Mother’s Day has completely snuck up on me this year.  I cannot believe it is this Sunday!  Are you ready for it?  If not I have a few gift ideas for you:

 Unique and handmade items from Etsy.com (I haven’t met a girl yet who didn’t light up when talking about Etsy). Never heard of Etsy?  Where have you been? No seriously, it is an online market where some of the most creative people sell their handmade items and vintage finds.  You can find some amazingly unique items. You can sneak a peek at her “favorite” items to see if there is something she has been wanting.  You could also add money to her Paypal account for her to be able to purchase some of the things she wants. 

Gift Certificates for Favorite Stores (Zappos, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, TJ Maxx/Homegoods, Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, and iTunes are some of my own favorites).

 

A massage, facial, or mani/pedi gift certificate.  Groupon has big discounts on these often.  Sign up and watch the deals in your area and surprise her with some spoiling. Or you can just give her a Groupon gift certificate so that she can purchase a deal of her choosing.

 

Some moms want more practical gifts for Mother’s Day (that’d be me raising my hand).  My dream gifts for Mother’s Days past have been a carpet steamer, vacuum cleaner, maid service (notice a theme here?).  This year I’ve had my eye on the Mint Floor Cleaner, the Neato XV-11 Robotic Vacuum,  or the Dyson Digital Slim Cordless Vacuum.  Hey, what can I say?  With 6 kids it is a LOT of work to keep the floors clean around here and any of these would help!

 Is she in to decorating?  I have been completely in love with One Kings Lane lately!  They have home decor goods (even fancy designer ones) for some serious discounts. You have to watch the deals to find just the right one but most of us women like a good hunt right?  You can get a gift card from One Kings Lane and let her go to town decorating!

How about a day off? What an idea?!  Moms work SO hard and if you have the ability to give the mom in your life a day off, she’ll love you for it. Send her off in the morning with instructions to have a good time.  It can be as simple a day as browsing her favorite shops with a latte in hand or as elaborate as an overnight stay at a spa.  There are all kinds of ways to make this work on any budget.  Just get creative.  If you want to make it even more special, get the kids to make “we love you mom” banners and clean up the house before she gets home.  Trust me.  She will love that!

Have the kids/grandkids get creative with handmade cards.  My kids love to do this for me every year and I keep them all.  They are so precious.  You can use paint and let them put their handprints on them or write poems. Kids are good at being creative with cards.

Have kids draw a picture or write a poem and frame it.

Take pictures of your kids or family and frame them for mom’s wall.  Swap photographing the family with a friend or neighbor and then use a photo editing software (like Picasa) or a stores photo editing computer to crop, make them black & white, etc…

If you know a single mother it would be great to remember her this Mother’s Day!  Even a simple card would be a blessing.  I often think about how hard it is to parent even with a spouse and I cannot imagine doing it alone. Regardless of the circumstances that made them single parents I know it would mean a lot to have someone remember them on Mother’s Day.  Let’s support them!  Let me know in the comments if you have special ideas on how to do this.