Christmas gifts for parents who have everything

When a parent says “I don’t need anything,” they are usually telling the truth. The house is full. What they are short of is time with you and proof that you still know them. So the ideas below are sorted by what they are really asking for, not by price.

A note on who is writing: we make one of the things on this list, a family portrait drawn from your photos. It is listed where it fits, next to things we do not sell.

If what they want is time

1. A date on the calendar. Pick a day in January, write it in a card, and turn up. Lunch, a drive, a game. For most parents this beats anything in a box.

2. A standing phone call. Same day, same time, every week. Put it in writing. It costs nothing, and it is the one that keeps giving after December.

3. A job done. Clear the gutters, sort the garage, set up the new phone, digitize the box of old photos. Give it as a handwritten voucher with a date on it, then keep the date.

If what they want is less stuff

4. Something they will use up. Good coffee, the olive oil they would never buy for themselves, a box of the pears they talk about. Nothing to dust.

5. A subscription to something they already love. Their newspaper, their streaming service, flowers once a month. Pay for a year of something they already use.

6. A donation in their name. To the library, the animal shelter or the school they went to. Put the receipt inside a card that says why you chose it.

If what they want is proof you know them

7. The whole family in one picture. Many families do not have a recent photo with everyone in it. A family portrait drawn from separate photos gets round that: each person sends one photo, from wherever they live, and everyone is drawn side by side with their names underneath. It is the one thing on this list that only your family could give.

8. A recipe book of their own recipes. Collect the ones they make from memory, in their own words, with who asked for it most. Print it or write it out by hand.

9. A letter from each of you. One page each. What you remember, what you still do because they taught you. Put them all in one envelope.

10. The photo they do not have. A print of the picture that lives on your phone and not on their wall. Frame it before you give it, so it goes straight up.

If you are giving as a group

11. One good thing instead of five small ones. The chair he keeps looking at. The mattress they will not replace. Pool the money and replace the thing they use every day.

12. One gift signed by everyone. Whatever you choose, sign it from all of you: children, partners, grandchildren, the dog. A gift with every name on it is harder to put in a drawer. If you want that to be the gift itself, see our gifts for Mom and gifts for Dad.

How to choose

Ask one question: what did they last complain about? “We never see you” means time. “There is nowhere to put anything” means something they can use up. “Nobody tells me anything” means a letter, a photo or a picture of everyone, something that says you were paying attention.

And write the card properly. If you are stuck on the words, here is what to write in a Christmas card.