101 Holiday
Family History Gift Ideas

By Carol Harless

1Compile a family picture album about your immediate family or relatives.

2 Copy family videos for the year onto one tape.

3 Create a computer coupon book that can be used toward entering data, writing life stories, and doing other family history work on the computer.

4 Create an ancestor card game. Play like Old Maid, Fish, or Concentration.

5 Create a Christmas memory album of Christmases past. Have your Christmas letter on one side of the page and a snapshot or two of that Christmas on the other side. These letters will serve a great help in writing your life story in latter years.

6 Create a coloring book for your children or grandchildren showing their culture.

7 Create a descendant chart with your grandparents as the key people.

8 Create a doll or quilt of the material used to make your children's clothes.

9 Create a family banner.

10 Create a family calendar, with current pictures or a calendar of ancestor's pictures.

11 Create a family bingo game with pictures of family and ancestors.

12 Create a crossword or word quest puzzle on family member or ancestor for that person's birthday or anniversary.

13 Create a word mixup puzzle on family members or ancestors.

14 Draw an outline of a child laying down on long paper. Let child help draw in the features and clothes.

15 Fill a small archival box with memorabilia of a grandparent for a grandchild. Include copies of pictures, certificates, etc.

16 Fill in a My Favorite Things form to give to family members.

17 Fill in a birthday or new year's form about the previous year to give to family members.

18 Frame an article of clothing that belonged to a family member or ancestor. These can be passed on from generation to generation.

19 Frame a coat of arms or even create a new coat of arms for your family.

20 Frame a family member's name, origin and meaning of name.

21 Frame a family member's or ancestor's certificate with picture.

22 Frame a family recipe, saying or poem, in handwritten form.

23 Give acid-free paper, protectors and binder for family history projects.

24 Give a book relating to your area or family.

25 Give a child/relative stamp collection supplies and stamps off old family letters and from countries of family members.

26 Give or frame children's collection of school pictures through the years to grandparents/relatives.

27 Fill in a birthday or new year's form about the previous year to give to family members.

28 Give a computer to a family member to use for family history.

29 Give a computer, new or used, to a family organization, or a genealogy library/group.

30 Give a coupon book that can be used toward data entry, writing life stories, etc., on the computer.

31 Give a coupon and postage stamps for monthly letters and correspond with a child, grandchild, family member, or older relative. Write once a month and include family information while creating a personal bond with that person.

32 Give a coupon for a trip with you to the family history center, federal archives, county courthouse, state library or cemetery.

33 Give a gift of money to the family genealogist or family organization.

34 Give a gift of money to the family history center.

35 Give a gift of time and share your family history expertise.

36 Give a gift of time and help in a family orgranization.

36 Gift a gift of time and help in a genealogy group.

37 Give a gift certificate for help at a relative's house to work on the person's pictures, life story, etc.

38 Give a gift certificate for a family history class.

39 Give a gift certificate for a computer class to learn programs to use in family history.

40 Do a headstone rubbing of one of your ancestors and give it to a family member.

41 Give a group of family pictures for a wall portrait gallery.

42 Give a journal to a family member or relative. Help small children record their thoughts.

43 Give a timeline or personal history of a family member or ancestor.

44 Give an ornament of special importance to your children or grandchildren.

45 Give a published book on one of your family lines.

46 Give a mouse pad, tie, cup, apron, etc. with a family member's picture on it.

47 Give something of yours, perhaps an heirloom in your possession.

48 Give a story, poem or picture that a family member or ancestor wrote or painted.

49 Give a tape recording of a family activity, ancestor interview, etc.

50 Give a video on the country or area the family or ancestor is from.

51 Give a video of a family reunion, family member interview, etc.

52 Help or have a child write a special letter to a parent, grandparent, sibling, etc.

53 Make an address book or list of current family and relatives addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

54 Make a book on family traditions.

55 Make a book of your favorite family quotes or stories you have written.

56 Make a book of an ancestor's quotes and/or stories he/she has written.

57 Make a Who's Who book of ancestors. Alphabetize names with short excerpts on a person's life. Include interesting facts about time period, culture, customs, and location.

58 Make a child's hand print and frame it.

59 Make a children's book on yourself, a family member, or an ancestor.

60 Make a children's or family hand print quilt with the hands in a circle with the names on them. One family circled on a quilt the handprint of a child who had passed away; this helped them remember him. The quilt was used as a wall hanging.

61 Make Christmas nightshirts for all to wear.

62 Make a family history book page with a certificate plus a picture.

63 Make a family home evening lesson on a family member or ancestor.

64 Make a family music book.

65 Make a family recipe book.

66 Make a jigsaw puzzle of one of your ancestral pictures.

67 Make a A Memory Jogger box. This is a plastic recipe card box with a section for each family member. When a person says or does something that needs to be remembered, write the person's name, the date, place, and quote event or accomplishment on a card and put it in that person's section.

68 Make a play rug depicting the family's home town with special home and special buildings, streets, railroad tracks, the airport, parks, and other places imoortant to your family. Give small cars, etc. for the children to use with it.

69 Make a photo quilt of family members.

70 Make photo Christmas tree ornaments with pictures of family members and ancestors, both current and past pictures.

71 Make a silhouette of a child's head and shoulders.

72 Make a toy for grandchildren that a parent or ancestor played with as a child (corn stalk doll, handkerchief doll, truck, etc.)

73 Make an apron or article of clothing with children's or grandchildrent's hand prints or names on it.

74 Make toys out of family blanket.

75 Make a wreath of children's or grandchildren's hand prints.

76 Make stationery with a drawing of your home or ancestor's home or true coat of arms.

77 Make something for children or grandchildren that will be an heirloom or an item they can use as adults, such as a tablecloth, or a tool for their own tool chest.

78 Make a t-shirt with family member picture or family motto on it.

79 Make videos from your 8-mm family movies.

80 Make a wall pedigree chart with pictures. Pictures could be scanned.

81 Paint a family tree.

82 Prepare a book of remembrance or permanent record for a child, grandchild, or relative.

83 Read a family story on a cassette tape or video and give a copy of the story with the tape.

84 Restore a trunk and fill with memorabilia of the family.

85 Send a child, grandchild, or relatives a copy of your family history information, such as your database.

86 Serve an ethnic dinner or dessert during the holidays to celebrate your heritage.

87 Start a family round robin letter or newsletter.

88 Make a puzzle out of a picture.

89 Start a new family history tradition. Write a book about your family's traditions.

90 Start a family tablecloth with signatures of friends and family members. Then embroider their names.

91 Take videos and pictures of family heirlooms. Write the story of each one to put by it picture in a book for children or grandchildren and other relatives.

92 Write or type a copy of a family recipe. Make the recipe. Give both the recipe copy and the food to a family member.

93 Wrap an heirloom (dish, tool, piece of jewelry, book, etc.) that belongs to you, or belonged to a parent, grandparent, etc., and give it to a child, grandchild or relative, along with a written history of the heirloom.

94 Write your memories of a family member and give the writing to the person you wrote about.

95 Write your memories of a family member or ancestor and give it to the child, grandchild, spouse, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc. of that person.

96 Write a story or a report of a family history trip for relatives and include pictures.

97 Write a letter to a family member and describe what makes them special to you; describe your philosophy of life, your appreciation of the person you are writing to, and why you appreciate them. Describe your hopes for their future and your gladness that they are part of your family.

98 Write a song or poem for a family member, or a song or poem about an ancestor, and share it.

99 Each year, give children in your family a special ornament that they can use all their lives at holiday time.

100 Make a favorite ethnic food and share it with your own family or friends.

101 Give your genealogy database to all family members every Christmas.