Feeling stumped when it comes to a Mother's Day Gifts for YOUR PARENTS? Gifts for Mom (and your mother-in-law too) sometimes feel like a serious challenge. Check out our top 10 Mother's Day gift ideas below!
I'm going to be honest here, my mother is not one of those grandparents who gushes over handmade gifts featuring handprints. She just isn’t.
Yet, HER primary Love Language (that is, the primary way she shows and feels love) is through giving & receiving gifts. Which means, she is very generous when it comes to giving presents to our family.
This puzzling concoction of circumstances always makes Mother's Day a challenge for me. I want to reciprocate her generosity, but I’m not sure how to go about it.
Are you in a similar situation?
You’ve got a mom (or a mother-in-law) who have everything, can afford anything, and are super-generous with your family, leaving you feeling STUMPED when it comes to gift-giving for them in return?
Below are 10 Mother’s Day gift ideas that we’ve given (with success!) in the past, as well as a few ideas we’re keeping in our pocket for future years.
10 Unique Mother's Day Gifts for YOUR Parents — Who Have (And Can Afford!) Everything
This list is MY Mother's Day gift to YOU, my friend!
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1. Skip traditional Mother's Day gifts. Forget the single, staple, day-of flower bouquet. Instead...
Tell mom you love her over and over again with a fresh flower bouquet subscription. The week of Mother's Day florists jack-up the cost of bouquets. Don't buy into the hype! Instead, invest your money into your local community with this unique Mother's Day gift.
One of my favorite local retailers, Mill Creek Gardens offers this service and explains,
"Bouquet subscriptions come every two weeks and are ready to go in a vase when they arrive. All blooms are grown and harvested locally. When your bouquet arrives, simply snip the ends of the stems and display in a clean vase with cold water. We are happy to deliver to your home or workplace. Subscription bouquets are significantly larger than our market bouquets, so you’ll find that you can split up the flowers into multiple vases for other rooms in the home!"
Sometimes the best Mother's Day gifts are just a twist on traditional ones!
2. When thinking about Mother's Day gift for Grandma, the best gift you can give is time with your kids.
The best gift you've ever given your mom is grandkids. Let's be honest, they love you, but they absolutely ADORE those kids.
"I'll never spend too much time with my grandkids"
When brainstorming good gifts for Mom, think of ways you can help facilitate the role of "Best Grandma Ever."
For example, if your Mom likes to host sleepovers for the kids, create a Best Grandma Ever Sleepover Kit. You'll want to include fun things like popcorn and special pillows, blankets, or movies that stay at Grandma's house. If your mom would be willing to let the kids build a blanket fort at her house, you might also have the kids paint clothes pins as part of the Sleep Over Kit.
If your mom loves to cook with the kids, The Ultimate Kids’ Cookbook and a set of matching aprons would be fun. Cookbooks make fun Mother's Day gifts IF they come with a promise that grandkids will join in on the kitchen fun.
What I love about this cookbook for kids is:
- The recipe instructions are broken down into specific tasks for kids and adults, creating a sense of collaborative teamwork in the kitchen.
- This specific cookbook puts the child in charge (making Grandma the sous chef), which fosters a sense of pride, responsibility, and independence.
- The kid’s cookbook goes beyond recipes offers an excellent skills set section with foodie challenges and resources.
The book is AWESOME, but don’t take my word for it. This cookbook for kids has 5 out of 5 stars over on Amazon and 40+ reviews from different parents and grandparents.
In other words, this is not just a collection of recipes, this specific kids’ cookbook is a tool for encouraging PRESENCE in the kitchen.
If the kids and Mom love it, you can gift the sequel The Ultimate Kids' Baking Book which will be released before the holidays!
3. Think forward and give sentimental Mother's Day presents that are recurring.
Finding truly good Mother's Day gifts every year is hard. Keep your eyes open for gifts that your mom will love that you can repeat year after year. For example, one Christmas we bought my mother-in-law a set of quick-change photo frames for creating a gallery wall. Now for Mother's Day and her birthday, I print 8x10 photos of her and the grandkids as a gift. So simple.
If a gallery wall is too presumptuous, Chatbooks make great Mother's Day gifts! These small square photos books are adorable, have quality printing and are designed to be part of a collection. They can easily be created right on your phone. Pop over and look at all the adorable book cover options.
$10 OFF your first photo book order!
(Chatbooks start at just $10)
Here are a few special designs for Mother's Day. The memories held within these inexpensive photo books are priceless, making this one of the best gifts for Mom!
4. Looking for gifts for your mother-in-law? Share your family with her using these two "unique gifts for Mom."
Knowing what to get Mom for Mother's Day is hard enough, gifts for inlaws can be even more challenging. When in doubt, always default back to searching for ways to share your kids with your mother-in-law. For example, consider creating a unique heart-shaped photo collage keepsake over on Minted. If you're looking for a unique personalized gift, this is the one! It creates a beautiful collage with thirty of your favorite family photos. There is also a lot of leeway in pricing, depending on the size and frame selection!
One of the best ways to share photos of your family happens to also be one of the most unique Mother's Day gifts ever — a Nixplay frame. Using the Nixplay app you can upload new photos directly to her digital frame at any time, no memory card required!
This is a WIFI-based frame also allows multiple people to upload photos via a smartphone app. If needed consider reaching out to siblings and pooling together for a 13-inch frame. What's cool about this frame is multiple people can upload photos to a single frame. In other words, all her kids and grandkids can be sharing photos with her on a regular basis.
We bought my mother-in-law a digital frame years ago, but it was a hassle to have to get the images from different family members onto a memory card. I 
that you can do this directly from your phone. It's truly crazy cool.
Learn more in this video!
4 out of 5 Stars | 3,300+ Customer Reviews
5. Monthly "Family Dinner Date" coupons make great gifts for Mom — here's how to following through.
This cliche' Mother's Day gift is actually an amazing present if you follow through. Our girls are both teens now and with our ever-changing family schedule, they don't get to hang out with their grandparents as much as they used to. My mother-in-law was giddy about having an ongoing family dinner date.
The key to following through is to pick a reoccurring monthly date for your calendar. For example, the second Tuesday of each month. If your family schedule is too inconsistent for this approach, just make sure to commit to comparing calendars during dinner when you're together and schedule the next date before leaving.
The logistics of the family dinner dates are half the fun. You can do a round robin and switch it up from month-to-month. You can commit to only trying new recipes when you meet-up. There is so much opportunity for fun.
6. When we think of customized gifts we often imagine personalized engraved items, BUT the best Mother's Day gift ideas require us to think outside of the box.
Google Home & Echos actually make great gifts for grandparents. Have your Mom practice using her Echo with the kids and be sure to write a custom list of phrases your Mom can use with Alexa. Here are a few ideas you can start with...
Alexa, set timer for [xx] minutes."
"Alexa, set an alarm for [time]."
"Alexa, what's the weather today?"
“Alexa, what day is it?” or “Alexa, what time is it?”
“Alexa, remind me to take my medicine at 8AM every day.”
“Alexa, remind me to feed the dog at 4pm every day.”
“Hey Alexa, remind me to water the houseplants every Wednesday at 8am.”
“Alexa, remind me to start the laundry tomorrow at 2pm.”
"Alexa, play popular songs from the 50's"
“Alexa, play NPR.”
"Alexa, what's the news?"
"Alexa, open Peaceful Meditation.”
One other neat this, according to One Good Thing By Jillee, "You can use your Echo to easily send alerts to friends and family when you need help. There’s an Alexa Skill called “Ask My Buddy” that allows you to designate contacts to alert if you find yourself in need of help. Set this skill up on your parent’s Echo, and they’ll be able to tell Alexa to alert you via text or call when they need help. It’s not a substitute for calling 911, but it will definitely give you more peace of mind."
CHECK OUT ECHO DEVICES ON AMAZON
7. If you're searching for sentimental gifts for Mom, give her WORDS.
You can either give her the opportunity to share HER WORDS with her grandchildren or you can give her YOUR WORDS of love and appreciation.
The back of this memory book Letters to My Grandchild reads...
Write now, read later, treasure forever: Whether your grandchild is still a baby or all grown up sharing your stories is giving the gift of a lifetime. With this keepsake collection of twelve letters, you can fill each with words of wisdom that only a grandparent can impart then postdate, seal with the included stickers, and gift this paper time capsule for future opening. Your grandchild – and generations to come – will treasure this heirloom forever.
Each letter is printed with a unique prompt like:
- Here is a special story about our family...
- What I want you to know about me...
- The best advice anyone ever gave me was...
- My wishes for you are...
FIND IT ON AMAZON: 5 out of 5 Stars | 200+ Reviews
In Letters for Mom, includes twelve letter prompts that will inspire you to tell your mother how much she means to you.
- A special memory I have of you is...
- For you, I learned the importance of...
- I always think of you when..
Each letter has a space to write when it was sealed and when it should be opened (will it be tomorrow or next year?). Seal letters with the included stickers before giving this time capsule to Mom!
ORDER LETTERS TO MOM ON AMAZON
8. "I love you" lamps make great gifts for grandparents.
Love Lamps are the perfect gift for long-distance grandparents. This interactive Mother's Day gift allow Grandma to connect with those she loves, no matter how far away they live. She simply touches her love lamp and their lamp lights, the same color as hers!
You can connect as many lamps together as you wish, so you can also include other family members in on this unique Mother's Day gift. "I Love You" Lamps can light hundreds of colors so you can choose a different color for each family member and let Grandma know you are thinking of her.
9. Enhanced and framed wedding or childhood photo make thoughtful gifts for Mom.
Do a little snooping around your parents’ house and find a wedding photo or childhood photo to have enhanced and framed. One year, my aunt did this for my grandmother and it turned out lovely. She found a photo of my grandmother dressed up as an angel for a pageant and had it remastered, then framed. It was beautiful!
I love the idea of including this whimsical quote with the gift.
Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. — Walt Disney
Another year, I quietly nabbed a wedding photo from my parents, then had it enlarged, matted, and framed. So fun. And a lovely keepsake that can get passed down for generations.
10. Finding gifts for Mom can be challenging when you don't have a lot of time left to find something sentimental. This easy DIY project can be a great last-minute Mother's Day gift, when in a pinch!
I love that this is an interactive Mother's Day gift that the kids can edit every time they visit their Nana’s house. It is so simple that it is absolutely brilliant. It is one of those gifts that is sure to wow Mom, but really takes hardly any time to throw together.
You simple, grab an "I love you because" printable for FREE here on our site, pop it in an 8x10 frame, and wrap it with a set of dry erase markers. Check out how cute it is when all put together here. It literally took 10-minutes to throw this gift together.
This allows you to tell her over and over why she is the BEST MOM EVER and the kids to explain why she is the BEST GRANDMA EVER.
BONUS TIP: When brainstorming gift ideas for Mom, think about items you know are AWESOME that they would never buy for themselves.
"It's everything I never knew I always wanted!"
This is the line yelled out by an adorable five-year-old as she opened a kitchen set on Christmas morning. Sometimes the best gifts are amazing things we didn't even know existed!
While my mom can afford everything, sometimes she is frugal when it comes to buying things for herself. Over the years, I've also gifted her random things "she never knew she wanted" that I use and LOVE. Here are a few examples:
- French Butter Dish — This keeps butter fresh and spreadable for up to 30 days without refrigeration; no odors or spoilage. Two-piece design features an inverted bell-shaped lid and crock bottom for serving butter at the table and protecting and storing the butter after each use. Check it out on Amazon: 4.5 Stars | 500+ Reviews
- Cutco Knives — These American-made knives are guaranteed for life. From everyday to gourmet, Cutco offers a variety of knife sets that fit your mom's needs. These sharp kitchen knives make prep work fast and easy. These quality knife sets will be passed down for generations.
- Ridiculously Comfortable Anti-Fatigue Sky Mats — These are perfect for the kitchen! They use the highest quality comfort materials with NO toxic off-gassing smell. The product says it will "Drastically reduce the pressure on your knees and lower back by up to 32%." My mom and I both love ours! Check it out on Amazon: 4.5 Stars | 2,500+ Reviews
Looking for more good gifts for parents who have (and can afford) EVERYTHING?
Those are my top 10 Mother's Day gift ideas, but if you need more inspiration, I've got another think of gifts for parents for you to check out. It has some great Father's Day gift suggestions if you want to think forward.
Gifts for Parents Who Have (And Can Afford) Everything!
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