The gifts in the last post are pretty awesome…and I’m crossing my fingers I get some of them for Mother’s Day. Ha!! But let’s talk for a minute about sentimental Mother’s Day gift ideas too. The ones you can’t buy at the store. The things that really come from the heart. Because those are for sure my very favorite.
Sentimental Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
Ideas from my children…or their teachers!
This one from Max all those years ago still adorns my desk where I sit every day:
My brother Jonah had to laugh when he saw that “Live Simply” sign tucked behind there on my desk, because I’m not exactly doing that. Ha! But that’s a story for another day.
I have to say this gift took the cake as well. The year when Max, my teenage boy, took the time to draw a drawing for my Mother’s Day card.
Honestly, makes me tear up even now all these years later. Love you Max!
This is one of my favorites too: Elle gathered, directed, and put together video clips from all the kids who were spread far and wide for Mother’s Day a few years ago. She had them answer questions like “how are you most like mom” and “what does mom love most,” etc. and they were so earnest and sweet in their answers.
It was one of my favorite gifts of all time.
Gifts I have requested:
Sometimes you have to ASK for the gifts you want. Years ago I realized I wasn’t going to get my family out in the world hiking with me on a regular day. It just wasn’t in the cards. So here’s a tip if you want some thing like that: ASK FOR IT FOR MOTHER’S DAY! One of the best hacks I’ve found.
For years we all went, helping guide Lucy along the uneven terrain, just short hikes that filled me up with happiness.
As the terrain got trickier for Lu we opted more for bike rides. But either way I just adore getting out in nature with my family.
Sentimental Mother’s Day gifts we have given to my mom:
There is a sentimental gift we gave to my own mother for years. We would put together these drawings filled up with our ever-expanding family.
I would draw up a little sketch of what everyone was doing at that moment of time and everyone would help me come up with sayings that people said. It was such a fun way to celebrate motherhood, and my mom has most of these drawings framed up at Bear Lake.
A couple years ago, when the family started getting so dang big it got too complicated, I stopped. But it was such a fun gift for a good run there.
There we go, just a few sentimental Mother’s Day gift ideas for the moms we love out there. And a reminder that good gifts don’t have to come from a store.
Happy Mother’s Day prep, everyone!
XOXO
So fun! Just helped my nanny girls make a card for their mom today and it makes me so happy to see how you cherish yours from 20+ years ago!
I follow @soelsister on Instagram and she had some great ideas for combo physical/sentimental gifts if you want to give something more than an IOU. Some that I liked included gifting mom a nice vase with the idea that youll bring new stems once a week/month (Trader joes has great affordable ones!) and give mom the gift of a nice one-on-one visit. Another was giving mom a cute popcorn bowl and some yummy toppings (but it can be a coffee mug you know she’ll love and her favorite syrups etc) and again having a nice visit however often works for you. These do involve being local, but I’m sure moms who live far from their kids would even be happy to have a weekly little coffee date on zoom or FaceTime! It can be tough when the kids are spread far and wide — though it sounds like with the exception of your darling london girl to-be, you’ll have your kids within only 2 time zones so hopefully lots of good time together!
I’ll have to check that out! Thanks for the suggestions!
I LOVE the video!! I am inspired to do something similar for my dad’s upcoming birthday!
However, I am pretty tech illiterate. Could you please tell me if Elle used a phone app or a program on her laptop to splice the interviews together? Thank you so much! Happy Mother’s Day, NiNi!
This is the response from Elle when I asked her: I usually use premiere but it’s like adobe subscription so you have to pay for. But there is this app called splice, & its really easy & does this type of thing.
Hope that helps!
Shawni… I ended up using splice to put together a 43 minute video for my dad’s 70th! He is the oldest of 12 and a pretty protective person who doesn’t show his soft underbelly ever. We facetimed while he watched it and he was so touched that all these people reached out to him, shared memories of him, funny anecdotes. I even tracked down his classmate from kindergarten-8th grade!
So THANK YOU. I never would have come up with this idea never mind executed it, had I not been checking in on your blog that day. He told my mom it was the best present he had ever received. (Did not say that to me, again see: no exposure of soft underbelly, hah!)
God Bless You! God Bless your new chapter as grandparent to MJ!
Aw! I love that you put the work in to make that video and love that he loved it. And I’m sure he’ll treasure it forever!❤️