Photos and memories:
- "One of my favorite gifts to receive is a photo album that reflects work picking out photos and piecing them together."
- "I'm not sure where you might get something like this on short notice, but when I had my first child, I bought my mother-in-law a bracelet w/ 3 slots for pics. Every year I update the pics. It's been 6 yrs and now there are 3 grandchildren (2 of mine and one of my sister-in-law) and she looks forward to the updated pics every year!"
- "I'm sending my mother a photo of me 9 months pregnant 11 years ago at the gates in central park in a bright orange coat- and a couple of good pics of my now 11 year old. some moms are immune to gift cards and mailed cards and books etc. Like mine who loves art and photographs and in particular personalized ones like ones I've taken and hopefully ones of me and my child."
- "Send a video of the grandkids, or you telling stories about when you were young."
- "My mom reminded me that one of her favorite gifts was when I collected a set of memories from the siblings (there are 5 of us) about great things my mom did (or put up with). It reminds me that sometimes it’s the little things we do that they remember."
- "I love you because" book (or post it notes) filled with things your kids tell you they love about Mom.
- "Memory Jar: find a beautiful jar with post it notes to write down favorite kid and family memories. Fill the jar with a start of memories, read them on Mother’s Day, then add new memories daily."
- "I got my mom a digital picture frame for Christmas this year, and she loves it. I send pictures from my phone to a dedicated email, and the frame creates a slideshow of all the latest and greatest. It was super simple for her to set up, AND it includes unlimited photo storage with the email account, which is amazing. This is a great gift if you don't actually have any baby pics yet!"
Go for something homemade:
- "I tend to make a lot of homemade gifts with my daughter for her grandparents, dad, aunts, and uncles, but try to bump it up a notch from a homecraft. It's pretty hard to do when the kids are still eating everything in sight, but I developed a way to make easy no-mess acrylic paintings with her when she had just started to crawl. Thought other new parents might be able to use the step-by-step directions. I got all of my art supplies at the art store on 4th Ave and 2nd Street. The giant 3' x 4' acrylic painting by our then 9.5 month old daughter currently hangs in our dining room."
Creating something with kids' art:
- "Park Slope Copy can laminate anything into a big placemat -- I've done it with my big kid's art work but suppose you could do something with a row of 3 photos or some other flat baby paraphernalia. Also Photofaction on seventh ave at Carroll has some photo gift things -- not sure how quick but they also print photos and have photo cubes I think!"
Household items:
- “This one is BIG: a Roomba. Saves me LOT of time, and my apartment is way cleaner than it ever was before…plus it helps with allergies.Pricey but well worth it!"
An experience:
- "To me the best Mother's Day gift would be a planned day -- that I didn't have to plan. Could be a brunch reservation already made -- w/o my input .. a day excursion with everyone -- whatever.... so long as it doesn't require me to make the plans and/or the reservations."
- "Give mom a break to do absolutely whatever she wants."
- "A memberships to their local museums or other great places (or if in the city one of our botanic gardens, art museum)."
A gift to charity:
- "My mom is super difficult to shop for - at 66 doesn't want or need much of anything. Once when I asked her what she wanted for a holiday she told me "a warm fuzzy feeling". I ended up donating an animal in her name to heifer international, and it was much appreciated! Heifer.org"
Pampered parent:
- "Flowers are always a good treat."
- "Perfume."
- "Nice adult coloring book with super nice pens."
- "Candles and bath salts (AND the peace and quiet to use them!)."
Coupons books for Mom that could include (and remind mom to use them throughout the year!):
- doing the dishes
- going out with my friends
- I'll fix that in the next 48 hours
- laundry folding
- foot rub
- sleep in
- breakfast in bed
- mom gets to pick what we watch on TV
- mom doesn’t have to cook
- mom sleeps while someone else stays up with sick kids
- weekend exercise coupon
- total peace and quiet for 2 hours
- day of no cleaning
Mother's day gifts specifically for Grandma:
- "My mom became a grandmother last year right before Mother's Day, and we got her this book, Becoming Grandma, by Leslie Stahl. She loved it! It's basically all about how being a grandmother is the best -- both from personal experience and according to science. We also gave it to my husband's mother, who has an older granddaughter, so technically had already become grandma, but she also really liked it. If your mom is a reader, she might be into it too!"
- "For my m-i-l's first grandchild, I got her a bracelet with a spot for a photograph and put a photo in it. Every year thereafter, on Mother's Day, I would give her a new photo already cut to fit the bracelet. You can find all sorts of personal items on etsy. You could just start with a sonogram photo."
- "I made my mom a cell phone case with a picture collage of the baby... you can do it on lots of websites but I went with mycustomcase.com because it was the most customizable."
Related reading on Park Slope Parents:
