Some of you asked about Mother’s Day gift ideas, and thank goodness you DID, because I did not realize Mother’s Day was May 10th already. I mean, it is on the calendar, but I wouldn’t have seen it until I turned the page and it was only ten days away; and, as some of you noted, SHIPPING DELAYS.
My primary suggestion is the same care package idea I’m using for birthdays. This is an especially fun time to send assortment gifts like that, because there are so many things that are unexpectedly exciting right now (tissues! hand soap! store-brand pasta!). And when the act of acquiring things can be so fraught, it makes Receiving Things Without Having To Go Out And Acquire Them that much more gratifying.
I suggest having one box shipped as a gift for your mom (or for another mom you know), and having a second box shipped to yourself and not opening it until Mother’s Day when you may or may not have anything else to open. (If you order yours right away, you might have time to forget some of what’s in it.) The things I’ve been ordering from Target have been taking 3-10 days to arrive, so there should be plenty of time still. Downside: it’s common for things to arrive in many, many boxes, which makes it less like Here Is Your Gift and more like The Twelve Days of Mother’s Day. I like to send things like this with “GIFT” as a fake middle name (like “Swistle GIFT Thistle”), so the recipient knows that those boxes go together and should be put aside for the birthday/holiday.
Here is a list of general ideas I use to start making a custom assortment for somebody—but another idea is to pick one or two things from the list and do the whole box on that theme. One each of a bunch of different hand soaps or facial mists! A box of just face masks and lip balms! A whole box of K-Cups!
• These days I always begin with a box of tissues, a brand-name if available, but I’m finding the store brand more often available for shipping. If toilet paper is ever available again, I would definitely put in a 4-pack of that. For the rest of our lives, toilet paper is going to be a welcome and appreciated gift. The grandchildren will bring us a pack whenever they visit, knowing it’s always a surefire hit without really understanding how we can be clasping our hands in genuine delight when we already have an entire closet filled with it.
• And then I always put in a hand soap. I like Everspring lavender & bergamot, J.R. Watkins lavender, and many of the Mrs. Meyer’s.
• Something sweet: Lindt truffles and/or Ferrero Rocher and/or M&M’s and/or snack cakes, whatever they/you like.
• Something snacky/salty: kettle corn and/or Smartfood and/or Sunchips and/or Pringles, whatever they/you like.
• Something snacky/hearty, such as weird experimental granola bars, or apparently everyone’s favorite trail mix (also available in a smaller pouch, or in a batch of 10 individual snack packs). Two separate strangers have told me about this same specific trail mix while I was shopping. (It’s Archer Farms Caramel Cashew, in case you are reading this in the future and the links don’t work anymore.) One fellow customer was a nurse and she said at work they tried all the trail mixes and the whole department agreed that was the best one; the other fellow customer told me she gets in trouble with her kids because she sneaks out all the caramels. I don’t know how these conversations get started, but I am HERE FOR IT.
• Something from the category of beauty/care: lip balm, tinted lip balm (I like Red Dahlia and Sweet Violet), cutest tiniest wee Vaseline, face mist, hand lotion, moisturizer, nail polish, face mask, eye mask, hair masque, that kind of thing.
• Something you know/think is hard to acquire in the stores right now: tortillas, pasta, beans, Kraft Mac and Cheese, I’ve heard about people looking for the purple box of Annie’s mac and cheese, baking chocolate, dish soap, etc.
• Coffee (K cups version if they/you have a Keurig) and/or a fun tea, maybe some slightly special sugar, maybe a cute sugar bowl, maybe a mug if they/you are not already taking over a second shelf with their/your abundant mug collection.
• BEAUTY BOX.
• Best scrubby sponge—unless that seems like “Happy Mother’s Day, have some more drudgery!”
Laughed out loud at ‘I don’t know how these conversations get started, but I am HERE FOR IT.’- so funny.
My mom used to be really into planting flowers in her yard but cannot get on her knees since her knee replacements. For Mother’s Day I buy her big colorful flower pot arrangements for her patio – usually at Costco, carefully looking for the pots with her favorite colors/flowers. She loves it. These are some great ideas.
I was already filling a cart (not Mother’s-Day-specific) when I saw this post, so I added a few things from it (thanks for the ideas). And two hours later, part of the order shipped! Pretty impressive.
I have been ordering stuff for meal prep and am looking for more ideas along that theme. I sent my mom some stuff from Murray’s Cheese (ordered early as they suggested for arrival a couple days before Mom’s Day). For our May anniversary, my husband and I got the fancy bacon variety pack and the breakfast sampler from Burgers Smokehouse. For just me living in the southwest, I got country ham and biscuit mix from the Loveless Cafe in Nashville (went to college nearby). Anyone have other ideas like that? I have had fun ordering and enjoying the food. I am not usually into paying shipping for this sort of thing, but am willing these days (or order so much bacon, shipping is free!).
Our anniversary is also in May (our tenth, on the 22nd!) and I cannot figure out what to do. What we really wanted is to fly out of state, ditch the kids with my parents, and drive to the town where we met to spend a couple of nights. Obviously this is on indefinite hold, and I am at a loss as to how else to celebrate, in the house with two small children. Bacon sounds pretty good!!
I am bummed on your behalf! It’s certainly no replacement for an out-of-town getaway, but it IS delicious bacon.
This was my idea, and I’ll just leave it here in case it might appeal to someone else. I’ve ordered a few samples of a few perfumes I think she will like based on smells I know she enjoys, with the promise of a bottle for her favorite one. (I have a hunch she is going to love Hypnotic Poison based on its almond-y, play-doh-y note, but we shall see.)
Some sample sites have curated sampler sets if you’re not super familiar with fragrance, like “Vanilla for beginners” or a sampling of different fragrances by the same house. I like surrender to chance DOT COM myself.
You can also use a site like lucky scent, and you can pay for THEM to come up with a sample set, based on whatever info you can provide (she likes Clinique Happy, looking for something that smells like a vacation, prefers light scents, hates the smell of clove…) I may, in fact, order myself one of these for Mother’s Day or SPELL OUT MY DESIRES IN BODY LETTERS TO MY HUSBAND AND CHILDREN, THE TIME TO CIRCUMVENT DISAPPOINTMENT IS NOW.
I am not affiliated with any of these sites, just someone who has had a renewed interest in her own perfume collection in the past few weeks.
I had an idea another idea! For fun, my sisters and I sent a quarantine box from Made in Jackson Hole WY. You pick the categories, and they pick the stuff. My parents enjoyed it! (I asked Made to go heavy on the treats). https://www.madejacksonhole.com/pages/we-can-help I have nothing to do with my suggestions. Just trying to pump a little money into small businesses i find online.
Sorry for all of the comments, Swistle. Feel free to cut me off. Ideas pop into my head over time, not all at once. If your recipient is in the NE and you want to send flowers, consider this tulip farm. https://hollandridgefarms.com/ I think they had to cancel a tulip event. I sent some to my mom since they don’t deliver to AZ, and she said they were beautiful!
Thank you for this suggestion! I’ve already ordered for my mom – what a great idea!
Another fun type of item to send/receive are some kitchen related things. Like many others, I’m doing a lot more cooking/cleaning than ever before and have noticed that so much of my kitchen stuff needs to be upgraded. Nothing fancy, but maybe some dishtowels, pot holder things? These are very saucy: https://www.blueq.com/screen-printed/ and make me laugh! Or some colorful fun measuring cups, silicone spatulas type of stuff. That would be helpful and something I never would get for myself normally.
Also, thanks Swistle – always look forward to seeing your posts!
My mother recently bought new measuring cups and for some reason threw out all her old ones. It didn’t occur to her she might sometimes need 1/2 cup of two different things! She has regrets (some she threw out, she had owned since her wedding in 1964!!!!). So, I think I may send her some new ones!
Swistle I’m glad to see you like the Scrub Daddy too – I hate the name, love the sponge. They make regular dish sponges too which are very good – they last a long time and they do not get smelly even if some husbands forget to squeeze the water out (AHEM). I switched to a Swedish dish cloth but still have some Scrub Daddy sponges for if I feel like switching back.
Those tea towels are hilarious!
I wouldn’t mind Twelve Days of Mother’s Day.
This weekend I ordered the Swistle-suggested Toucan scissors for my mom and will likely also get a couple more things that don’t have to be shipped (maybe flowers and something that would be comforting/useful right now), then I’ll wipe down everything that can be wiped down and leave it in her porch.
While I was at it I ordered myself a long-coveted Nordic Ware bundt pan in the Jubilee pattern and a couple of games the family can play together, then mentioned to my husband that I’d bought my gifts so he didn’t have to worry about it. I figure I get exactly what I want and the fun of shopping for it, and he doesn’t have to remember or choose or anything, which is a welcome thing right now when he’s trying to run an essential business while not getting sick or bringing any bugs home, and I’m stuck at home and going a little stir-crazy. I am enormously satisfied to have finally pulled the trigger on that bundt pan. Seriously, I cannot to have a lemon glaze puddling between those ridges! https://www.nordicware.com/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/2546/s/jubilee-bundt-pan-1/
That would be “cannot WAIT to have…” Not sure how I left out that word…
I do not need another Bundt pan and yet I cannot stop thinking about glaze sitting in the indentations and slowly sinking into the cake.
Right? And in my case, I NEED a bundt pan because I don’t have one! And this one is so pretty!
Perhaps not the most exciting purchase, but my mother likes to spend early mornings and evenings on her porch and mosquito season is coming. So I ordered her a large three wick citronella candle that looks lovely instead of utilitarian. And then a pretty lavender scented candle for her bathroom-she likes smelly things. What becomes tricky is that she also provides my mother’s day gifts 😆 (I’m divorced and my children are still too small to manage unassisted and she is a saint)
Big thank you to the folks who suggested this post, and to Swistle for providing, I would have forgotten otherwise!
I sent my mother-in-law new dishtowels with flowers, as a practical-but-pretty quarantine item. I sent my mom a watercolor kit– paints with brush pens and a coloring book for watercolors with flower designs that look easy but fun. I thought it might be a nice “you’re stuck at home, here’s something cheerful to do” gift.
One thing for folks to know/consider. I just found out that my apartment building is ceasing delivery and storage of packages to limit traffic in the building and eliminate use of common areas. other large buildings might be doing the same. My sweet family likes to surprise us with little things (sanitizer and candy!) so I told them not to anymore.
But, but… is there no one in your building that’s isolating/quarantining/vulnerable that needs to have essential supplies delivered? That seems like an odd choice, depending on where you live.