Uncommon gift ideas for mom

azith28

Hey all,

My moms b-day is coming up and my brothers have gotten more then a little repetative with flowers and edible arrangements. I'm looking for something different but similar that can be shipped like you would one of these. Something different but cool, (shes in here early 60's so no skateboards).

Thanks

ceres

My mother-in-law loves weird cooking and baking supplies, but she has so much stuff we wouldn't know where to begin. So what we usually end up doing is finding a cooking supply store she likes and giving her a gift card to there so she can go nuts and get whatever she wants. She has in the past gotten various kinds of burger-shaping things, a special pizza stone that must have been made of gold for what it cost, an ice cream maker, another kind of ice cream maker, attachments for her kitchen aid... etc.

Some people don't like getting gift cards, but if she's a hobbyist and you can show you put at least that much thought in, they can be a really nice way to let someone splurge on something for their hobby they wouldn't normally want to spend the money on, when you couldn't possibly know what that thing is. For bonus points you could try to find out what that thing is and buy it for her on the sly, or even just say "hey mom, I want to get you something you'll really enjoy, but I don't know anything about knitting/quilting/horseback riding/bullfighting. Is there anything in particular you've been wanting?"

mightyjongyo

Does it need to be...functional? I know my mom hates getting things that don't have any practical use.

schuss

Must...resist...dick...joke....

Good books that are related to her interests.

Dhalphir

to get something besides a generic flower/edible arrangement you need to consider her interests.

since you haven't mentioned any of them to us, this thread is not going to help you much unless you can give more information.

E.Coyote

There are some neat retro candy box sets on amazon.

ihmmy

What kind of stuff is your mom into?

Does she have an amazon list where you could surprise buy her a bunch of books and things she has saved as a wishlist?

k-maps

ihmmy wrote: »

What kind of stuff is your mom into?

Does she have an amazon list where you could surprise buy her a bunch of books and things she has saved as a wishlist?

Exactly, the best gifts I've bought my mom would not fall squarely under the category of "mom gifts". Just buy her gifts like any other person, ideally tailored to her interests. We need more information than this to help.

illig

IMHO, experiences are always better gifts than 'stuff' - you remember an outing/dinner/show much more fondly than a box of chocolates or a book, etc.

Chip in with your siblings and get her theater tickets, or a dinner at a nice restaurant, or whatever you think she may enjoy

But don't be too 'safe'. Sometimes it's good to take people out of their comfort zone - you'd be surprised how often they end up enjoying it.

I took my mom out to an Ethiopian restaurant a few years ago - 1st time she's ever been - and my 'eating-with-your-hands-is-gross' mom enjoyed the eating-with-your-hands Ethiopian experience immensely. She still talks about it.

azith28

I should have given more info. My mother is currently very tied down to her home caring for my grandmother and 2/3 of here children live across the country from her and the third that is nearby has 2 kids and issues of his own that prevent him being much help in this respect. She's not very computer savy... I have struggled to show her how to do things like amazon but it rarely sticks. So gift cards will likely go unused she can't really leave the house for anything but necessities. The flowers / candy is pretty much all we can do so I'm looking for something different but similar.

Mayabird

Find some stuff that would help with the caretaking. Ask her if she needs anything for that, like a folding wheelchair or bars installed on the bathroom walls or something that would make her life easier. Maybe even some cleaning supplies. Get something useful that'll save her time and energy, or maybe stuff that she needs to get anyway eventually.

azith28

Well all that is pretty well covered as this has been going on for several years now, but shes in the terrible position of being one of the only people in her siblings that is working her ass off to care for there declining mother, and one of those people who would never forgive herself if she was away from the house and something happen, so while we have tried offering to pay for sitters or caregivers, shes just not going to take advantage of them. The best we can do is just get her something nice she can enjoy in her home inbetween moments of care, hence the flowers and edible arrangements prior to this, i just wanted to do something different this year and figured there would be some other good ideas out there on the net. (Oh and my parents are dieting so i cant go the candy route either...she never makes it easy heh )

ceres

Books, music, or DVDs!

Zenitram

Offer to watch your grandmother for a day while she goes out on her spa day that you gifted. Hopefully she's not too tied down or committed to leave the house for a few hours to have some fun.

azith28

I would but im one of the children that lives 1000 miles away

Thundyrkatz

Can you send a masseuse over? She could probably use some relaxation if she is doing all that care giving.

Magic Pink

Would help if we knew more about what your mom likes to do in her spare time. Women in their 60's aren't really a hive mind.

azith28

lol the problem is that she barely ever has any spare time. shes one of those people that cant just relax (especially now) with grandma). If she did have spare time she would find some work to fill it with. trust me we have tried many times over the years to get her something in the nature of hobbies, but they never go anywhere. hence the bullshit non-practical gifts. knowing anything about my mom wont really help make a suggestion im just looking for another bullshit non-practical but nice gift idea that is not the same thing she always gets.

BlazeFire

What about paying to have a house cleaner go over and alleviate some of the work she has?

Ed: Another idea is supper. Did she have a favourite restaurant that she hasn't gotten to go to recently? Maybe you can call them and arrange for delivery? Saves her cooking supper.

Oh, I just saw where you said non-practical. Maybe these are bad ideas.

azith28

Tried it but it didnt work well and i dont think she would appriciate it again.

BlazeFire

I'm going down the practical route again but any grocery stores in her area do deliveries? If grocery shopping takes a lot of her time maybe she'd appreciate being able to just give a list and have it show up?

see317

What about like a portrait of you and your siblings?
Since getting everyone together isn't likely to happen, maybe ask your siblings to send you 5x7 photographs of themselves (with their families if applicable) and put them in a multi-photo frame.
I know my mom likes scented candles, I don't know if that's a universal mom thing though.
Maybe a foot or back massager? She may not take much downtime, but even 5-10 minutes on one can be nice at the end of a long day.

azith28

Done it. Done it. Done it. Done it. heh...trust me this is not a recent problem. While my grandma taking up all her time is mostly the last few years, shes always been a royal pain in the ass to shop for and has few real outside interests besides being a mom. We have resorted to the bullshit gifts because shes so damn hard to shop for. Christmas is a massive undertaking and thats when im visiting in person and we have people to rotate and watch grandma.

BlazeFire

Send her a card with some nice thoughts you personally write into it.

mightyjongyo

Maybe you should tell us what's been done then, so we don't keep repeating things that you've done before?

Why don't you just take something you've done before and put a new twist on it - do a bad photoshop of the family underneath the eiffel tower or something, or buy a flower wreath instead of a normal arrangement. Just because it's been done before doesn't mean anything related is off the table. Make it something she would find amusing, i'm sure she wouldn't mind having a good laugh on her birthday.

ceres

You've done flowers, you've done edible arrangements, you've done candy and aren't supposed to anymore... How about Harry and David? They have all kinds of gift baskets and edible crap.

azith28

never heard of them, will give them a look thanks.

Melinoe

http://www.thefruitcompany.com/gourmet-gifts/harvestclub

Fruits every month! I didn't do a whole ton of research into this but it sounded silly/fun when I heard about it and I at least think it would be cool! When googling this I think Harry and David had one as well so you have options for your monthly fruit deliveries!

azith28

We did the fruit of the month club one year, it went over decently well and its another option we are considering.

Hypatia

In addition to Harry and David, there's also Mackenzie Ltd. or Peterbrook. I'd guess you've already tried it but another idea might be a gift certificate for jewelry like Tiffany's or to Coach if she likes those sorts of things (she may not).

There are also gift baskets from Lush which you can get for bath/shower/lotion/etc. stuff which are pretty nice.

Last, and this may be above budget, but what about an IOU for a visit where she can pick the date? Or even better, have all of her kids pitch in and have an IOU for all of them to visit/reunion?

November Fifth

Jewelry is a good idea, but don't get her a gift certificate if you go with Tiffany's.

You should pick out something like a silver necklace and pendant.

Nothing like a surprise in a little blue box.

cookiekrush

There are a lot of "item" of the month clubs around, such as flowers, wines, fruits, meat, etc.

Make a glass or pottery item like a cup or a plate. A plate that you can paint and make special and she can have around. Not sure if you have any places around that do things like that.

A spa day? Offer to cook dinner and make it special. Or a day trip somewhere?

illirica

Does she like to read? What about a Kindle or other e-reader, if she doesn't have one already? They're not too expensive these days, and there are a ton of free books for them as well. They're really easy to put down and pick up again when she has a few moments.