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Mom gifts can be hard to buy, and they’re not just for your mom, either. Useful Mother’s Day gifts for new moms can ease the pain of sleep deprivation à la newborn. Mother’s Day gifts for grandmas show the family matriarch how much she means. And if you’re somehow forgetting a Mother’s Day gift for your wife and the mother of your children, you need to get on that ASAP (she doesn’t need to know they’re last-minute Mother’s Day gifts, as long as they make it on time). Mom gifts can be hard to buy, so here’s an easy list of useful gifts for moms of all types.
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for a new gardener: Fiskars 4-Piece Planting Set
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for someone artistic: Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Art Pencils
- Best gift for moms who love music: Apple AirPods Pro
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for a “Great British Baking Show” fan: “Time to Eat: Delicious Meals for Busy Lives” Cookbook
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for an aspiring “Great British Baking Show” contestant: KitchenAid Ultra Power Plus 4.5-quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for a baker that needs great basics: SAVEUR SELECTS 5-Piece Bakeware Set
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for an active dog mom: RUFFWEAR Roamer Dog Leash
- Best gift for Mom who’s at a computer too much: DreamTime Spa Comforts Aromatherapy Shoulder Wrap
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for someone who misses spa visits: LAPCOS Exfoliating Cleansing Pad and Milk Sheet Mask Set
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for tea drinkers: Zach & Zoë’s Raw Honey
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for someone who likes relaxing outdoors: Amazon Basics Padded Gravity Chair
- Best Mother’s Day gifts for someone who needs to recharge: Tranquility Weighted Blanket
Things to consider when shopping for useful gifts for Mother’s Day
Snowflakes, fingerprints, mothers: all these things are unique. So when it comes to Mother’s Day, take into account the things that make her, well, her. We scoped out the most useful gifts for Mom—including many under $25—so all you must do is a little scroll-scroll, click-click to match her personality with the best pick and do right by your mother this May.
Best Mother’s Day gifts for a new gardener: Fiskars 4-Piece Planting Set
Big Dig
The thing about a lot of gardening tools is they have wood handles, and the thing about wood handles is that they get really dry or rotten or gross real fast when exposed to the elements (an inevitable when gardening). Forget all that, and let her garden in comfort, with this planting set from Fiskars. The pruner, cultivator, and transplanter tools cover gardening essentials for houseplants and the yard, so she can use them year-round, and they have waterproof handles to avoid that whole wood issue. If she loves to dig into her hobby, these will prove an incredibly useful gift.
Best Mother’s Day gifts for someone artistic: Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Art Pencils
Pencil It In
Fine-art quality that feels just fine in amateur hands as well, these oil-based pencils are an easy way to get deep, vivid color for detail work. Whether doodling helps her survive endless Zoom meetings or revive an old hobby, these art pencils will be a winner. They require a touch more care than normal colored pencils, but these break less and cost less than comparable quality oil pencils from other brands. Plus, they come in color sets (we’d recommend the 36 for an entry point) designed to work cohesively together.
Best gifts for moms who love music: Apple AirPods Pro
Sound On
If Mom has an iPhone, these truly wireless earphones are a useful gift for Mom in multiple senses: useful for phone calls, useful for music, useful for work, and useful for snuffing out her surroundings her for a sense of solitude, no matter how fleeting while the whole family is home. We think the Pros are worth the upcharge for the various, flexible earpiece sizes, as well as the noise-canceling feature they come with. They’re light, comfortable, and secure enough for jogging or general around-the-house wear, and don’t interfere with or get tangled in eyeglasses or masks.
Best Mother’s Day gift for a “Great British Baking Show” fan: “Time to Eat: Delicious Meals for Busy Lives” Cookbook
British Bounty
Whether she’s been a fan for years or binged all the back-seasons during quarantine, it’s pretty safe to assume that if Mom’s into “The Great British Baking Show,” she’s a fan of Nadiya Hussain—the 2015 winner of the prized cake stand, and our hearts. Nadiya’s latest cookbook, released in November 2020, includes both sweet and savory dishes and is a great resource for easy weekday meals. Plus, if your Mom (or grandma or sister or friend) likes it, you know how you can clinch a birthday gift, too: Nadiya has a new baking cookbook publishing in late July.
Best Mother’s Day gift for an aspiring “Great British Baking Show” contestant: KitchenAid Ultra Power Plus 4.5-quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
Mix It Up
An iconic kitchen tool, the KitchenAid stand mixer is both a design piece and an absolute workhorse across cuisines and techniques. If she cooks or bakes and doesn’t have one, this will be a very happy Mother’s Day gift indeed. If she does already own (and, by extension, love) a stand mixer, consider how you might expand upon its prowess, like with the spiralizer attachment that makes quick work of fruits and veg, or the pasta maker attachment for fresh noodles.
Best gift for a baker that needs great basics: SAVEUR SELECTS 5-Piece Bakeware Set
Non-Stick and Sturdy
This quality five-piece set is every baking mom’s dream—the durable material resists twisting and warping, and the thick outer rims provide a non-slip grip for easy transport to the oven or cooling rack. The set comes with one large baking sheet, a 12-cup muffin pan, a 10-inch loaf pan, and two 9-inch cake pans—all with Whitford Eclipse nonstick coating for quick, easy release. These professional pieces are made for ovens up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit while remaining easy to clean and dishwasher safe.
Best Mother’s Day gift for an active dog mom: RUFFWEAR Roamer Dog Leash
Animal Instincts
Dogs are gonna dog, which means plentiful sniffing and exploring since smells are basically their newspaper and social media in one. And even active moms don’t want to end up dog-tired from trying to wrangle a canine companion while working up an actual enjoyable, productive sweat. Pick a longer leash, this one goes up to 11 feet, to give pup space to safely roam without Mom getting pulled off-road. There’s a traffic handle to allow leash pressure for tighter control: a feature great for training puppies. The leash also acts as a shock absorber for both parties, and the padded handle is expandable to be worn around the human’s waist, not just the hand, so it’s an excellent option for hiking and running with a dog, or for reducing shoulder strain if you have an eager furry friend.
Best gift for Mom who’s at a computer too much: DreamTime Spa Comforts Aromatherapy Shoulder Wrap
Herbal Relaxation
We generally carry stress in our neck and shoulders, and the past year has certainly not helped ease that pain. This two-pounder pillow for the upper body functions as both a heating pad and a cooling pack, depending on whether it’s put in the microwave or freezer. But, in reality, the weight and the scents of (real, herbal) lavender and peppermint mixed in means it’s a big relief at room temperature, too. We’d definitely file this one under useful Mother’s Day gifts for new moms because all that baby holding and feeding does a number on the neck and shoulders.
Best Mother’s Day gifts for someone who misses spa visits: LAPCOS Exfoliating Cleansing Pad and Milk Sheet Mask Set
Scrub Happy
Good skin products can be hard to find (and to buy for others), but cult-favorite Korean skincare brand LAPCOS has been immune from all that. The exfoliating cleansing pads remove seemingly impossible (and if we’re being honest, slightly horrifying) layers of dead dermis from the face with perfect gentleness, leaving smooth skin behind. This set includes their moisturizing milk sheet masks to hydrate the skin. And as a 10-pack can be had for right around 20 bucks, it’s a cheap Mother’s Day gift idea that punches way above its weight in quality and lifespan.
Best Mother’s Day gift for tea drinkers: Zach & Zoë’s Raw Honey
Sweet Treat
This is the kind of find that creates a distinct before-and-after divide in your life—it’s that good. Made on a farm in rural New Jersey and available to be shipped anywhere, Zach & Zoë (named for the proprietors’ kids) is honey that is unprocessed to retain nutrition and natural richness, as well as infused with ingredients for unique flavors. If she’s a black tea (or coffee) drinker, try the lavender. Green or herbal tea, try the ginger. If she’s a classicist, go for the wildflower. It hits the mom gifts sweet spot: a little bit luxurious, but still one of those entirely useful gifts for moms.
Best Mother’s Day gift for someone who likes relaxing outdoors: Amazon Basics Padded Gravity Chair
Lean Back
Whether the mom on your list lives in the city with a small courtyard, in the ’burbs with a big patio, or in the country with an expansive yard, this “zero gravity” chair makes for a heavenly way to sit. The particular way it distributes weight makes you feel weightless no matter what angle you recline at; it’s a startling (and startlingly comfortable) design. This chair is the perfect perch for morning coffee, evening wine, reading a book, taking a nap, catching up with friends, and catching up on sleep.
Best Mother’s Day gift for someone who needs to recharge: Tranquility Weighted Blanket
Deeply Calming
Featuring temperature-balancing technology, this blanket will be in tune with Mom’s needs during a nap or even a full night’s sleep. Weighted blankets are ideal for people who have trouble sleeping, or those who display symptoms of anxiety, stress, and/or ADHD, as it is made to pressure lower-body, full-body, and neck and shoulder areas (in a good way) to help you not only fall asleep, but also stay asleep soundly. (And if you’re thinking this is another one of those perfect, useful Mother’s Day gifts for new moms, you’re right.) It also comes with a washable cover to ensure easy cleaning in the washing machine!
Great mom gifts are the ones she’ll return to
See, finding the best Mother’s Day gift—and the best useful gifts for Mom, at that—wasn’t so bad. And great mom gifts don’t have to cost a ton. So no excuses: get her something she’ll love, and not just stash in a closet.
See? Finding the best Mother’s Day gift—and the best useful gifts for Mom, at that—wasn’t so bad. And great gifts for Mom don’t have to cost a ton. So no excuses: get her something she’ll love, and not just stash in a closet. Here are a dozen additional ideas for happy Mother’s Day gifts.
