Christmas keepsake gifts for grandparents from UAE brands
Frames, vintage china, ornaments and memory books from eleven UAE brands, chosen to be used and handed down.
Christmas keepsake gifts for grandparents are the ones still in the house long after the tree comes down: a frame on the sideboard, a teacup brought out for visitors, an ornament that goes back on the branch every December. Some will be used for decades. A few will end up in a grandchild's home one day.
These eleven brands are all founded or based in the UAE. Two are high-end Dubai houses that sell European silver, crystal and porcelain. The others are small home-grown businesses: an engraver, print labs, an illustrator, a vintage china dealer, ceramic studios, a design label and a bookshop. The test we used for each gift is simple. Will it still be in use in twenty years, and will somebody want it after that? For gifts built around names and photographs instead, see our list of personalised Christmas gifts for grandparents. There are no prices here, since they move, and no promises about what each shop holds this week.
To use the list, think about the grandparents' home and habits before the object. Who makes the tea? Who hosts Christmas lunch? Who taught the children chess? Read the notes below, pick the gift that matches the answer, and follow the link to see the piece on the brand's own site.
Before you choose
Choose something that gets used. A keepsake that lives in a drawer is soon forgotten. A frame on a table, a cup used every afternoon or an ornament hung every year stays part of family life, and that is what gives it a story to pass on.
Think about who inherits it. If a gift is likely to be handed down, choose something that makes sense without an explanation, or that can be shared out. A set of six ornaments divides between grandchildren more easily than one large piece, and nobody has to argue over who gets the frame.
Order commissions and made-to-order pieces early. Illustrations, engraving and printed pieces all need time, and one-off vintage china sells once. Our Christmas gift ordering guide for Dubai sets out how far ahead to start, including for gifts sent overseas.
Check how it travels. For grandparents who live abroad, weight and fragility matter. Crystal and porcelain need careful packing or a trip in hand luggage. A tile, a calendar or a book travels without much fuss.
Keep the box. A box that fits a frame, a tea set or a set of ornaments protects it between Christmases and through house moves. Ask the grandparents to keep it, and write on the lid what lives inside.
Write the story down. Put a card in the box with the year, who gave it and why. A pencilled note on the back of a frame or under a saucer is the kind of detail a grandchild finds decades later and is glad of.
Gift 01 · High-end
Tanagra: a steel or crystal frame for this year's photograph
Tanagra moved from Kuwait to Dubai, where it opened its first store, and it has sold European silver, crystal and porcelain in the city ever since. The Georg Jensen Bernadotte Picture Frame Silver Large is mirror-polished stainless steel with the stepped, grooved lines of the Bernadotte design, a glass front and a stand that works upright, on its side or on a wall.
The Baccarat Louxor Picture Frame Clear 10x15cm is clear crystal cut in a diamond pattern, sized for a desk or a mantel. Either one will hold many photographs over the years: this Christmas goes in now, and the frame stays when the picture changes. That is what makes a frame a keepsake. It suits grandparents with a sideboard already crowded with family.
Gift 02 · High-end
Amprio Milano: embroidered ornaments and a Christmas tea set
Amprio Milano is a Dubai retailer of Italian design brands. The Fabric Hand-Embroidered Ornament Set of 6, Il Natale del Re, by Baci Milano, is a set of padded fabric ornaments embroidered by hand in deep red, forest green and gold thread, with motifs including crowns, rocking horses, vintage cars and ice skates.
Fabric survives a small child's handling far better than glass, so these can go on the tree for years and be shared out between grandchildren later. For a grandmother who hosts, Baci Milano's Porcelain Tea Set for 6, Mamma Mia Xmas has a teapot, a sugar bowl, an oval serving plate and six cups, each with its own motif. The gold-edged pieces are washed by hand, so it suits a house that brings out the good china for Christmas.
Gift 03 · Small, home-grown
Laser Gallery: an engraved chess desk piece
Laser Gallery is a Dubai engraving business working since 2004. The Chess Master Infinity Desktop is a chess-themed piece for a desk, engraved with a name. The order form also takes a short quote and an image, and offers a date such as an anniversary.
It suits a grandparent who taught the family to play, or who still keeps a board set up in the study. A desk piece with their name on it is the sort of object that moves to a grandchild's desk one day, with the story of the games attached. Engrave the line they always said across the board, if there is one. A black Corian base is offered as an extra, and the shop's customer care team can explain the options.
Gift 04 · Small, home-grown
Riot Photobooks: a family calendar for next year
Riot Photobooks is a print lab in Dubai that makes calendars as well as books. Its Photo Calendar comes as a wall calendar, from A4 up to A3 and a long, narrow list format, or as a desk calendar, from a small square mini to A5, printed on matte art paper in a choice of themes.
A calendar earns its place twice: on the wall all year, with a different grandchild or season each month, and then in a drawer once the year is over, where the pages tend to be kept. Choose twelve photographs that run through the year. Add them yourself or ask the team to design it. Once it arrives, write the family birthdays in by hand. It is light and flat, so it suits grandparents abroad.
Gift 05 · Small, home-grown
Make it Yours: a drawn family portrait to frame
Make it Yours is run by Maria, an illustrator who works from Dubai. She takes commissions for family portraits drawn from photographs you send, in a modern digital style, and supplies a high-resolution file that is ready to print and frame.
A drawn portrait ages differently from a photograph. Clothes and haircuts date a snapshot, while an illustration reads as a picture of a family rather than of one particular year, which suits something meant to hang in a hallway for decades. Print it on good paper, frame it well and it can be passed down frame and all. Commissions depend on her diary, so get in touch before planning around one.
Gift 06 · Small, home-grown
Star Maps UAE: the night sky of their wedding, in Arabic
Star Maps UAE prints personalised star maps. The Original Star Map (Arabic) recreates the sky over a chosen place on a chosen night, using astronomical data from NASA and the European Space Agency, with a title, a short message and the date and place.
For grandparents, the night is usually their wedding, or the night their first grandchild was born. Printed on museum-grade paper, it comes in a black frame or an acrylic finish, and the design is sent to you on WhatsApp to approve before anything is printed. It is a quiet piece for a wall, and the kind of thing a grandchild asks about years later. The Arabic edition suits a family who would like the words in Arabic.
Gift 07 · Small, home-grown
The Vintage Tearoom: English china with a past
The Vintage Tearoom sells antique and vintage English china in Dubai, and its founder started the business in England before moving here. Browse the teasets and the vintage teacup trios, which include makers such as Royal Albert, Royal Crown Derby, Heathcote and Foley, some from the early twentieth century.
Every piece is a one-off, so the collection changes and the listing you like may go to someone else. That is part of the appeal: a teacup trio that has already been handed down once is ready to be handed down again. It suits a grandmother who takes her tea in a cup and saucer and would notice the pattern. If you can, choose one she might remember from her own mother's cupboard.
Gift 08 · Small, home-grown
OKA Ceramics: two coffee cups from a Dubai studio
OKA is a Dubai-based ceramic studio led by the ceramicist Mitra Moser. The Winter Wood Gift Set pairs two coffee cups with an incense stick holder, a sage holder and incense, so it covers the coffee and the scent that follows it.
The Sand and Sea Gift Set holds the same pieces in a different finish. Two cups make it a gift for a couple, and it suits grandparents who sit down together over coffee each afternoon. The cups are the keepsake. The incense will be used up, which is fine: the holders stay. Look at both sets on the studio's site to choose the finish that suits their kitchen.
Gift 09 · Small, home-grown
Little Majlis: an art tile of an old Emirati neighbourhood
Little Majlis designs its gifts in the UAE with Emirati graphic designers. The Art Tile, Freej, An Old Emirati Neighbourhood is a ceramic tile illustrated by Amna Al Saleh, showing a traditional Khaleeji neighbourhood with palm trees and the sun, and it carries her signature.
The tile hangs on a wall from its hook or doubles as a coaster, and it is small enough to slip into a suitcase. It suits grandparents who live abroad and want a piece of the family's life here, and grandparents who grew up in a freej themselves. Years from now it is the sort of object a grandchild asks to keep, because it says where the family spent these years.
Gift 10 · Small, home-grown
Magrudy's: memory books for grandparents to fill in
Magrudy's has been Dubai's home-grown bookshop since 1975. Among its gifts are fill-in books for grandparents, including Grandma's Memories for My Grandchild, a book in which a grandmother records her own memories for a grandchild to keep.
It works the other way round too. What I Love about Grandma is a fill-in-the-blank gift journal the family completes for her. Either becomes a keepsake because of the handwriting inside, not the book itself. Give the first with a good pen and a gentle suggestion to finish it by next Christmas. These are titles from other publishers, so check the product page or ask the shop before you set your heart on one.
Gift 11 · Small, home-grown
Maison Terraē: a pottery class to make something together
Maison Terraē is a ceramic studio in Dubai that runs classes and creative experiences. Its HandBuilding Workshop is a ninety-minute guided session of pinching, coiling and slab shaping, open to children from about seven or eight, with materials, a clear glaze and firing included.
The Wheel Throwing Workshop teaches the potter's wheel, for ages eight and up. Book a grandparent and a grandchild side by side, and three or four weeks later, once the studio has glazed and fired it, they collect what they made together. That piece, slightly lopsided, is the keepsake. Ask the studio how to give a session as a gift before you book.
A photograph to keep with it
A frame needs a photograph, and an album needs pages. A picture of three generations together by the tree is the picture a frame like Tanagra's is made for, and in twenty years it will matter more than the frame. If the grandparents are in Dubai for Christmas, our Christmas Room is the setup built around the tree and family portraits. The Full Story fits up to eight people in all three rooms. Each session is set out in our Christmas photoshoot guide.
Let's sum up
Choose a keepsake that will be used, then think about who might inherit it. Frames from Tanagra and ornaments from Amprio Milano last for decades. Vintage china from The Vintage Tearoom and cups from OKA Ceramics get used every day. Laser Gallery, Star Maps UAE, Make it Yours and Riot Photobooks turn a story into an object. Little Majlis, Magrudy's and Maison Terraē add a place, a memory or an afternoon together. Write the story on a card and keep it with the gift.
Questions about Christmas keepsake gifts for grandparents
Something they will use or see often, made well enough to last, with a story attached. A frame for this year's family photograph, a tea set, an ornament for the tree or a memory book to fill in all qualify. Add a card with the year and who gave it, so the story survives when the object is handed down.
Gifts that hold the whole family rather than one person. A star map of their wedding night from Star Maps UAE, an illustrated family portrait from Make it Yours, a photo calendar from Riot Photobooks or an engraved desk piece from Laser Gallery all carry family details. A pottery class at Maison Terraē lets a grandchild make the keepsake with them.
Choose something light and sturdy where you can. A calendar, a book or a ceramic tile travels well. Crystal, porcelain and framed pieces need careful packing, or a place in someone's hand luggage. Ask the shop whether it ships overseas and how it packs fragile items before you order, and allow extra time.
It can be, especially for a grandparent who takes tea in a cup and saucer. Vintage china has already been passed down once, so it is made for the job. Because each piece is one of a kind, buy it when you see it, check the listing for chips or marks, and add a note about the maker and pattern.
If we are using one of your photographs and you are not happy with how we have credited it, or would simply rather it were not on our site, let us know at hello@setupcollective.ae and we will take it down immediately.
The Setup Collective builds three Christmas rooms in Dubai each season, the Christmas Room, the Christmas Kitchen and Christmas Morning, then photographs families in them. Candidly: nobody gets told to tuck their chin in. Who we are
