Gifts for long distance grandparents
Good gifts for long distance grandparents close the miles: a shared family photo album, mail from the grandkids, a visit already booked, a standing call on the calendar, or EverTold, which keeps their stories where every grandchild can hear them, whenever they want, from wherever they live.
When grandparents live far away, the visits are wonderful and too short. The best gifts make the time between visits feel less empty, for them and for the grandkids.
Ideas that close the distance
EverTold: their stories, there whenever the grandkids want them
Grandma tells her stories out loud to a patient interviewer, from her own kitchen. Every story is narrated and shared with the family, and each grandchild hears it told from their own place: "your great-grandmother", "your mom when she was little". The kids can also send her a question, and her answer comes back as a new story. Distance stops mattering.
A shared photo album
Set up a shared album on their phone and add a photo of the grandkids every few days. Small, steady and easy.
Mail from the grandkids
Drawings, letters and school pictures in a real envelope. Include a stamped envelope so they can write back.
A visit already booked
Travel is the gift. Book the tickets, pick the dates, and give the confirmation in a card.
A standing call on the calendar
Pick one evening a week. Set up the device for them if they need it, and keep the time.
Why stories work across distance
A video call needs everyone free at the same moment, and young kids rarely sit still for one. A story waits. The grandkids can listen at bedtime, in the car or on a quiet afternoon, and the grandparent knows their stories are being heard.
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.
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
Do the grandparents and grandkids need to be online at the same time?
No. The grandparent tells stories whenever suits them, and the family listens whenever suits them.
What do grandparents need?
A phone, tablet or computer with a web browser. They open the gift email, tap Start and talk. No app and no password.