We heard about this cute gift our friend put together for her mom and we thought it would be a perfect and personal little present to put together for Grandparents’ Day (September 13th for 2015!). But really, this is the thoughtful kind of gift that you could use for any birthday or Mothers’ or Fathers’ Day. So, we invited Jessica to tell you exactly what she did and how she did it. You’ll love it!

Grandparents’ Day is coming up in a month and even if my husband claims Grandparents Day is just one more excuse businesses made up to take your money, let’s face it–grandparents are pretty amazing!

Here’s a few reasons why:
72 percent of grandparents say they “think being a grandparent is the single most important and satisfying thing in their life.”
Grandparents are big spenders. They control 75 percent of the wealth in the U.S., and they’re not afraid to use it, spending $52 billion each year on their grandchildren.
92 percent of grandparents have changed a grandchild’s diaper.
Modern days haven’t meant the end of the comforting smell of fresh-baked goods in Grandma’s kitchen; 86 percent of grandparents bake cookies for their families.

Those are just a few ways grandparents affect our kids’ lives.

With my kids, everything is better at grandma and grandpa’s house. Grandma’s sandwiches always taste better than mom’s. Grandpa takes them for lawn mower rides. Whatever grandma is doing is more interesting than what mom is doing (even if it is just sewing). And amazingly, my five-year old thinks it is cool to help grandma with chores (but heaven forbid they help mom clean!).

Here is an idea for all of you who are busy and haven’t even started looking at Pinterest, didn’t realize grandparents’ day was coming up, or for those who just want to keep it simple but meaningful.  I relate with each one of those categories.

This year for Mother’s Day, my siblings and I put together a video of all the grandchildren answering questions about grandma. Here’s a little clip of one of the kiddos to give you an idea of what we did…

I browsed through a few lists of questions and found some I liked. Here are some examples:

How old is Grandma?
What do you like to do with Grandma?
What is something Grandpa always says?
What is something Grandpa is really good at?
What do you love about Grandma and Grandpa?

Each kid and family can answer a different set of questions or ask all the same ones to see how different the answers turn out. For kids who are too young to understand the questions (I had an 18-month-old) we just had him tell Grandma “I love you” and blow kisses. When they’re 18 months that is super cute. Then I sent off a few lists to my siblings and then they sent their videos back to me.

Why did we love this?

It doesn’t cost anything as long as you have a recording device (phone, camera, camcorder).
Siblings and cousins can participate even if they live all over the country.
If you live far away from grandparents, it’s really easy to send.
It makes for a great memory of your kids, not only for grandma and grandpa but for you.
Finally, the kids always give the funniest answers

Here is a link to a list of questions I used but feel free to make up your own. That is the fun thing about this gift—you can make it as personal and unique as you want. You can do one for grandma and one for grandpa or if you want to keep it a little shorter split up the questions between the two.
http://thecraftingchicks.com/2012/04/mothers-day-questionaire-free-printable-download.html

A few tips for filming kiddos:
Pick a spot where your kids are comfortable, but won’t move around too much.
Be aware of the background, make sure it doesn’t detract from the kids.
Don’t prompt your kids too much. The more freestyle you let them be, the better (funnier) the answers.
Finally, don’t get overly stressed about the production quality. Let the kids be themselves, say whatever comes to their mind and grandma and grandpa will love it!