10 Ways Grandparents Can Help Their Adult Kids This Holiday Season

The holiday season is here, and your adult kids are especially busy. Between working, shuttling the kids around, and shopping, they have their hands full. Not to mention, they feel the weight of ensuring all the Christmas preparations and special traditions the family does every year match last year—or top it. The bottom line is that your kids are going to need some help. 

Here are some great ideas for you to help your kids prepare for a happy, less-stressed holiday season:

1. Take the Grandkids

Take the grandkids for a day or even an entire weekend. This will give your children time to breathe and get things done without children everywhere. Not that they don’t love your grandchildren, but some things are just easier without the pitter-patter of little feet around. They may also take this time to get some much-needed rest. 

Another way you can help is to pick up the kids at school and take them to their extra-curricular activities if mom and dad are running late getting off work. 

2. Help Clean the House

Come over and help your kids clean their house. If you have older children, everyone can split up and do chores for a different section of the house. Grandma cleans the kitchen and dining area. Mom cleans the living room and the main bathroom that guests will use. The kids handle their rooms and bathrooms. Dad can tidy the mud room and ensure everything in the garage is picked up if guests need to use the garage to enter your home. 

If you are older and aren’t able to get around as well, hire someone to come in and clean your child’s home. Make sure you discuss with them what days and times are good beforehand. They will be extremely grateful. Make sure you read reviews online or ask your friends for recommendations. If money is tight and you aren't physically able to mop and sweep, consider helping them with the more tedious tasks like organizing their junk drawer or helping the kiddos clean out their closets and toy bins. 

3. Keep the Kids' Presents at Your House

Do your grandkids have a problem snooping in closets and other areas of the house for presents? Then have their presents delivered to your home if you live close by.

If your grandkids aren’t snooping, but your son or daughter is ordering something expensive for Christmas, have it delivered to your house. That way, someone will be there when it gets dropped off and your kids won’t have to worry about porch pirates. 

A week before Christmas, you and your adult kids can have a present-wrapping party together with some snacks and your favorite beverage. Come a day or two before Christmas so they can pick the gifts up and put them under the tree. 

4. Go to the Post Office

Offer to go to the post office to mail packages and cards. You can also pick up any packages that may be there because of a delivery error. You can even return packages that made it to their house by mistake. 

5. Help with Holiday Baking

Have the grandkids over one weekend and bake up a storm. You can make your favorite traditional treats and their favorites as well. Or you could go over to your son’s or daughter’s house and help him or her and the kids bake. Talk over what you want to make ahead of time so you have all the ingredients. Then don those aprons and let the baking bonanza begin!

You could also make some salty snacks like flavored popcorn, taco crackers, homemade potato chips, or Chex Mix. These salty snacks will be a great accompaniment to all the sweetness. (I make taco crackers every year, and you can find the recipe on Taste of Home.)

If the kids have a classroom Christmas party to bring a treat for, take the load off mom and dad by helping the kids not only make these treats but package and label them too. 

6. Help Order Presents

Offer to help your kids order presents online. This would be especially helpful on Cyber Mondays. They can give you a list and their credit card and you can do the shopping while they are at work. 

You could also help by doing some price comparison shopping they may need. If you are a person who prefers to go shopping in person, you can do that too. (Your children will appreciate not having to go out and fight the crowds.) 

7. Hire Someone to Shovel Snow

If you live in an area where you get a lot of snow, hire someone to shovel your adult child’s driveway and sidewalk a few times during winter. They will appreciate having someone else take a turn doing this monotonous and ongoing winter chore, especially on those brutally cold mornings when they're already running a little late for work.

8. Help Decorate the House Inside

Go over to your son or daughter’s house and help him or her decorate the inside of the house. Put the tree up and decorate it, add candlelight to the windows, and hang wreaths on the front door. Help hang garland over the entryways and stair banisters. Some families have a Christmas tree in every room. If this is how your family decorates, help the grandkids decorate the trees in their rooms. While making the house festive, put on your favorite Christmas playlist or turn on some Christmas music ambiance on YouTube on the big screen TV. 

9. Help or Hire Someone to Put Up Outdoor Lights

If you are in good physical health, help your family put up the outdoor lights and decorations in the yard. If you’re not in good health or would like to give the person who puts up the outdoor lights a break, hire someone to put up their lights this year. This can be a huge time-saver for your child—added bonus if they don't like hanging lights in the cold!

10. Run Errands

Offer to run some errands for your children. Pick up the dry cleaning, mail packages and cards, or pick up curbside groceries. If their car needs an oil change or a repair, offer to take it in and wait for it so they can go to work. Take your grandkids to their doctor and dentist appointments or somewhere else they may need to go during the week while their parents work. Taking pets to the vet (if well-behaved) for yearly appointments or even to get updated shots before boarding if your kids are going away for Christmas is an option too. Your children will appreciate not having to take time off work or run errands after their workday is over. 

Although helping your adult children is something you enjoy, you also need to be careful to not overdo it. The last thing you want is to volunteer to do too much and wind up exhausted or sick. So take some time to look over this list and see what appeals to you. Meanwhile, don't forget to ask your adult children how you can help best. Sometimes, while trying to help, we overstep boundaries or forget that it's important to talk to the person we're helping first. 

Remember, helping your adult children this holiday season is a blessing! Having your grandkids for extra visits is always great. If baking is your thing, then help the family bake for the holidays. Maybe you live to decorate, so helping them get the house ready for the holidays is more of your jam. That’s great! Or maybe you’re a great deal-finder and know how to get the lowest prices on stuff. Then shop to your heart’s content (within reason). No matter what you choose, your kids will appreciate all of your help this holiday season. 

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages