Make Your Own Mother’s Day Gifts!

By Leah

There is officially less than a week left until Mother’s Day. I know – that little holiday totally sneaks up on you when you are swamped with exams, packing, and living out the final days of the school year. But don’t panic if you forgot (and your mom hasn’t been dropping hints every day as to what she wants).

The school year may be over and the cash flow may be pretty low, but there are some easy DIY gifts you can make for Mom this year. And you can make them fast and you can make them cheap. Not that your mom deserves something cheap – I’m just pretty sure she’d much rather have something from the heart than something you whisked off the rack at Nordstrom.

Labeled Herb Pots – A great gift for a mom that loves to cook and enjoys having fresh ingredients.  Go and buy some herb plants, and put them in small terracotta pots. You can paint the rims with chalkboard paint then label which the plants are inside. This way, if your mom has a black thumb she can easily switch up the plants if (or when) they die, and not be stuck with the labels. Or she can even reuse these for completely different reasons! Cute, cheap, personal and earth friendly.
Pretty much the perfect gift..

Variation on the “coupon book” – Think back to your elementary school days and chances are a Mother’s Day Coupon Book was made at some point.  While coupons such as “setting the table,” or “five hugs” are still sweet, we at CC think you can do better.  First, instead of printing out some “coupons” from a Word Document and stapling them together, get creative. Why not make Mom a jar of fortune cookies and put your little coupons inside? She will never expect it, not to mention the fact that everyone loves a fortune cookie.

And don’t just get creative in HOW you give the coupons, but in WHAT the coupons are, as well. For the technically challenged mom, try “One hour of explaining and setting up Facebook,” or “A two hour lesson in uploading and printing digital photos (from the camera dad hasn’t given you yet).” For the uber-busy mom try “Three grocery shopping trips,” or “Dinner on the table by the time you’re home.”  If you’re the eldest kid, and have a lot younger siblings, try “Afternoon outing with the kids” or “Five free nights of babysitting” to get the kids out of Mom’s hair for a while.  Or, if you’ve been neglecting your mother-daughter time lately, why not have “Two hours of fashion consultation at the mall,” or “one just-us outing of your choice.”

Hand-painted pottery - Remember when you were five and you could bring home macaroni glued to a piece of paper and your mom would proudly display it on the fridge?  Well, unfortunately that won’t cut it anymore.  So, why not bring Mom home a masterpiece she won’t have to pretend to like?  There are paint your own pottery places everywhere (Color Me Mine has locations all over the world), so grab some friends, and go make some presents for your moms. It happens to be super fun and incrediby therapeutic, so this is a gift that everyone can enjoy.  Or, if you are pressed for time, you could always make a fortune cookie coupon with an afternoon of pottery painting with mom!

Photo Album – There is nothing moms love more than their children, so give her the ultimate gift and put together a family photo album for her. But not any old photo album with a bunch of pictures stuck inside some sleeves – really go to town. You can get really crafty and build a scrapbook of some of your favorite family moments, or simply compile some of memorable digital photos into a real bound photo book. These books are beautiful and allow you to get creative without doing all that time consuming work.

This gift may take a bit longer, but the end result will totally be worth the wait. And your mom will agree.

Got any other ideas for good, personal Mother’s Day gifts? Share them below!