Christmas gifts for your in-laws that feel thoughtful, not awkward
A good Christmas gift for in-laws is personal without being too personal, and the safest ground is the family you share: a framed photo with the grandkids, a dinner you host, a family photo session, or EverTold for Two, so your spouse and your children can hear their stories. Give it together with your spouse.
Your in-laws raised the person you married. A good gift for them says thank you for that, and tells them they are part of your family too.
The trick is personal but not intimate: gifts about the family you share, especially the grandchildren, almost always land.
Ideas for your in-laws
EverTold for Two, from the two of you
Give your in-laws a place to tell their life stories, together, in one family library. Your spouse hears about "your mom when she was little", and your kids hear their grandparents’ stories told for them at bedtime. It is a gift to them and to your children at once, and you can choose the first questions together.
A framed photo of them with the grandkids
The best one from this year, properly printed and framed. Grandparents almost never have enough of these.
A dinner you host for them
Invite them over, cook their favorite, and let them be guests for once.
A photo from their own past, restored
Ask your spouse to find their parents’ wedding photo or a picture from their first home. Have it restored and framed.
Their family recipe, made at your house
Ask your mother in law or father in law to teach you the dish your spouse grew up on. The asking is half the gift.
An evening out for the two of them
Dinner and a show, booked, with you watching the grandkids. Time alone together is rare for many couples their age.
A calendar of the grandkids
One photo of the children for each month, with birthdays and visits already marked.
A family photo session
Book a photographer for a morning when everyone is in town. They get the picture they have been hinting about for years.
A donation to a cause they care about
Their library, their community food pantry, the school where they taught. Write a card about why you chose it.
Something for the hobby they love
If it is the garden, a new set of good tools; if it is birdwatching, a feeder for the window they sit by. Ask your spouse which.
Hear what it sounds like: one story, two listeners
Grandma told this story once. Here is how two people in her family hear it.
as she grew up hearing it, heard by Sarah, her daughter
The cow that followed Uncle Jimmy home
The summer your mom turned eleven, your uncle Jimmy came walking up the farm road at dusk with a brown cow behind him. He swore she had followed him home. Your mom knew better: she had seen the bucket of feed swinging from his hand.
at story time, heard by Noah, her grandson
Great-Uncle Jimmy and the cow
A long time ago, when Grandma was a little girl, her big brother, your great-uncle Jimmy, came home with a cow! “She followed me,” he said. But Grandma saw his bucket of cow food. The cow was following the bucket!
What Grandma actually said: Jimmy swore that cow followed him home. She did not. She followed the bucket.
Getting the tone right
Gifts for in-laws go wrong in two ways: too generic, which reads as an afterthought, or too personal, which can feel like overstepping. Gifts about the grandchildren and the shared family are the safest middle.
Give it together with your spouse, and let your spouse write part of the card. It should feel like it came from both of you.
Ideas for every kind of parent
- For a mother in law who has everything: ask her to teach you the dish your spouse grew up on.
- For a father in law who loves to tell stories: EverTold for Two, with your spouse choosing the first questions.
- For in-laws far away: the calendar of the grandkids, with visits already marked.
- For in-laws you are still getting to know: the family photo session.
How to choose
- If they adore the grandkids: the framed photo, the calendar or EverTold for Two.
- If they are private people: the dinner, the evening out or the donation.
- If your spouse has always wanted to hear more about their childhood: EverTold for Two.
- If you do not know them well yet: the family photo session.
What only EverTold does
Each relative hears the story from their own place in the family
When Mom tells a story about her brother, her daughter hears it as a story about "your uncle" and her grandson hears "your great-uncle", read aloud in a warm storyteller’s voice. Every listener gets the version that makes sense to them.
Story time for the grandkids
A grandchild can tap a story at bedtime and hear it retold for a child: the same true story, simpler words, a gentler pace. Adults get the faithful telling.
A real conversation, not a writing assignment
EverTold asks a question out loud, listens, and follows up, like a patient grandchild on a phone call. It waits for them to finish. Nobody has to write a thing.
Their real voice, kept
The recordings of their answers are saved privately for the family, right next to the written stories, so you keep the way they actually sound.
Handed down for generations
A family library that keeps growing, paid for once. No subscription, no renewal, nothing to cancel.
The family can ask for more
Anyone in the family can send a question like "Mom, tell me about the farm". It goes to the real person, and their answer comes back as a new story.
The EverTold Forever Promise: One payment, no renewals, for as long as EverTold operates. Download everything any time. If EverTold ever closes, you get at least 6 months’ notice and then 90 days to download everything before anything is deleted. Read the full promise
A note from Dustin and Gabi
We are a husband and wife, and our family speaks two languages: Gabi’s side Portuguese, Dustin’s side English. When our kids asked about their great-grandfather in Brazil, who left home for the city as a teenager to build a life from nothing, we realized the details that make a person come alive had already been lost. He passed away before we asked him the questions that mattered most.
We still have parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles on both sides, with decades of stories we had never thought to ask about. So we built EverTold for our own family first, and we write these guides the way we choose gifts for them.
We come from two families with two languages. Gifts that bring both sides of the family together are the ones we care about most.
Give EverTold
One storyteller, a lifetime family library, paid once.
Two storytellers, usually Mom and Dad, sharing one family library, paid once.
One payment, no subscription. 30 day refund. Delivered by email on the day you choose.
Give EverToldQuestions
What is a good Christmas gift for in-laws?
Something about the family you share: a framed photo with the grandkids, a dinner you host, a family photo session, or EverTold for Two, which gives both of them a place to tell their stories for your spouse and your children.
What do you get a mother in law who has everything?
Time and appreciation rather than things: ask her to teach you a family recipe, frame a photo of her with the grandchildren, or give her a way to tell her stories to the family.
What do you get a father in law for Christmas?
Something tied to what he loves or to the family: a game or an evening out, gear for his hobby, a restored photo from his past, or a chance to tell his stories with EverTold.
Can we schedule EverTold to arrive on Christmas morning at their house?
Yes. Choose the delivery day and time at checkout and the gift email reaches them that morning, or print the gift card and hand it over in person.