Love the idea about writing them into a story. Why did I not think of that? I too am always skint this time of year and have found pinterest to be helpful, but my pinterest attempts usually result in pinterest fails.
A good idea for parents/grandparents is to get photoprints of family and use cheap frames from a poundshop/dollarstore. Also things like getting photos of their grandkids/kids on mugs or calendars is a nice and somewhat inexpensive gift.
That is a really great idea! :)