You’re wracking your brain to figure out what to get Mom (or sister, or BFF ) for a gift? I’ve been there. Sometimes we can use ALL the ideas we can get when it comes to gifting! So— I am sharing 10+ awesome ideas that should help you figure out a tried-and-true thoughtful, useful gift! Deciding on a gift can be stressful, but this post should help you go from feeling #stressed to #blessed!
This article was originally posted as part of our 2018 Mother’s Day Gift Ideas series. I was trying to come up with as many great ideas as I could, and I got thinking about all of the things I’m really loving lately. The last post covered great ideas and methods to make your mom feel loved, and a handful of the things I’m putting on my own gift list— for myself! This post will cover a mix of my FAVORITE things I own and wish all moms could have, plus some other tried and true gifts I’ve given!
Gifts of Service have been huge hits— but now that I have 4 kids… it’s just harder to make those happen! But for many years my mom loved when I’d organize her pantry! Here are a few other service ideas you can offer:
- Help her with a big project:
- family history
- quilting/sewing/crafting
- gardening/weeding
- meal prep
- vacation planning
- Offer to teach her something you know about!
- You could plan a fun date that includes lunch and an hour to learn more about photography, or her computer etc.
- Surprise her!
- Plant some flowers in her yard
- Take care of something you know she’d appreciate.
Lithium Hand-vac
This lithium cordless vacuum is one of the biggest #momlife game changers I’ve come across in the last year or so. Jessica Dahlquist mentioned it while we were recording an Extraordinary Moms podcast together over the summer. We were talking about packing tips for family road trips, and she loves having this cordless vacuum in her van to keep the mom-mobile in decent shape as they travel. I thought that a cordless, powerful vacuum could come in handy for our garden bugs too, so I ordered one.
We use it ALL the time! I got one for my in-laws and my parents for Christmas and they both love theirs too! Having a powerful cordless vacuum that is easily managed by small children is seriously incredible. We use it for Saturday jobs- they are so much easier now! I find it so much less intimidating to keep my car vacuumed when there’s no cords to mess with! I just grab this hand vac and spend two or three minutes sucking up crumbs, dirt, and garbage and then put it back on its charger, and we’re moving on with life. 🙂
FYI- I think it’s necessary to get at least the 16 V, as mine is borderline not strong enough to grab all the “lovelies” in my van! I gifted the 20 V (3 times now!) and I hear its pretty amazing!
Natural laundry items
These green wash balls are pretty cool! They are $7.99 on Amazon, and they clean your clothes without detergent to save your family money and avoid chemicals. It’s basically a plastic ball that has ceramic beads inside and as they agitate and cause friction, they change the pH level in the water to clean your clothes, just like soap!
I have been using them for about 6 months and they do work! When I do a full load, I like to put in about a quarter of the amount of detergent to make sure they come out looking and smelling clean. I found that using 2 balls (& no detergent) worked great for a few months, but I think they do lose their effectiveness after a while! I still put a little bit of detergent in so I don’t have to worry about mildewy smells if I leave them in the washer for longer than I should! I’m on a mission to work with my daughter on a science fair project to test out different stains etc, but I think the green wash ball is worth buying for sure!
I also got the wool laundry balls everyone’s been talking about for a few years now. They are supposed to speed up drying time and be a more natural way to reduce static clean and wrinkles than dryer sheets. So far, I think they work about the same as the dryer sheets I was using. They are a little noisier, but not enough to make me stop using them 🙂
Redstone Olive Oils and Vinegars
PERFECT for any healthy eaters in your life. This might be hard for you (as a reader) to understand what I’m about to say, but if you were a taster of these delicious products… You would know just what I’m talking about: Redstone olive oils and infused vinegars are UH-MAZING. Like nothing you’ve ever tried: uncompromisingly, delicious. We were introduced to Redstone Olive Oil when we were passing through one of the garages in the Parade of Homes. They were giving out samples of clementines, watermelon and popcorn. I was on a date with my 7 year old, so I thought it would be worth waiting for a few minutes to try all of his snacks, for my daughters sake 🙂
We both LOVED the cuties with coconut olive oil, and the grapefruit vinegar/ Milanese olive oil mixture as a salad dressing. He handed us some popcorn drizzled in a truffle olive oil. It was so rich and yummy! What I love about these is that you take real food and you add healthy olive oil. Your result is a natural food that’s as satisfying to your taste-buds as junk food! The vinegars bring out sweetness like I could never imagine, without adding sugar!
My husband often mentions that he would like to get more healthy fats into his diet, so we bought a few bottles for Fathers Day. I have never been more excited to give a gift to my husband before— nerdy but true! He’s going to love it- or maybe I’m just really excited to have these in my pantry ;)! I planned on saving them for a Fathers Day surprise, but I couldn’t help myself and snuck a little taste the other day. Peach vinegar on some “okay” watermelon- it was DEVINE! Any health-conscious momma will appreciate a gift card to their store! 🙂 You could make a date to visit a location nearby together and it would be a fun time to try all their samples!
24 hour lipstick
This stuff works so well! I can put it on in the morning, eat a few meals, kiss some cute little cheeks and foreheads throughout the day, and it still looks pretty at the end of the day! It glides on with a lipgloss applicator (it doesn’t sting like Lipsense does, btw) and then as it dries you’ll notice it feels sticky in a weird-sort-of-way. That’s when you glide the clear chapstick end over the top and your lips feel and look fabulous! The brand I’ve been loving is Maybeline and it’s about $8 in stores or on Amazon!
I took the photo with my other fave cosmetic even though I would NOT recommend buying someone foundation for a gift. Haha! But FYI- Loreal’s True Match foundation is awesome- it has decent coverage, and does great with my normal/oily skin! I used to think that I NEEDED to buy department store, higher-end foundation, but I actually prefer this to any other I’ve tried! I like to use some powder on top to HAC a little bit. My 2 besties have some neat feeds you can learn more about HACing with them! @Whitney.what and @Maskaragem! They share all sorts of beauty tips!
Handmade sign
Antibacterial silver microfiber cleaning towels
I got these rags for Christmas and they are pretty great! My kitchen cleaning rags were getting so old, and these rags are an awesome upgrade because:
- They fight bacteria with tiny strands of microbial silver woven in. That means I’m not having to use chemicals to kill the bacteria on the surfaces I’m wiping! Natural way to disinfect.
- Because of the silver, the same rag will also last longer in between washings- I can use the same towel for a few days and they don’t stink! Less laundry and fuss.
- They are microfiber, so they pick up all the crumbs way better than traditional towels.
- The grey color is ideal because they don’t stand out in my kitchen as much as any other color would! Plus, they are less than $2/towel!!! The brand name (Norwex) is around $17 each if I remember correctly.
Echo Dot
This fun device is great for all ages! My 95 year old neighbor loves hers! The Echo Dot is normally $49.99, but I see a sale right now for $39.99! Music is really powerful in changing your mood, and with Amazon’s unlimited music, it’s SOOO easy to have it play the exact song you want, without even stopping what you’re doing! I’m not the type that stays up on artists— I RARELY buy music or pay for music streaming- but unlimited music is only $3.99/month on your Echo, so that’s been really fun for me to just tell Alexa what I want to hear and she ALWAYS finds the song I want! I could use more recommendations for uplifting, fun artists to play- so please comment away! What are your fave artists? We’ve been playing:
- Classical playlist (that’s why I wanted the Echo! I’d like to set a more calm and focused tone in our house)
- Clean up songs! Alexa seems to know I need variety and she seems to pick a new one almost all the time!
- Mandisa and Andy Grammer for a fun, positive mood.
- Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Paul Cardall for Sundays.
- My kids love to request Moana and “The Poopy Song” by Little J — you’re welcome 😉
The thing I’m most excited about is the routine feature with the Echo. This feature allows you to set up a series of commands with one prompt (either at your specified time each day, or when you say something like ” Alexa, start my day” etc…) Alexa can give you the weather forecast and then play a specified song or playlist! We just started using this, but I think this is going to be SOO nice for bedtime and for chores etc.
Gifts of Time
Plan something fun you can enjoy together!
- A spa night in is inexpensive and a great way to bond- massages, soak your feet with some relaxing music on and catch up!
- Go for a hike or walk somewhere scenic
- $20 shopping spree to her favorite store! You can make it extra fun by timing it and grabbing a treat together after.
- Play a sport together and gift a small item that goes with the sport theme
- Catch a play or a movie
Just stop by with a treat and/or some flowers with time to visit!
Ok ladies, I hope you found some new fun ideas to get your fellow mom! Be sure to check out my thoughts on how to approach your own holidays so that you don’t feel skipped over, plus more inspiration to treat your mom(s) for her special day too!
*** tupperware pic!!!
In case anyone is interested, the latest #win for a gift to my mom was the same glass tupperware set that I have so we can interchange when we’re visiting and it all matches together 🙂 I’ve had this same set for like 5 years and it holds up well! The most important thing to remember: let your gift come from LOVE!
Thanks for reading! Please share with a friend if you found the info useful!
-Jenn
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