Gift ideas
Photo book or digital photo frame for grandparents?
Both solve the same problem: the family's photos are on phones and the grandparents aren't. They solve it in very different ways, and each suits a different kind of person.
A digital frame
A screen on a shelf that shows photos the family sends to it from an app.
- Good: new photos appear the day they're taken. Once it's working, sending is effortless.
- Good: it holds thousands of photos.
- Less good: it needs wifi, power and someone to set it up, and to fix it when the wifi changes.
- Less good: it shows what it likes, when it likes. They can't easily go back to the one they just saw.
- Less good: photos have no words. Nobody knows who the baby is.
- Cost: usually a larger one-off purchase, and some have subscriptions.
A printed book
- Good: nothing to set up, charge or connect. It works in a care home, a hospital, a caravan.
- Good: captions. Names, places and a note from each person.
- Good: it can be handed to a visitor.
- Less good: it's a moment in time. New photos need a new book.
- Less good: someone has to gather the photos. This is the part Paper Chain is built to make easy.
- Cost: a modest amount per book.
Who suits which
| If they… | Consider |
|---|---|
| have wifi and someone nearby to help with it | A frame |
| want to see the grandchildren change week by week | A frame |
| don't have wifi, or live in a care home | A book |
| like to show photos to friends | A book |
| have trouble with small screens or glare | A book |
| would enjoy reading what each person wrote | A book |
Or both
They aren't rivals. A frame is the daily drip; a book is the keepsake. Plenty of families run a frame all year and make a book of the best of it at Christmas.
Whichever you choose, the gift is really the photos. Agree as a family who will keep sending them.