Last-Minute Christmas Gifts for Grandma That Don't Need Shipping

Most family calls happen by accident: whoever is free, for as long as the signal holds. A planned one is different. Pick a time on Christmas Day or the days after, tell everyone in advance, and give it a small shape: each grandchild brings one thing to show her, or one question to ask.

It costs nothing, and the part she'll remember is that people turned up for her on purpose. Write the time on a card and hand it to her, or send it in the family chat on Christmas morning.

Not for a grandmother who finds video calls tiring or confusing. A phone call with the same plan works just as well.

If she bakes, paints, gardens or loves a period of history, there is almost certainly a live class about it that runs over video. Many cost between $20 and $60 a session, and the booking confirmation arrives by email, which you can print and put in a card.

The trick is to choose something she already does, not something you think she should try. A class that builds on a lifelong interest feels like a compliment; a class in something new can feel like homework.

Not for someone who doesn't use a computer or tablet on her own, unless someone will set it up and sit with her the first time.

Ask her, or ask someone who knows, which book she read over and over when she was twenty. Many of those classics are now available as audiobooks, usually for $15 to $30, and they can be sent to her as a gift by email.

It works best when it comes with a note that says why you chose it. Hearing a book she once loved, read aloud, is a different experience from reading it again.

Not for someone who doesn't listen to anything on a phone or tablet. Check that she has an app she already uses before you buy.

Somewhere there is a box or an album. If you can get to it before Christmas, scan the photos with a phone app or a scanner, put them in a shared album, and send the link to the whole family on Christmas morning. If you can't get to it, the gift can be a promise: a card that says you'll do it together in January.

It costs nothing if you do it yourself, or a few dollars a photo through a scanning service. The best part is usually what happens next: people start adding names, places and stories under each picture.

Not for a grandmother who is private about her photos. Ask before sharing them beyond the family.

It's the cheapest gift on this list and often the one that gets kept longest. Write about one specific day you spent with her, one thing she taught you, or one thing she did that you only understood later. Specific beats general: the smell of her kitchen says more than a paragraph about how much she means to you.

Handwrite it and give it in person, or photograph it and send it on Christmas morning if you're far away.

Not a replacement for a present if the rest of the family is giving things. It works best alongside something else, or from someone who lives far away.

This one is ours. Heirleaf sends her questions about her life, one at a time. She can write the answers or simply talk, and we type out what she says for her to check. Nobody rewrites her words: what's in the book is what she said. Her answers become a typeset book she can download and print wherever she likes.

It costs $49, paid once, with no subscription. You get a code and a card to print straight away, and she gets an email on the day you choose, so it can be given on Christmas Eve. You never see what she writes; the book is hers.

Not for someone who doesn't want to talk about her life, or who has no email address and no one to help her open one. And it arrives as a PDF: if you want a bound book under the tree on the 25th, this isn't it.