When your grandkids live far away, it can feel like your arms are empty. You can still be a real part of their lives, though, and a thoughtful gift is one good way to do it.

This article shares gifts for grandchildren that live far away, from personalized books and care packages to event tickets, time capsules, and video games to play together. Many of the ideas also work for a niece, a nephew, or a grown child who lives a long way off.

Top Gifts for Long Distance Grandchildren

1. Personalized Gift Books

If you’re looking for a unique gift for your grandchildren who live far away, Wonderbly Personalized Books are the perfect choice!

These books are made to make your grandchild feel special, with personalization options that include their name, age, and interests. Each book offers a unique story tailored to your child, making it a one-of-a-kind gift.

Your grandchild may well keep this book for years to come. It is a gift that comes from the heart.

Ideal For: Grandkids of all ages i.e. Toddlers, School Age and Teenage

2. Monthly Subscription Box

If your grandkids are like most, they probably love getting surprises in the mail. That’s why subscription boxes such as those offered by Cratejoy.com can be an exciting and affordable gift for all grandkids irrespective of age.

All you need to do is select the theme of the monthly gift box and then sign up for your subscription. Your grandkids will then be receiving a surprise gift in the mail every single month and call you to inform you what was in the surprise.

Ideal For: Grandkids of all ages i.e. Toddlers, School Age and Teenage

3. Event Tickets

Spending time together with your grandkids is perhaps one of the best gifts you can ever give them especially when they live far away from you.

Pick an event that everybody will enjoy, whether it is an NBA basketball game, a food festival, the local county fair, or even a Broadway play.

You can never run out of events and festivals in your city that could be fun for grandparents and their grandkids to attend.

Ideal For: School age and teenage grandkids

4. Experiences

Experience gifts are an excellent way to spend time with your grandkids, doing something that both of you enjoy. Depending on your budget and time, you can plan a day to spend with the grandkids.

It may include a visit to the local zoo followed by lunch, a local amusement park, or even signing up for a cooking class together if time allows.

Experience gifts may also include a larger vacation or trip with grandkids and grandparents. The emphasis of these gifts is on spending as much time together as possible, which is why you need to set your budget and find interesting activities for you to enjoy together.

You can even commemorate the day by framing a favorite picture of the day or making a photo book together.

Ideal for: Grandkids of all ages i.e. toddlers, school age, and teens

5. Memory Book

Your grandkids will love hearing stories about their family history since it’s a great way to define who they are. One of the greatest gifts you can share with your grandkids is your stories and experiences.

One way to do it is filling out a book such as a Stories from Grandma/Grandpa that will ask you a series of simple questions that will help stir up interesting memories from back when you were growing up.

You might not think of your stories as being too interesting, but it’s still a special gift that will be a keepsake that will be valued by your grandkids for the rest of their lives.

You might even consider using the questions as conversation topics when you don’t have much else to talk about.

Ideal For: Teenage grandkids

6. Supplies for an Upcoming Event or Trip

Your grandkids are always looking forward to something, whether it is un upcoming summer camp or a school trip. Find out what activities your grandkids have lined up and surprise them with a gift from grandma or grandpa to help them prepare for it.

If your grandkids are going on a camping trip, you can consider getting them a nice backpack or sleeping bag. If they are going on a road trip, you might consider getting them games to play in the car or some portable gifts such as a pair of headphones.

Ideal For: School age and Teenage grandkids

7. Care Packages

Everybody loves receiving a personalized care package full of goodies. It doesn’t even have to be something fancy. A cute little toy car, stickers, a storybook, and their favorite candy are all excellent ideas depending on the age of your grandkid.

Mail-friendly gift ideas for older grandkids include decorative coasters, gourmet chocolate, and fun fridge magnets. You should also include a thoughtful note and package it up nicely before sending it off.

Ideal For: Grandkids of all ages i.e. Toddlers, School Age, and Teenage grandkids

8. Book/Story Sharing

You should make it a habit to call your grandkids at bedtime so that you can read them a bedtime story. If that’s not practical, you can create a recording. You can borrow children’s books from the library and record yourself reading the stories aloud.

Your grandkids will definitely love those recordings and will probably ask their parents to play them over and over again. Soon, your grandkids will only be drifting off to sleep to the sound of grandpa or grandma.

Ideal For: Toddlers

9. Disposable Camera

Send your grandkids a disposable camera and ask them to take pictures of themselves, their friends, family, pets, and favorite thing to do. You can then get the parents to mail the camera back to you.

Then develop the photos, compile them into an album that you can either send as a gift or bring it with you during your next visit. You and your grandkids can spend time together while they explain each photo.

Ideal for: School age and Teenage Grandkids

10. Time Capsule

You can gift your grandkids with materials that you can use for the time capsule and help them put it together. You can include photos, newspaper ads showing prices of various items today, newspaper clippings of current events, etc.

To make it easy for you to create the time capsule, you can even buy a pre-made Time Capsule Book that you can fill out together with your grandkids to capture what both your lives are currently like. You can then seal it with the promise of re-opening it in 5, 10, or even 15 years.

Ideal For: School Age and Teenage Grandkids

11. Starting a Collection (Comic Book, Stamp, Coin)

It is always a lot of fun for grandma or grandpa to help their grandkids start and grow their own collection of special items, whether they are stamps from different parts of the world, baseball cards, rare coins, or even rare comics.

You can never lack something to talk about with your grandkids and you can help contribute to the collection whenever you see them with a new gift. The collection does not even have to be expensive. You can easily find many affordable gift ideas online or at memorabilia stores.

Ideal For: School Age and Teenage Grandkids

12. Sporting Event Memorabilia

Your grandkids will definitely love it if they can point to an autographed basketball or special t-shirt and say that it’s a gift from grandma or grandpa.

Souvenirs from an event that you both attended or from something that you have a mutual interest in following (such as Formula 1) could be an excellent gift idea for grandchildren.

Ideal For: School Age and Teenage Grandkids

13. Technology

Today, there’s a lot of affordable technology that can help keep you and your grandkids connected to each other’s lives. Besides iPads, iPhones, and webcams, you can consider using apps such as Instagram or Snapchat to follow each other’s day to day lives.

The apps are quite easy for your grandkids to pick up and you can have parents set the privacy settings to ensure that photos and conversations shared between grandkids and grandparents stay secure.

Ideal For: School Age and Teenage Grandkids

BUNMO Wooden Stacking Blocks, 40 Pieces

Here is a 40-piece set of solid wood blocks you can leave on your own toy shelf, no batteries needed. The shapes include arches, cylinders, wedges, and rectangles, and the edges are smooth and rounded.

No storage container comes with it, so plan on a bin or bag, and the listing’s non-toxic claim has no visible third-party certification. I cover more in my BUNMO blocks review.

Give Hugz Coco the Monkey Weighted Plush

Coco is a cuddly weighted monkey, a way to give a hug-like comfort when you can’t be there in person. A grandchild can hold it close and think of you.

The weight makes it heavier than an ordinary stuffed animal, so it may not suit someone who dislikes that feel. You can read more in my Coco monkey plush review.

Gifts for Any Far-Away Family: Think Like a Tourist

Not every far-away relative is a grandchild. For a grown child, a sibling or a friend, one way to stay close is to think like a tourist in their hometown.

Look into the local tours and attractions where they live. Then join them for a virtual museum tour or a distance learning class. If you want a place to start, I have a list of virtual tours you can explore from home.

You can also organize a remote gathering with the family. Everyone can take part in games or a movie night, even from separate houses.

A virtual escape room works the same way. You solve puzzles together online, catch up over video chat, and save photos and videos of the evening afterward.

If you would rather send something in the mail, a few kinds of gifts fit far-away family well:

• A dual time zone watch, so they can keep track of the time difference between you.
• A scented candle made to recall their home state, such as a Michigan candle with chocolate, cherry and lemon scents, or an Iowa candle with lavender, eucalyptus and rosemary.
• An indoor garden kit, which can include grow lights, seed starters, soil mix or planters, for someone who wants to grow plants without much space.
• A custom jigsaw puzzle of their hometown, made from satellite images with a house-shaped piece at the address you choose.
• A classic board game bundle, such as Connect 4, Sorry! and Trouble, for a family game night.

For a relative who loves to travel, my list of gifts for senior travelers has more ideas.

One trade-off: the hometown puzzle has no rush delivery and no gift box, so plan ahead and wrap it yourself.

Franklin Sports 5 Game Combo Set

If the grandchildren visit now and then, a box of games the whole family can play outside gives everyone something to do together. The Franklin Sports Fun 5 Game Combo Set is one way to do that. It is made for beach, park and backyard gatherings, and it is recommended for ages 8 and up.

The set includes a full-size net, 20 feet wide and 5’1″ high, with adjustable height, for volleyball or badminton. You also get a volleyball, two rackets, a birdie, and a mini inflation pump with a needle. Beyond that, there are horseshoes with two stakes, a flip toss game with two flippers and a ball, and a glow-in-the-dark flying disc.

What stands out is the range. A grandparent can sit out the volleyball and still join in on horseshoes or flip toss, while the older kids play the more active games.

The trade-off is the setup. The net needs poles put up and a fairly wide, open patch of ground, so this suits a yard or a park better than a small patio. It also only works when you are together, so it is a gift for visits, not for the weeks in between.

Ahopegarden Hydroponics Growing System

If your grandchild likes to cook, or you both enjoy watching something grow, an indoor herb garden can give you a shared project. The Ahopegarden Indoor Garden is a countertop hydroponic kit, which means plants grow in water with nutrients instead of soil.

It has 10 growing spots, a water tank with a see-through window so you can tell when it needs a refill, and a grow light above the plants. A circulation system keeps the water moving. You add seeds, water and nutrients, and the kit does the rest.

It makes a nice pair of gardens. You each grow lettuce or herbs at home, then compare photos on a video call.

The trade-off is that it needs a little daily attention. Someone has to keep the tank topped up, add nutrients and put it where it can plug in. If your grandchild travels a lot or has a tiny kitchen, a plain potted herb may suit them better.

Personalized 12 Days of Christmas Book

Our 12 Days of Christmas is a personalized picture book from Wonderbly. It stars up to 3 kids and 1 or 2 grown-ups, and their names and characters appear throughout the story as everyone gets ready for the big day and decorates the tree.

For a grandparent far away, the useful part is that you can be in the book. Add yourself as one of the grown-ups, pick a cover color, and write a dedication that is printed at the start of the story. You can preview all 28 pages before you buy, so there are no surprises.

The trade-off is the age range. It is best for ages 0 to 8, so it will not suit an older grandchild. It is also made to order, printed and dispatched in 2 to 4 working days, so order well ahead of the holiday.

Virtual Escape Room Game

A virtual escape room lets you and your grandchildren solve a puzzle together over Zoom, even from different states. The Escape Game streams one of its real escape rooms live from its location.

A Game Guide inside the room carries a camera, and you see what the guide sees. Your team tells the guide where to look, which locks to try and what to pick up. A live host is on the call too.

It suits families who like working on something together, since everyone has a job, from spotting clues to calling out ideas. It gives you something to talk about afterward as well.

One trade-off: it is a timed game on a video call, so you will need a computer, tablet or phone with Zoom already working. If anyone in the group gets flustered by a ticking clock, it may feel more rushed than relaxing.

GRINNIE Wooden Peg Puzzles for Toddlers

Seven themed puzzles come in one set, so a toddler isn’t doing the same board every visit. They’re solid wood with oversized pegs, and grandparents can keep them at home with no screen involved.

They take up more shelf room than a flat cardboard puzzle. They also suit ages 2 to 4 only, so older kids will find them too simple.

Summary and Final Recommendations

It might be quite lonely to live far from your grandkids, but this does not mean that you have to be alienated from them.

Take the advice and tips provided here, incorporate some of them into your routine, or find other creative ways to use the 12 gift ideas discussed here to connect with your grandchildren that live far away.