To make your shopping a little easier this holiday season, we've put together a list of fun and practical items for older adults. For your convenience, the gifts are organized by price, including some inexpensive ideas for crafters or kids to make.

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Gifts $25 and less

Grandparent Talk uses a deck of question cards to stimulate social interaction and spontaneous discussion between grandparents and the youngsters who don't necessarily recognize the store of knowledge their grandparents hold (and often don't know how to ask the right questions to start a conversation with them). Grandparent Talk is the perfect door-opener to build a bridge between generations. Carefully chosen questions -- such as, "Have you ever faced a bully?" -- are displayed on the collection of cards in the game deck.

Another deck in this series is Family Talk, which encourages the kind of old-fashioned, around-the-kitchen-table banter families use to have in the evenings before TV, computers, and texting scattered the generations in different directions.

To order: Grandparent Talk & Family Talk

Cost: $10 for one deck; $20 for both

Shutterfly.com offers a variety of practical gifts that you can design yourself and order quickly for the holidays. Upload some of your favorite digital photos or put your favorite faces on coffee mugs, photo magnets for the fridge door, or a photo key chain. How about a 5-by-7-inch [brag book][2] for Grandma, or a deck of [playing cards][3] featuring a photo of Grandpa's favorite pet?

To order: Shutterfly

Cost: $13 and up

Word games like Scrabble or Boggle are fun for all generations -- and they're great exercise for the brain. As in Boggle, players of Bananagrams make words, and as in Scrabble, they create crosswords. And they need to work as fast as they can, until someone yells, "Bananas!" No pencil, no paper, no bulky board required. Each Bananagrams game includes 144 letter tiles zipped into a bright yellow, banana-shaped bag that's easy to store and pull out when guests visit or the family gathers -- or to use at the kitchen table for a solo game with a cup of coffee on a rainy afternoon.

To order: Bananagrams

Cost: $15

Stepping in and out of a slippery bathtub or shower -- or simply standing in one -- can be a challenge for older adults. Give the gift of some extra confidence: a 12-inch Bath Safety Grip that provides assistance for entering and exiting the shower or bathtub. This grab bar is sturdy and easily attaches to any smooth surface via strong suction cups on each end. This is a particularly handy gift for seniors who travel and want extra safety in an unfamiliar shower, such as when visiting the grandkids or staying in a hotel. The Bath Safety Grip is portable, lightweight, and easy to pack, and it can be used just about anywhere an extra grip is needed.

To order: FirstStreet

Cost: $17

The LifeBio Memory Journal is especially suited to an older person who enjoys writing. This lovely gift is a book of creative, memory-jogging questions about life, with sufficient space after each question to capture handwritten answers. It creates a wonderful opportunity for a grandparent to pass on stories and wisdom to the next few generations.

The journal asks more than 250 questions, such as, "How would you describe your mother to someone who has never met her?" Or "What skills did you inherit from your parents?" Other questions ask the writers to recall their favorite birthday party as a child, the neighborhood they grew up in, or a favorite subject when they were in high school. The resulting answers can be transferred to an online LifeBio journal and merged with scanned pictures to become a hardbound LifeBio book that can be copied multiple times and given to different family members.

To order: LifeBio.com

Cost: $20 for journal ($15 in pdf format)

The Art of Aging is a profusely illustrated book that provides a wealth of inspiration for older adults. Created by painter Alice Matzkin and her husband, sculptor Richard Matzkin, this touching book explores the experience of aging through art. In a series of projects that confront the artists' fears and curiosity about growing old, they examine physical changes, sensuality, relationships, spirituality, and their own aging parents -- and they do so with dignity and candor. Their uplifting conclusion: The elder years can be a time of ripening and harvest rather than inactivity and despair.

To order: The Art of Aging Cost: $25