My ILs do these photo books every year for Christmas.They make three identical books; one for my family, one for BIL and one for BIL Xwife. Photos include pics of mostly the grandparent w/ GC but lots of my XSIL/my BIL. ILS can't be bothered to personalize or customize. I say thank you and stash in Christmas storage.

OP, I just did this (baby is 3 months old, so the grandparents LOVE to get this sort of stuff). I did two pages that were grandparent-specific. The rest were pictures of baby. That way, I only had to swap out those two pages. My non-grandparents pages were things like coming home from hospital, pictures in the snow, first hockey game, pictures with us, his monthly portraits, etc.

I just make a genera photol book on iPhoto that I send to both sets of grandparents and they are very happy with that.

mine don't want mugs or other tchotchkes.

I think these PPd complaining about getting this stuff don't have GRANDKIDS. My mom loves this kind of stuff and so does MIL. But no, we don't bother with books, just mugs and magnets.

Framed pics or mugs. I would ignore the ppl who say they throw photo gifts of their families in the garbage- most grandparents love that stuff. Childless aunts are obviously another story.