Looking for unique gift ideas for your adult kids and their families that last after the wrapping paper is torn away?

Gifting is experienced as much by the giver as the receiver. I learn about the state of my own heart when I give a gift. Giving teaches me about God who is the ultimate gift-giver.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17, NIV). God freely gives forgiveness. He offers eternal life later and the companionship of his Holy Spirit now.

The heart of the word forgiveness is give. The first gift to your adult kids and their families is giving with no emotional strings attached. The nature of a gift is to freely present and allow the receiver to use the gift as they choose without comment or criticism from the giver.

God is the master giver of faith, life, and relationship.

Fuel Faith

Gift each family member with an age-appropriate Bible. Journaling Bibles have allotted space for notes and drawings, and pair well with journaling pens and stickers so readers can animate and notate what they learn.

Help family members hide the Word of God in their hearts by covering expenses for a Scripture Memory Club like Awana.

Encourage a God hunt with the book by J. Warner Wallace titled Cold Case Christianity for Kids. Add sleuthing supplies, including a magnifying glass, flashlights, microscope, and journal to record findings.

For gifts that last throughout the year, consider magazine subscriptions. Focus on the Family offers something for each age group. Each month, family members receive faith-encouraging mail tailored to them.

An Adventures in Odyssey Club membership gives the family 1000 faith-based radio drama episodes to listen to on demand. The stories are riveting for children and adults with worry-free content.

Plan a trip to The Ark and Creation Museum. Take a trip to a national park and go on a God-hunt, noticing the wonders of creation. Visit historic sites and learn how God guided those who lived before.

To share the experience of seeing and touching the places where Jesus lived, loved, and taught, one family took their adult kids and grandchildren to Israel over Christmas.

Healthy lifestyle

Family life usually revolves around work and study. Balance lifestyles with reasons for families to move their bodies.  

Memberships to state parks are an invitation to get outdoors and explore. Parks offer events from bonfires to guided hikes, from nature talks to scavenger hunts for young and old. Combine fishing poles with a tackle box. Give a bird-watching kit with a birdhouse to assemble and paint, birdseed, binoculars, and a bird identification book.

Encourage exercise and movement with sports equipment for badminton, baseball, basketball, bocce ball, croquet, soccer, or volleyball. Play can be adapted to height and ability.

Who doesn’t remember the thrill of finding a bicycle under the tree on Christmas morning? From strider bikes for preschoolers to bike trailers and rear-mounted bike seats for parents to ride with young children, there are bicycles for nearly every age and size. 

Gym membership offers facilities for fitness even when the weather outside is frightful. The YMCA has childcare for the very young, tracks for walking and jogging, swimming, workout machines, and courts for team sports. Gyms provide fitness coaching and a variety of classes from line dancing to spinning.

For movement at home, kids experience hours of fun on indoor bouncers. Parents benefit by jogging and getting in their steps without leaving home. A climbing rope can be connected outdoors or to a strong beam indoors. Floor mats provide a place to tumble. A ping pong table or nets that attach to the dining room table invite family play.

Movement and imagination come naturally with an outdoor swing set, playhouse, or sandbox. Consider slip and slides as well as frisbees and nerf dart guns. Bubbles, a compass, jump ropes, and sidewalk chalk fit as stocking stuffers.

Sleds and skis pair well with coats, mittens, hats, and boots to keep family members warm during outdoor playtime. After all, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

Fund membership in organizations that align with family interests such 4-H, a cycling club, jump rope club, or Civil Air Patrol.

What about family lessons in golf, horseback riding, pickleball, or swimming?

Cultivate relationship

Nurture family relationships with games to play together. Classics include checkers, chess, charades, dominos, marbles, pick-up sticks, and puzzles. Ignite group creativity with finger paints, a large roll of paper, and a plastic tablecloth to contain the mess.

Collect clothing accessories such as costume jewelry, hats, gloves, belts, scarves, and sweaters. Pack into a plastic tote for dress-up, homemade plays, and acting out Bible stories during family devotions. Include a read-aloud Bible.

Encourage togetherness with family memberships that grant year-long admission to the ballpark, museum, performing arts theater, philharmonic, science center, theme park, or zoo.

Fund music and art lessons.

Gift cards to favorite restaurants or delivery service, are welcome for days without time to meal prep.

Share a memory-making experience. Treat the family to the ballet, performing arts theater, or dinner theater. Take the family to an age-appropriate, parent-approved movie.

Rent an Airbnb over agreed-upon dates where the family can get away. Choose a central location where extended family can join for a gathering of cousins.

Give a photo album featuring family members and curated treasured memories.

For more gift ideas, ask your adult kids what is on their list. Some gifts enrich life as it is, others introduce unexplored areas. Gifts that last after the wrapping paper is in the trash fuel faith, nurture health, and cultivate relationships.

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