go? Please join the conversation!