The first Sunday after Labor Day is National Grandparents Day. President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the day a holiday in 1978 to help foster the relationship between older and younger generations and to lift the spirits of people living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Today, with grandparent's raising their grandchildren, starting new careers and living longer, healthier lives, the day has come to symbolize the love and appreciation we have for our hardworking grandparents.
Letter Book
A memory book is a project your whole family participates in. To create one, contact each family member, as well as your grandparent's close friends, and ask each person to write a letter to your grandparents that details a good memory or funny story. Collect all the letters and assemble them in a scrapbook, photo album or have them bound at a copy shop. Your grandparents will then have a living testament to their legacy and the positive impact they've made on the lives of their family and friends. Include a picture of each person with your grandparents if possible.
Slide Show
If you are computer savvy, you can make a slide show as a Grandparents Day gift. Go back as far as you can and collect photos, video clips and memorabilia that relate to your grandparents. Scan photos, upload videos and photograph or scan memorabilia and put it into your slide show in order. Add text to tell the story of your grandparent's lives and of the family legacy they've created. If you cannot find pictures that capture your grandparent's whole history, create a slide show that just details your personal history with your grandparents. Burn the slide show to DVD and show it on Grandparent's Day.
Video
Video projects are good for large families that have a lot of grandchildren. One person operates the camera, and individually, each grandchild appears on screen to deliver a personal Grandparents Day greeting. Like the memory book, each person can detail a good memory or tell a funny story while on camera. Create DVDs from the video and give them to your grandparents.
Family Portraits
Family portraits allow grandparents to take stock of the entire family they've created. Gather the whole family in a portrait studio or in a place that has special significance to your grandparents, and take a series of group portraits. You can create variations of these photos, like a group shot of just grandchildren, one of just girls, one of just boys and one with every family member you can find. Present the portraits in nice frames or in an engraved photo album.
