Unusual and Appreciated Mother's Day Gift Ideas

For the practical mother in your life, let’s take a look at a few Mother’s Day gifts that will be welcomed and appreciated on Mother’s Day. Just a few ideas from friends who managed to make their mothers feel loved and appreciated with quite an odd assortment of gifts!

For the cook in the family, why not give Mom some new pots and pans? Perhaps it seems like too practical a gift but after ten or fifteen years Mom is looking at sticky cookie residue that will never come off. When a good friend of mine, in absolute frustration, actually asked her Mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day, she shocked her by saying “I actually would love some new pots and pans.” So, new pots and pans in hand, her mother was happy and offered to cook dinner the following Sunday!

For the mom who loves the luguries in life, why not get her some smelly bubble bath, bath crystals, minerals and salts to make that middle age skin a little shinier. While it may not seem practical, it really is since many of us just stop by and pick up a spa gift certificate. My practical mother would rather have a collection of what she calls smelly stuff to use in her leisure than one trip to the spa that she complains lasts too long and she gets tired of wandering around in (her words) underwear.

When your mom likes the outdoors, a friend of mine got her Mom an IPOD that she could use while gardening, walking or washing her car. Face it, my friend said she had to load the IPOD with music that she remembered her Mom liked, but her mother continues to be the envy of her middle-aged friends who steal a peek at her downloaded episodes of MONK while they wait at the doctor’s office – impressed and excited that they have such a technically skilled friend.

A friend of mine got her mother some of those comfy Egyptian cotton sheets for Mother’s Day last year. Her mother was thrilled and continues to tell her daughter how much she loves them. This year, she has already told her daughter that she wants new pillows for the bed – a theme that could last for years to come with throw blankets, new bedspreads, etc. Hey, if it ain’t broke…

Remember those slips you hated getting as a teen at Christmas? The rules seem to change when we get older and many mothers appreciate undergarments that make them feel less like a mom and more like a woman. But don’t get a gift certificate… take a chance and actually get her something. Chances are she will love them and, if she doesn’t, you can always return them but stay away from giving a gift certificate… especially to a Mom who spent hours at a Mall searching for that perfect Barbie when you were eight years old.

More ideas coming as I ask friends and gather their favorite Mother’s Day gifts…