A video gift for grandparents, made from the whole family's photos
A video gift for grandparents in Glim is a short film of the family's photos, old prints included, where each one comes alive. Cousins abroad add theirs through one link. A 2-minute film, 8 photos from each of three homes, is $45.90 for buyers outside Israel, before any sales tax or VAT where you live, or ₪149 in Israel.
Try your first animation freeA question first? Message us on WhatsApp
What the film is, and what it isn't
In a Classic film, your photos play in the order you choose, and each one comes alive for 5 seconds. You can decide what happens in it: pick a ready-made motion, like a smile or a wave, or write it in your own words, in English or Hebrew, such as Grandpa waving hello with a big smile. Leave it, and Glim gives each photo a motion that suits it. Black-and-white prints work too. A faded or grainy photo can be restored first, for free, and the original is kept.
Every package comes with an opening made with AI from a photo you choose, with no sound. You type the title as it should read, and Glim adds it to the opening itself (the AI doesn't write it), so every letter comes out right, in English or in Hebrew. The titles can carry the Hebrew date, the Gregorian date, or both.
Every package comes with a personal song, written and sung with AI from your answers about your grandparents, in English or in Hebrew. You can add music from Glim's library or songs you upload yourselves, if you have the right to use them, with up to 5 songs in a film, played one after another. The song can use the names the grandchildren call them, like “Grandma Ruth” or “Savta and Saba.”
You can end the film with a video greeting of up to 2 minutes, with its own sound. You film it yourselves: Glim doesn't record or clone voices. It's the grandchildren's part of the film: each one records a few words on a phone, and you join them into one video.
The AI only sets your photos in motion. It doesn't make anyone talk, clone voices, swap faces, or add people who weren't in the photo. When the photo has a face, each animation is checked against it. If the face changed, the animation is made again once, for free, and if it still doesn't match, it isn't shown, and the animation is credited back to your balance.
Example: Amos's film, from his children and grandchildren
Amos, 1958 to 2026
Example
After the film was made in Glim, we changed one thing outside Glim: we replaced the music with “Old Photos” from Glim’s library, mixed in the way Glim mixes music. The opening, the animations and the end card are as Glim made them, and the photos are the ones we uploaded.
- 8 photos, from age two in 1958 to his 70th birthday in 2026, each coming alive in turn.
- 45 seconds, opening on the title “Amos: 70 years in photos,” with a piece from Glim’s library, from Pixabay under the Pixabay Content License.
- It ends on a card from the family: “Happy birthday, Dad. With love, your children and grandchildren.”
- To make one like it, gather the photos through the family link, put them in order from the oldest, type the opening title, and write the closing card.
Watch Amos's whole film, and see how it was built, photo by photo.
Ideas by occasion
| The occasion | A film idea | A length that fits |
|---|---|---|
| An 80th or 90th birthday | A few photos from every decade, from their own childhood to the great-grandchildren | A 3-minute film, 36 photos |
| A 50th or 60th anniversary | The two of them through the years, from the wedding photo to today | A 3-minute film, 36 photos |
| A new grandchild or great-grandchild | You in their arms back then, and the baby in their arms now | A 1-minute film, 12 photos |
| A holiday the family spends apart, like Hanukkah, Passover, or Thanksgiving | The grandchildren's year, one photo for each month | A 1-minute film, 12 photos |
| Their story, for grandchildren who grew up abroad | Where they were born, how they came, the first home, the wedding, the children | A 2-minute film, 24 photos |
| No occasion at all | A few photos from this year, and a greeting from each grandchild at the end | A 1-minute film, 12 photos |
For a milestone birthday, the 70th birthday video page shows how many photos fit each decade and how to show the film at a party.
Not every gift needs a film. A meal the grandchildren cook from Grandma's recipe, or an evening spent recording Grandpa's stories on a phone, can mean as much.
Cousins in three countries, one link
The link works for two weeks, and you can stop it or make a new one at any time. It takes photos only, not video clips, so the grandchildren's greetings go in the closing video.
- In your project, tap “Invite family,” then send the link on WhatsApp or copy it into an e-mail.
- Each cousin opens it on a phone, adds a name and, if they like, a line about each photo, and sends, with no account and no app. The page is in English when their phone is set to English.
- Their photos wait for you as suggestions. Nothing goes into the film until you tap “Add.”
- Choose one person to put the film together, and set a date a week before you need it.
- Ask each home only for the photos the others don't have, plus one from this year.
- Ask for one line with each photo: who's in it, and roughly what year.
- On WhatsApp, send a photo as a document, not as a photo, so it arrives at full size.
- Send photos of young children only with their parents' OK.
Grandma Ruth's 85th: three countries, one link
Example
Ruth and David live in Haifa. Their son's family is in New Jersey, their daughter's in London, and their youngest in Toronto: eight grandchildren in three countries. Noa, the oldest granddaughter, puts the film together.
- Two weeks before, Noa sends the family link to the cousins' WhatsApp group, with a date and one request: only what the others don't have.
- In London, her aunt photographs the wedding album by a window, and Noa restores three faded prints, for free.
- From New Jersey come photos of the grandchildren, each with its line: “Grandpa and me at the Jersey Shore, 2016.”
- 24 photos make a 2-minute film, set to the calmer pace.
- At the end comes a greeting from each of the eight grandchildren, joined on a phone into one video.
- The premiere is at 8 p.m. in Israel, on the TV in Haifa: 6 p.m. in London, and 1 p.m. in New Jersey and Toronto.
Watching it together, across time zones
| How | What happens | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| A link on WhatsApp | It opens with one tap on a phone, tablet, or computer, with no account and no app | When they're comfortable on WhatsApp |
| A premiere | You can set a premiere: the film opens for everyone with the link on the date and at the time you choose, up to a year ahead. You set the time in Israel time, and viewers abroad see the start time in their own time zone. | When the whole family, in every country, should watch at the same moment |
| The TV | Download the MP4 file in Full HD, in landscape, and play it from a laptop or a USB flash drive | When a big screen is easier for them |
| A video call | Send the link just before the call, and watch together, each on your own screen | When you want to see their faces as it ends |
Israel, Europe, and North America change their clocks on different dates, so in the weeks around a change, check the time the app shows.
Or send it as a gift: whoever opens the link first sees a sealed envelope with their name, and inside it the film and your words. A link's preview shows only the envelope.
One premiere, four clocks
| Where | The time there |
|---|---|
| Israel | 8 p.m. |
| London | 6 p.m. |
| New York and Toronto | 1 p.m. |
| Los Angeles | 10 a.m. |
Easy for them to watch
- Landscape (16:9), if they'll watch on a TV.
- Short, clear titles. If the words of the opening or the closing card are hard to read on the background, the app tells you, so you can fix them.
- Short captions: a name and a year are enough.
- A calmer pace: each animation plays about 15% longer, so there's time to look.
- For the closing greeting, film in a quiet room, close to the face, so every word is clear.
- Music they know, or the personal song, with the names you give.
- A celebration, not a summing-up: it's a film about the family they made.
Old prints, at home
- Lay the print flat by a window and photograph it straight from above, without flash, or scan it at 300 dpi, 600 for a small print.
- Restore a faded or grainy photo in the app before it's animated. It's free, and the original is kept.
- Faces that fill a good part of the photo move best; in a big group the faces are small.
Who sees the photos and the film
Your photos are stored securely and privately, and we use them only to make your film. Glim never trains AI on them, never sells them and never publishes them without your consent, and you can delete the photos and films at any time. A film's watch link stays off until you turn it on, and then only people with the link can watch. Watch pages don't appear in search engines, you can turn the link off at any time, and deleting the film disables it.
Your photos are kept securely for as long as the account is open. A deleted project stays 30 days in the trash and is then deleted completely, and you can delete the whole account from the account page or by asking us. Photos of children under 18 can be uploaded only with a parent's or guardian's consent, which you confirm in the app before creating anything. You need to be 18 or over to open an account.
How the AI works is on the AI page, and everything about your photos is in the privacy policy.
What it costs
You pay once, by the length of the film. For a film from the grandchildren, with 8 photos from each of three homes, a 2-minute film usually fits: $45.90 for buyers outside Israel, or ₪149 in Israel, with 24 animations and 24 retries. Your first animation is free, with no credit card.
| Film | Animations | US dollars, for buyers outside Israel | Shekels, for buyers in Israel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 min | 12 | $24.90 | ₪79 |
| 2 min | 24 | $45.90 | ₪149 |
| 3 min | 36 | $59.90 | ₪199 |
| 5 min | 60 | $84.90 | ₪279 |
| 7 min | 84 | $105.90 | ₪349 |
If you're buying from outside Israel, pay in US dollars; you choose the currency before you pay. Outside Israel, any sales tax or VAT that applies where you live is added at checkout and shown before you pay. In Israel, the price in shekels is the final price, with nothing added by Glim.
Glim charges no fees. Payment goes through Freemius, a US company, and some card companies charge their own fee for a payment abroad or in a foreign currency. If the film doesn't move you, you get a full refund within 30 days of purchase, with no reason needed, even after you've made animations.
Read next
Common questions about a video gift for grandparents
How much does a video gift for grandparents cost?
You pay once, by the length, with no subscription: $45.90 for a 2-minute film if you're buying from outside Israel, or ₪149 in Israel, and $59.90 for a 3-minute film, or ₪199 in Israel. Outside Israel, any sales tax or VAT that applies where you live is added at checkout and shown before you pay. Each package includes an AI opening, a personal song, and titles, with a free retry for every animation. You can try one of your own photos first: your first animation is free, with no credit card. If the film doesn't move you, you get a full refund within 30 days of purchase.
What do you give grandparents who have everything?
Something they can't buy for themselves: their own story, told by the family. A film of the family's photos, with a greeting from each grandchild at the end, is about the people they made, not one more thing for a shelf.
What's a good gift for grandparents who live far away?
One that reaches them the same day, wherever they are. A film sent as a link opens with one tap, with no account and no app. Set a premiere so everyone watches at the same moment, or watch it together on a video call.
They're not good with phones. How will they watch it?
The link opens with one tap, with no app and no sign-up. Or download the MP4 file and play it on their TV when the family visits.
How do cousins in other countries add their photos?
Send them the family link: in the project, tap “Invite family.” They add their name and a line about each photo, with no account, and nothing goes into the film until you add it. The link works for two weeks and takes photos only.
What does the AI do to the photos?
It sets each photo in motion: a ready-made motion you pick, like a smile or a wave, what you describe in your own words, or, if you leave it, a motion Glim picks to suit the photo. It doesn't make anyone talk, clone voices, swap faces, or add people who weren't in the photo, and the greetings at the end are filmed by the family.
Can we write what happens in a photo?
Yes, before it's animated, in English or Hebrew, up to 200 characters, like Grandma and Grandpa looking at each other and smiling. Glim turns your words and the photo into a short direction for the video model, and it costs nothing extra. There's time for one or two actions, and only by people already in the photo: to see Grandma and Grandpa together, you need a photo of them together.
Do old black-and-white photos work?
Yes. Black-and-white prints come alive too, like Ruti's wedding portrait from 1962 in the example. A faded or grainy one can be restored first, for free, and the original is kept.
How long does it take?
Each animation usually takes 4–5 minutes. Several are made at the same time, not one after another, but a whole film still takes longer than one animation. Putting the film together is quick. So even a gift that's due this week can be done.
Can I pay in US dollars, or with PayPal?
Yes. From outside Israel you pay in US dollars, by card or with PayPal, and you choose the currency before you pay. Outside Israel, any sales tax or VAT that applies where you live is added at checkout and shown before you pay. Glim charges no fees. Payment goes through Freemius, a US company, and some card companies charge their own fee for a payment abroad or in a foreign currency.