Teen Easter Basket IdeasLight Therapy LampsEaster Gifts for AdultsBest Earbuds for iPhoneEaster Basket StuffersTechGift Ideas for 2024The Aura Frame: For My Tech-Resistant Grandparents, It Was the Ideal GiftWithout it, they’d have missed photos of my sister’s wedding, my engagement, my new puppy, and so many more important moments.

　　By Zoë Hannah

　　Buying a gift takes special consideration. And we’ve all been on both sides of the exchange, whether it’s gone well or not so well. You know when the wrapping paper comes off whether a present is a winner. In our Gifted & Approved series, we tell the stories of those winners, the best presents our editors have either given or received. We hope they provide a little inspiration and advice as you go about your holiday shopping and gift search.

　　When my grandparents were my age, rotary phones were the norm and people sent photos in the post. Although it feels like keeping in touch is so much easier these days, sharing images of important moments is a challenge, at least across generations — Nana and Grampa can’t seem to open a text, and I can’t seem to remember to email it instead. That’s where the Aura frame comes in.

　　Aura Mason Wi-Fi Digital Picture Frame

　　Aura Mason Wi-Fi Digital Picture Frame

　　$199 at Amazon$169 at Walmart$200 at NordstromThis photo frame comes with an app that family, friends, and loved ones can add to their phones to easily upload selfies, wedding photos, and even important screenshots to an understated, high-end-looking frame that lives in the recipient’s home. You can even load up the frame with photos via the QR code on the back before you gift it, so you don’t have to worry about walking your aging giftee through too many steps. They’ll just have to connect the frame to Wi-Fi — but Aura also has great customer service for folks of all ages and abilities in case you can’t be there in person to help set it up.

　　I gave my grandparents this frame a few Christmases ago, and it’s sat prominently in their living room since. Every time I visit, they remind me how much they love it. It’s not just because the photos appear papery due to the matte screen or because the frame itself is sturdy and stylish, but because it’s given them the opportunity to see all the same photos everyone else gets to browse in the family group chat.

　　When my grandparents couldn’t make it to my sister’s wedding due to COVID-19, they could see all the photos we took by the next day. When my fiancé proposed in the company of friends, they could witness our special moment within just a few hours. When my sister found long-lost family photos in a dusty old box in their house, they, too, got added to the frame.