Gifts for new grandparents that actually get used in year one

New grandparents get a lot of mugs. "Promoted to Grandma," a sweatshirt with the baby's due date, a fleece blanket with a stork on it. All fine, all used about twice. What most grandparents actually want in the first year is simpler: more photos of the baby, an easy way to have the baby over, and to feel like they're part of it rather than watching from the driveway.

Here's what tends to get used, roughly in order, and the catch with each.

A digital photo frame that fills itself

If you buy one thing, make it this. Frames like Aura and Skylight sit on a counter and show photos that family members send from their phones. The grandparents don't have to do anything. Every time you take a picture of the baby asleep in the laundry basket, it can be on Grandpa's kitchen counter a minute later.

The catch: these need Wi-Fi, and the setup is where they go wrong. Set it up yourself before you wrap it. Connect it to their network on your next visit, load the first fifty photos, and add every parent's and aunt's phone so the photos keep coming. A frame that shows the same twelve pictures from the hospital until June is a frame that gets unplugged.

Baby gear for their house

This is the least romantic gift on the list and the one that gets used most. If the grandparents will babysit even once a month, they need their own setup so nobody is hauling a car full of equipment every visit.

• A portable crib or play yard for naps. Keep it bare: a fitted sheet and nothing else.
• A second car seat, new, if they'll be driving the baby. Not the one from the garage sale.
• A hook-on or compact high chair for when solids start around the middle of the year.
• A changing pad, a stash of diapers and wipes, and one spare outfit in the next size up.

A gentle word on this one. A lot has changed since today's grandparents had babies, especially around sleep and car seats. Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center has a plain-spoken list of 10 tips for modern grandparents, which notes, among other things, that cribs made before 2011 are likely unsafe and that babies should sleep with nothing in the crib but a snug sheet. If Grandpa still has the crib from 1989 in the attic, the new play yard is a kind way to retire it without a lecture.

An infant CPR and first aid class

This sounds grim as a present. In practice, a lot of grandparents are quietly nervous about being alone with a baby, and a class takes some of that away. The Red Cross offers first aid and CPR classes, including pediatric ones for child and baby, online and in person. Pay for it and, even better, take it with them. It's a morning together, and everyone leaves knowing what to do if the baby chokes on a blueberry.

A grandparent journal

A journal for grandparents to write letters to the baby is a lovely idea that often stalls by February. If you go this way, make it easy. Buy a plain hardback notebook, and on the first twelve pages write one dated prompt per month: "What did you two do together this month?" "What does she do that reminds you of her dad?" Short prompts get answered. Blank pages don't.

If the grandparent is a storyteller, Storyworth is the version with a built-in nudge. It emails them a question every week, they write or record an answer, and the stories are printed as a book at the end. It starts at about $69. It's aimed at a grandparent's whole life rather than the baby's first year, which is arguably the better gift: in fifteen years, the grandchild will want to know who Grandma was before she was Grandma.

One good photo, printed and framed

Pick the best photo from the first few weeks. Not a collage frame with nine small windows; one photo, printed properly and framed at a size you can see from across the room. The grandparent holding the baby for the first time is the usual choice, and it's usual because it works. Get it printed at a photo lab rather than at home, and check that it was taken in daylight, since a dim hospital room at night tends to print muddy. Our guide to taking better photos of your kids has a few tricks for getting a sharp one.

What usually doesn't get used

• Lots of baby clothes for their house. The baby outgrows them before the second visit. One spare outfit is enough.
• Big toys. The baby won't care about toys for months, and the grandparents' house doesn't need a plastic activity center in the living room yet.
• Anything with "Grandma" printed on it, given on its own. Fine as a stocking stuffer. Thin as the main present.

A note from us

We make canvas portraits of kids in themed scenes, and honestly, for a newborn's first year, the real framed photo is the better gift. When there are older grandkids in the picture, or for the next birthday or two, our post on gifts for grandparents from grandkids has more ideas, including a few that aren't ours. And whatever you give, a few handwritten lines from the new parents do a lot of the work. If you're stuck, here's what to write in the card.