Grandsites

March 31, 2011

Written by Contributing Writer, Sarah Farthing

I think it’s easy to take for granted the ease with which I can search the internet in any direction my mind wanders and stumble upon exactly what I desire.  This is a function, of course, of the ubiquitous presence of computers in my life beginning in my formative years.  My generation is the first to experience life and parenting this way, and it makes our parents the first to experience grand-parenting in the digital age!   Navigating the never-ending web of resources pertaining to the outfitting of children isn’t simple, but there are a few websites that I feel do an excellent job of being useful, clear, secure and efficient, which I imagine any grandparent appreciates.

Fisher-Price (http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ )has an area of their website just for grandparents, Grandest Time (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=30&e=gplanding), where they can find appropriate toys for different age categories, read about other grandparents’ experiences, sign up for the newsletter or even send an e-card!  One of my favorite parts of this site is the Poplar Brands list (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2538&e=popbrand ) ; seems like it would be a helpful research tool for a grandparent navigating birthday or holiday wish lists!

I realize this even has “for Moms” in the title, but I’m recommending it for grandparents, too!   Go to Daily Deals for Moms, find your city on the map, sign up for national deals and you’re up and running!   Whether you snag a great deal on a discounted dinner with your grandkids (or gift it to your adult children while you babysit?!), an incredible price on a family portrait session to celebrate and capture the generations of your family, half-price admission to open gym with your grandkids when they’re out of school, or a spa gift certificate at a fraction of its value to recover from that open gym date, you can’t go wrong.  The deals are there for your choosing, every day!

I am a loyal Amazon user and I wholeheartedly recommend this site for parents and grandparents alike.  There are frequently great deals on a huge range of items (is there anything they don’t sell?) and it’s also a great place to do research!  I carefully consider product reviews , compare brands, etc… and that’s especially useful for grandparents, I think, who might not have a peer buying for the same age child to swap opinions with all the time like mothers tend to have.   Another useful feature is the wish list.  It might surprise you, but I think this should go both ways- I would love gift ideas for my parents as much as they like having suggestions for their grandkids!  This is great when you aren’t sure of all the toys or books your grandchild already has, or when you want to buy something you know they’re wanting.   You can search for someone’s wish list by clicking on “gifts and wish lists” right above the normal search box and then entering a name in the search box on the right when you get to the gifts and wish list page.

Who can resist the plethora of adorable shoes on the market for kids?!  I love kids shoes and I love Zappos for their free shipping both ways. They sell much more than just shoes these days, but the appeal for grandparents here as I see it is that you can get the size wrong, the color wrong or the style wrong and your kids can exchange them for what works FOR FREE! There is no extra charge for you because your grandkids live out of town, no worry about how an item that’s not right will be returned and literally no hassle for your kids to re-order and drop the first package at a UPS store while they’re running errands.  Sometimes I find ‘suggestions’ from websites annoying and off-base, but Zappos does a good job of tracking the types of products you’re viewing and then making sure you know there are some similar styles worth looking into.  You can search by size, color, gender, brand…and in most cases view your items from every different angle before you decide if you want to add it to your cart.  Their selection is great and their customer service is fantastic.

What websites do you recommend for grandparents?  I would love to add them to my list!!

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Category: Brilliant
Tags: Amazon, Daily Deals for Moms, Fisher-Price, Websites for grandparents, Zappos |