Gift ideas for mom

Innovative ideas for gifts for mothers the world over. Things all moms appreciate.

I am the working mother of a two-year-old child and I know for a fact that the best present my significant other could possibly ‘buy’ me as a gift from my child would be time. Specifically time on my own. Unfortunately time does not come in a wrapped box, or does it?

Something your mom or partner couldn’t possibly not appreciate is a week's worth of precooked food. All she will have to do is take something out of the freezer, defrost and warm it up.

This means she can go and soak in the bath for half and hour or go for a walk. Time she can spend doing what she wants, instead of what she has to do.

Kids can make her a booklet of presents: for example she can give them a page that entitles her to a cup of tea, or a page that says they must clean up their rooms, RIGHT NOW, instead of arguing with her for ten minutes before it gets done. Be creative and a touch light hearted when designing these booklets.

As a friend, if the birthday girl is a harried mom struggling to fetch and carry all the kids to all the different places, tell her you will do car duty and fetch the kids for her for a specified length of time. An alternative is to offer a certain amount of time acting as a baby-sitting service.

If you are a grown child looking for suitable presents for mom try seeing what is on at your local theatre, or if your mother is a movie buff your local cinema, most moms enjoying dressing up and mixing with the “theatre” crowd.

Other alternatives are facials, or back massages, a session at a reflexologist or for the more mystic among us a tarot card reading or palm reading.

The beauty about being a mother is that if any gift your child gives you shows that a minimal amount of thought and effort has gone into it, you will appreciate it, even if the cat that they bathed and made up for you doesn’t appreciate their grooming talents.