Photo gifts for grandparents

#	Product	Best for	Cost per shot	Price
1	Kodak Dock Plus RetroPlug the phone in, press print, get a 4 x 6 photograph. No pairing, no app dance.	Best gift for grandparents	$0.40	Check price
2	Canon SELPHY CP1500The same 4 x 6 size, slightly cheaper per print, over Wi-Fi rather than a dock.	Best print quality	$0.39	Check price
3	Polaroid Coffee Table Photo AlbumThe real gift is often not the printer — it is an album you have already filled.	Best gift with the prints already in it	n/a	Check price

Why not an instant camera

It is worth being direct about this, because an instant camera is the obvious-looking gift and it is usually the wrong one.

• •The print is too small. An instax mini photograph is 2.4 x 1.8 inches. For someone whose eyesight is not what it was, that is a squint rather than a photograph.
• •It is a new camera to learn. A grandparent who takes photographs on a phone already has a camera they are comfortable with. The instant camera is a second device with its own rules about distance and flash range.
• •Every frame costs money. At 85 cents to $2.37 a shot, a camera that is used uncertainly is a camera that gets rationed.
• •The photographs they most want are of grandchildren, and those photographs already exist — on their children's phones. A camera cannot print those. A printer can.

The pairing problem, which decides this

Nearly every pocket photo printer connects over Bluetooth through the manufacturer's app. That means: install an app, grant permissions, pair a device, and re-pair it when it forgets. For a confident phone user that is a minor nuisance. For someone who is not, it is the reason the printer ends up in a cupboard.

That table is the argument for the dock. A phone plugged into a cradle, with a print button, is a mechanism anybody can use on the first try.

What the prints cost

About 39 to 40 cents for a full 4 x 6 photograph against 85 cents for an instax mini print a fifth of the size. For this recipient the choice is not close on either measure.

1. Best gift for grandparents

Kodak Dock Plus Retro

Plug the phone in, press print, get a 4 x 6 photograph. No pairing, no app dance.

Buy it for

Any grandparent who takes photographs on a phone, or receives them from family.

Skip it if

Anyone who wants something portable.

• •A **dock connection**: the phone plugs straight in, which removes the single biggest barrier to these gifts being used.
• •A full **4 x 6 inch** print for about **40 cents** — large enough to see without glasses.
• •4PASS dye-sublimation with a laminate pass, so prints are dry, tough and smudge-proof.
• •$109.99 listed, against $177.99 regular.

Running cost: Kodak 4PASS 4 x 6 works out at $0.40 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $173.97 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.9/10 overall

• Will actually get used10
• Print size10
• Running cost10
• Portability2

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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2. Best print quality

Canon SELPHY CP1500

The same 4 x 6 size, slightly cheaper per print, over Wi-Fi rather than a dock.

Buy it for

A grandparent who is comfortable with a home Wi-Fi network.

Skip it if

Anyone who finds device setup stressful — the dock is simpler.

• •About **39 cents** for a 4 x 6 print, the cheapest here; 108 prints for $41.99.
• •Instantly dry and water resistant, with a claimed 100-year fade resistance.
• •Wi-Fi, so it works from across the room and handles large files.
• •108-print sets mean reloading only a few times a year.

Running cost: Canon SELPHY 4 x 6 (KP-108IN) works out at $0.39 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $221.98 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.6/10 overall

• Will actually get used8
• Print size10
• Running cost10
• Portability2

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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Read the full review

3. Best gift with the prints already in it

Polaroid Coffee Table Photo Album

The real gift is often not the printer — it is an album you have already filled.

Buy it for

Any grandparent, and the option that needs no technology at all.

Skip it if

Someone who wants to print their own.

• •$34.99 listed, and it gets left out on a table rather than put away.
• •You do the printing; they get the photographs. No setup, no app, no learning.
• •Pair it with prints of grandchildren from an online service or a printer you own.

How it scores8.3/10 overall

• Will actually get used10
• No technology needed10
• Effort required from you4

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

Check price on Amazon→

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The gift that needs no technology at all

Worth saying plainly, because it is often the best version of this gift: print the photographs yourself, put them in an album, and give them the album.

Polaroid's coffee-table album is $34.99 and its large album holds 160 photographs at $22.99. Fill one with photographs of grandchildren and there is nothing to set up, nothing to learn, and nothing to run out of. If you already own a printer, the whole gift costs the album plus about 40 cents a print.

A printer is the better gift if they will use it to print their own. An album you have filled is the better gift if they will not.

What to add

1. 1.A full cartridge or ink-and-paper set, so the printer works immediately. Kodak bundles usually include media; a Canon KP-108IN set is $41.99 for 108 prints.
2. 2.A 4 x 6 album, which is the cheapest and easiest album format to buy for.
3. 3.Written instructions, in large print, on one page. Not a manual — three steps and a picture.
4. 4.Some prints already made, so the gift works the moment it is opened.