Few things are worse than seeing a gift you put time into choosing fall flat; that feeling is even worse when it’s your parents (or your partner’s parents) who are the ones doing their best impression of people who are happy with what they’ve received.
Every year it feels like the ultimate challenge to find great anniversary, birthday or Christmas gifts for parents. Instead of looking for multiple gifts, consider getting them something they can enjoy together if that’s an option.
Regardless of whether it’s the holiday season or you want to show gratitude for something your parents have done for you, the gift ideas below are sure to please, excite and warm their hearts.
The Best Gift Ideas for Parents for 2023
1. Fitbit Charge 3 Activity Tracker
Get your parents their own Fitbits and become the favorite child instantly. With a battery life of up to 7 days, this activity tracker will help parents get their health organized.
It has 15 exercise modes to choose from and set goals, automatically records three stages of sleep activity and keeps them connected to their favorite apps, the latest weather and news and of course you. The Charge 3 comes in 5 colors so you can find the right one that best suits mom and dad.
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2. Cleaning Services
Are your parents always talking about cleaning out the garage one day or turning the empty bedroom into an exercise space once they “get around to it”? Then giving them the gift of a professional cleaning may just be one of the best gifts you can offer!
Choose the size of the space that needs to be cleaned and the amount of cleaning that will need to be done.
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3. The Lotus Plant
This holiday season, get your mom and dad this beautiful combination of nature, beauty and art. A tall air plants sits in the center of a sustainably made solid softwood sculpture made in the likeness of the lotus flower’s natural symmetry. The tight, repeating loops of the wood are bent by hand, adding to the unique nature of each individual piece.
The perfect gift for parents who have everything, it is elegant and beautifully understated.
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4. Echo Show 5
Alexa is ready to help your folks around the house in this compact, Wi-Fi enabled Echo device. It instantly amps up any smart home, connecting to other supported devices and keeping your parents updated on anything and everything they want to know.
The compact device can fit into any room in any home and has a screen that allows them to make video calls hands-free to their favorite people – hopefully one of them is you!
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5. Outdoor Patio Table with Cooler
It’s a coffee table, cooler or cocktail table – it’s all up to your parents. For parents who love to sit outside and even entertain, this bar will offer them everything they need.
Designed with an extendable tabletop for more space and made from weather-resistant materials, it is perfect for indoor or outdoor use. The cooler at the bottom has a 7.5-gallon storage capacity and a drainage plug to make cleaning it a breeze.
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6. Personalized Cutting Board
Cooking couples will never get enough at looking at and using this personalized cutting board. You can add their first names, special anniversary or wedding dates and the family name, which is emblazoned beautifully right in the center of the board.
Choose between maple or walnut as well as the board size. Perfect for any occasion, it is a great gift for godparents, grandparents or any chef (or would-be chef).
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7. Solar Bluetooth Speaker
This incredibly powerful speaker easily connects to multiple smart gadgets and can provide up to 6 hours of high-quality sound when fully charged.
Speaking of charging this tiny powerhouse, when you’re outside the sun can charge it or a USB when they’re indoors. It also features an LED flash light for emergencies and has multiple light modes, including a strobe light for the dance party they’re sure to have when they’re alone.
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8. Personalized Anniversary Chronicle Canvas Print
This is an incredibly thoughtful gift for your parents, especially if they have been together a very long time. Printed on an actual artist canvas, you can choose the print from three different sizes; 12 by 18, 16 by 24, or 20 by 30.
The top of the canvas will be personalized with your parents married names and wedding date. Information such as the President and Vice President of the time, headline news from that month, top movies and songs, important sporting events, and cost of living comparisons are all included on the print.
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9. Custom House Portrait
A unique gift for parents that have lived in the same house for a long time, have had to move from their long-term home, or have built their own home together, this house portrait will pull at their heart strings.
Upload a picture of the house and you will receive a unique, hand-drawn art piece that your parents can cherish forever. You have the ability to pick the color you would like the house to be drawn in, and they will send you a proof for approval before shipping the actual picture.
You can choose from four sizes; 7 by 5, 10 by 8, 14 by 11, or 20 by 16. They also offer the choice of adding a frame or not.
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10. Tile Mate
Are your parents always misplacing their car keys, wallets, phones, and the TV remote? The Tile Mate is a Bluetooth tracker designed to be used with a smartphone app. The app will show you the last place you had the item you are looking for, then it will make a ringing sound to help you locate the item.
Is it your phone that has been misplaced? That’s okay, each Tile is equipped with a small button that will allow you to ring your phone, even if it is on silent. If for some reason you can’t find any of your Tiles, you can use the website app to ping the location of your phone.
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11. Instant Pot
Like a crock pot, but much faster and more possibilities. The Instant Pot combines seven different small appliances into one machine. An Instant Pot can replace your pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sauté pans, yogurt maker, and food warmer.
The six-quart capacity allows for up to six servings at a time. Convenience is also a huge factor, because the Instant Pot uses smart technology to monitor current pressure, temperature, and time to adjust settings on its own to achieve perfect results every time.
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12. Personalized Cutting Board
If your parents enjoy cooking, consider adding a personalized cutting board to their kitchen. You can create a custom glass cutting board, wood cutting board, or marble cutting board. You can choose the shape and style, monogram, and some even allow you to print a picture on the board.
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13. His and Hers Ugg Slippers
Parents love slippers. They love to wear them around the house while they drink their morning coffee to keep their feet warm and toasty. Ugg offers several different styles of slippers for men and women, and you can buy your parents a matching set.
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14. Personalized Calendar
Adding a personal touch to a yearly calendar for your parents will make them smile ear to ear. You can use pictures of them, you and your partner, and your kids if you have any. This is a great gift to be placed in the kitchen or office.
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15. Play Tickets
Do your parents enjoy theatre? If they do, play tickets will make a great gift. They will be able to dress nice and spend quality time together during a lovely night out. Take a look at your local theatre to see what plays they have coming up and purchase tickets to the one you think your parents will enjoy most.
If you enjoy theatre also, make it a family night and join your parents for the fun. They will love the quality time spent with you, too.
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16. Keurig Coffee Maker
Everyone loves coffee, but chances are if your parents are empty nester’s, they never drink a whole pot by themselves. A Keurig is a single-serve coffee maker, so your parents can just make two cups at a time, one for each of them.
The best part about the Keurig is they don’t have to drink the same kind of coffee if they don’t want to. They can each make a cup of whatever blend they want and both parents will be happy. Keurig single serve cups are also a great continuing gift idea, you can buy them for any occasion.
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17. iRoomba
Give your parents a break and let the Roomba do the cleaning! The Roomba e5 Robot Vacuum is packed with performance for powerful pickup. Ideal for homes with pets, the 3-Stage Cleaning System uses Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes and Power-Lifting Suction to pull in dust, dirt, pet hair, and large debris.
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A Guide to Buying Gifts for Parents
Oftentimes parents have a greater ability to buy what they want than their children. This difference in available resources can sometimes make finding gifts for parents or grandparents particularly hard.
When you want to get them something that they’ll love and use, here are a few rules that can make the task much easier.
Prioritize value over wow factor
You may want to get your parents a unique gift that they won’t expect or may never have gotten for themselves, but it may not be exactly suited to mom and dad’s taste.
A throw blanket and UGG slippers may be better than a pressure cooker for some couples who just want to comfortably snuggle and watch their favorite TV shows.
Try thinking about experiences or products that your parents have openly expressed interest in but haven’t gotten around to getting for themselves, for whatever reason.
You may find that this thoughtful gift rekindles a passion for a hobby they abandoned years ago. For example, a camera may get them thinking about when they used to travel around town together taking pictures, working on their amateur photographer skills.
Don’t buy elderly parents or grandparents anything that reminds them of their age
Listen up: please don’t buy your parents a jar opener, grabber tool or robot vacuum for Christmas! This kind of gift can make people more depressed, as they are clearly geared towards those of advanced age or people with disabilities.
If a parent does have a disability or they are older, you should definitely get these kinds of items for them, but they don’t make for good Christmas gifts for parents or grandparents.
Get tech they will actually use
Smart devices that make video calls make great gift ideas, especially if there are grandchildren around. While some parents may be hesitant to use a Kindle or other kind of e-reader, a lot of parents find it to be pretty transformative.
You know their interests, so match the tech gift up with something they already enjoy. Just make sure you showing up to teach them how to use the gadget is also a part of the gift (a Nest thermostat isn’t the easiest to set up).
Tech appliances count here! An Instant Pot is a great outlet for their DIY food recipes.
Give the priceless gift of time
This could be you spending time with them, as most parents love being a part of their children’s lives. If you live in different states, something like a plane ticket to visit them, or bring them to you, would be very meaningful.
If your parents are doing something like looking for a financial advisor or are trying to put the old family photos in a digital format, vet the people they find or digitize the photos for them (as opposed to walking them through how to do it).
Don’t forget that they are busy too, so food subscription or delivery services or someone to take care of the yardwork would go a long way to improving their quality of life and well-being.