I admit it, I used to think that grandparents day was just one of those invented excuses to make money dreamed up by the greetings card industry. I really did.
But last year I was asked to review some items for Grandparents Day, and without really taking much notice I sent them off to the in-laws.
Oh. My.
They were loved and ooh-ed over.
They were cherished, and are still in pride of place on a bookshelf.
It’s easy to forget, particularly as the children get older and more engrossed in their own lives, how much the grandparents (especially those who live at a distance) really do yearn to be a part of their lives. How much they love to hear the children’s news, and admire their latest art project, and engage an interested face over the latest Minecraft master build. Let’s face it – who else on earth apart from you would even feign an interest in such a thing, let alone genuinely enjoy looking at it?
Come on – there can’t be many grandparents who wouldn’t LOVE to get a surprise teacup full of flowers, is there?
So this is one commercial enterprise I’m going to embrace – not because I like the card industry so much, but because I do actually need reminding to say thank you to my in laws for being terrific grandparents. Which they are.
And thankfully, I’m covered even if I don’t remember until the day (Sunday 5th October this year, in case you were starting to rustle the calendar); praise be to the powers of the interwebs and those same-day flowers heroes.
And it’s not all pink carnations for the Grannies, either. Because let’s not forget the Grandpas (or Bumpas in our personal case) and their amazing fix it skills. Their willingness to spend hours making fiddly furniture for dolls houses. To make working trebuchets and elastic band guns. Or the monumental clip-together fort for the garden, complete with three armies of peg soldiers in three different uniforms..
And oh the absorption in a Bumpa Book Reading Session.
So if you happen to have a grandpa in your life who wouldn’t appreciate flowers (I know my husband would – he’s a sucker for some scented lilys) then maybe you could do worse than a trio box of wine? Naturally there are even lovely people who’ll arrange Same Day Gifting.
So – I think we might get our acts together this year – a family Sunday Lunch won’t be possible as we’ll be in Italy, but if I get organised then some homemade cards sent from Rome might just bring a big smile to some lovely people’s faces.
How about you? Will you be joining in? What will you be doing to celebrate the best old people in your child’s life?
