Ideas for My Mom for Mother's Day

Hi J.,
What does she like? Is she active at all? Maybe tickets to a play or musical that you and her can go to together later in the year -gives you both something to look forward to and when the time comes, another celebration of Mother's day! My mom is 73, not very active, and I have taken her to see Celine Dion, Elton John, and Helen Ready's book signing at a Barnes and Noble. I have also planned weekend road trips where we just eat out and window shop and stay the night in an inexpensive hotel -gives a change of scenery for the both of us. These are priceless memories for both of us.
Have fun,
L. P

I like photobooks from shutterfly. You just insert text and photos in their pre-made layouts. It is a little time consuming but my mom loves them. They're really fast at printing them. I ordered some on Tuesday and got them on Friday.

Since you have all girls why don't you plan a Tea Party. Buy her and all the girls a fun big hat and make a nice invitation to give to her. Then either have it at your house or look around the valley to see if you could go somewhere (I think there is a place in Gardner Village).
Because at her age Time is the best gift. And be sure to take lots of pictures, so you can put in an album with something written from you about the day and how much she means to you.

I'm thinking of doing this for my mom. A photo shoot with me and my sister (her two daughters). You could do one with her, you and your daughter. Or you and your sibilings or even just the two of you. I'm sure she would love an updated picture of her and her daughter.

DOes she have a favorite movie, maybe an oldie but goodie? You could make a movie gift basket with the DVD and some of her favorite treats (even if she buys them herself, you can't have too many of her favorites!) and then hang out and watch it with her.
You could make an affirmation jar or a calendar--I've seen these for Christmas gifts and they are neat. You just think of wonderful memories and things you admire about her (ask your kids, too), etc., and put each on on a piece of paper for her to have one a day. You can also put them on a calendar. . . you could call it "Mother's Day wishes every day" or some such sentiment. You could also make a photo calendar and include just one memory a week.
A couple years ago I made my mom a denim handbag and had my children put their handprints on it in bright colored paint. They loved making it and my mom has enjoyed getting comments on it when she carries it.
Would she like to say she's done something unusual or fancy or daring? I know my grandma would be excited to say she'd been on a balloon ride or helicopter ride or visited the TV studio of her favorite news anchor. . . .
Best wishes!

It is a little late for this this year but maybe you could start working on it and give it to her for her birthday or Christmas. Make a book about your mother. I have a storybook layout I can e-mail you with a bunch of questions to ask her, like what was school like for her growing up? What was her proudest moment in her life and so on. Then you ad her pictures to the book and can print it off in a hardbound book. I made one for my grandmother who turned 70 last year and she loves it. The time I spent with her asking her the questions were the best two hours I ever spent with her. Now I also have a copy of the book so my kids and my grandkids can get to know my grandmother.

Here is a link to the book I made for my grandma.

http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&pr...

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me.

Time with her is the best gift. Set aside a day and take her to lunch, shopping or just visiting. I surprised my mom on Saturday before Mother's Day one year and it was such a hit I try to do it every year.

If you run out of time to do something creative, www.pajamagram.com is a great place to look! My 3 sisters & I are going in on a pair of jammies for mom this year. The pair I have is insanely comfortable & they're something I would have never gotten myself.
Does Mom have a patio, or garden area? They make stone kits at the craft stores that you can decorate... have your daughter put her handprint in it & use some smashed tile pieces (also at the craft store) to decorate it. Pretty to look at & a great memory of her grandaughter.
One year we were broker than broke & I made all of our gifts. My one son was 2 at the time. I had him color on several different pieces of construction paper w/various colored markers. I cut out around parts of the drawings on each page & put together a collage which I framed.
That son's first Father's Day (also broke) I stamped (regular ink) baby's footprints onto paper, cut that out, arranged it in the shape of a heart & wrote "I love you Daddy" around it in red & then around that in blue.
Another variation of that would be to mulit-generational handprints. Trace your daughter's hands, then trace yours-I recommend pretty scrapbook paper. Take paper with you to trace Grandma's hands. Buy a pretty frame, arrange the handprints onto the frame (you can layer or buy a bigger frame & arrange them all on there) with the name on each print, have everyone sign their name on the background & date it.
My boys love painting rocks too-just regular, from the "rockpile" rocks. Acrylic pants stay on. Some of grandma's favorite colors painted on some pretty rocks to arrange in a small glass vase-the little floating candle holders would work & not be too big. When we moved away from our last duty station, I stashed a colored rock in each of my friends' front rock areas-they loved finding them cuz they remind them of my boys.
Or what about a girl day the day before Mother's Day-I'm assuming you'd want to spend the day w/your hubby too. You & Mom, or your daughter too, could watch a "girlie" movie (I recommend Adurey Hepburn movies-any will work) or two (maybe throw in Enchanted for your little one too), get some chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory, buy some champagne (if wee one is going, sparkling juice) & watch the movies. Maybe throw in some croissant rolls & "rich people" sandwich filling (cucumber whatever), stuff you don't eat every day. Put on dresses, do your hair pretty, get dolled up for your day.
I can't think of anymore right now... good luck!

A Multi- generation Tea Party is my Vote! Our Church fellows put on a Mother's day Brunch the Saturday before and that is fun too. But a tea party with your Mom, your daughter and yourself and maybe even a few friends and their Moms and daughters is a great time. Have everyone dress up and have small sandwiches, tea and desserts. The memories last much longer than anything else!

Does she like to cook? If you go to tastebook.com, you can create your own cookbook with either your OWN recipes, your MOM'S recipes or recipes in their database. Plus you can upload your own pictures. We made a family cookbook with some of our favorite recipes, and uploaded pictures of the granddaughter to send to both my mom and my husband's mom. They LOVED it!

This is kind of an expensive gift. Digital picture frame already loaded with pictures and the promise to keep updating with new photos. We usually save this gift for xmas. But my Mom, Mother-in-law, and Greatmother-in-law all loved the gift. Some of them cried when we plugged it in for them. Good Luck.

I have the same issue with my parents and several siblings. We have started to give gift certificates or tickets to events. I have given them tickets to the symphony, hockey tickets, and tickets to the Cirque du Soleil. We have also given gift cards to stores that we know they like to shop at or iTunes gift cards. Some people think gift cards are a cop-out, but if they are done thoughtfully and as specifically as possible I think they can make a very nice gift. For example, when my brother went back to school he really didn't want more stuff. Instead we gave him gift certificates to his favorite restaurants or a gift card to Amazon to help him pay for his text books. We have also given my parents dinner and a movie by getting a gift certificate to a nice restaurant and credit on Fandango. For my birthday one year my parents bought tickets to the San Diego Zoo for me and my family because they knew we would be heading down there soon. My family was in Boston for a wedding last summer so for my brother's birthday we bought him some gift certificates to some fabulous local restaurants so he and his girlfriend could go out somewhere really nice while they were on vacation. We have all liked these gifts very much.

Make her a scrap book. But, not your every day one. Have your daughter color & or paint pictures. Then include some of your favorite memories with your Mother from when you were a little girl, teenager, married and of course now as a Mother. Maybe even some of the your favorite family recipes . . maybe pix of you & your daughter cooking one of the recipes. This doesn't take a ton of money just lots of love. Good luck

I don't know if she's the sentimental type, but you could make her a photo gift (using Snapfish or something like that) one of my favorites is a fleece blanket that they can print with tons of pictures...like all the grandkids or family photos.

A gift I'm going to put together for my mom and mother-in-law for next year is a Memoir Book. It will take time and participation from the whole family so I will start now and have it ready for next year. I'm going to ask them for favorite stories, memories, lessons learned, things mom doesn't know about, favorite meals, anything like that. Then I will put them in a book and give it to them on Mother's Day. This is something that could also be added to each year as new things happen.

My mother-in-law is the kind of person who just goes out and gets whatever she wants, too. It does make gift giving VERY hard!

How about a family portrait? The Picture People do a good job, and you can get the pictures back in about an hour. Put it into a cool frame and give that to her.

Do some research locally, and see if you can find someone who does sillouettes (sp??) and have one done of your daughter.

We've done both of those things for my mother-in-law. But being the woman she is, we didn't pick frames - she would have just changed them! Sorry - those are the only suggestions I've got!

If you live in the Colorado Springs area the high tea at Glen Eyrie castle is very cool. Beautiful surroundings (you usually see bighorn sheep), great food, and a lot of relaxing time to just talk with your mom.

Have you thought of making her a brag book of your daughter? this is what I get my mom for Mother's Day every year, so every year she has a new book with the pictures from the last year.
You can check out a link to the book online here:
http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&pr...

I love these books and they are affordable, if you are interested please feel free to email me at ____@____.com or check out my website at www.storybooktogether.com

Good luck finding a great gift!

Could you just spend the day with her? Take her out to lunch or go shopping together? Go and get her and bring her back to your beautiful home in the Rockies and let her spend the day with you and your family? If she lives far away, across the country, could you buy her a ticket to fly to Denver and then bring her to your home?