Share your gift ideas for Mother's Day!

Having little or no space definitely makes gift-buying trickier! What about a blanket or throw? I remember when my grandmother was in a nursing home she really appreciated having her own bedding and pillows. She said they were so much more comfortable and pleasing to look at than the drab, thin stuff the nursing home used.

I still haven't decided what to get my mom and MIL for Mother's Day! I think for my MIL I'm going to look for a really nice cross bookmark for her Bible. She was eyeing one in a store around Christmas. For my mom, I saw a shirt that says "Funny, I don't feel like a grandma!" that I might get. It's so hard finding something that I think they'll really like!

Good luck! Let us know what you decide!

Are flowers too much of a cliche? That's what I always give my mother. She loves how they brighten up her house without adding clutter. (As she always says, her house is so full of stuff that she hopes it goes up in flames so no one has to deal with it.)

I don't think flowers are cliche at all!  I love to receiving them for the exact same reasons you mentioned. 

This year I think I am going to get my mother some wordsearch puzzle books and a paperback novel or two.  She is a passionate recycler and know she'll toss these items in the bin as soon as she's done with them.  That makes them only temporary clutter.

My sister is doing a nice thing for our mother on Mother's Day. She's arranged a video conference call for our mother (in her mid- 80s) and her older sister (in her early 90s). They 're very close and still write each other letters but can't easily travel, so it will be a wonderful way for them to "see" each other and catch up on everything going on in their lives.

That's an amazing idea!  Thank you so much for sharing it! 

 I already added this to another thread but I like the idea so much I've been sharing it with a lot of people.  I went online and got my mother a gift certificate for a family history video. They will go to her assisted living facility and interview her about her life's stories and put the interview on a DVD. I did this for my in-laws for their 55th wedding anniversary and it went over so well, I decided to do it for my mom for Mother's Day. I wish I'd known about this when my Dad was still alive.  You have to shop around because some companies are VERY expensive but I found one I could afford.

If you can't afford to have a professional, consider doing it yourself.

Wow, you guys are so creative!! I absolutely love the video conference call and family history DVD ideas! And I definitely don't think flowers are too cliche' at all. I LOVE flowers, especially roses. Thye definitely brighten up my house- and my mood- when I have fresh ones around.

Gifts can be a challenge, when you're trying to please a person with limited space and/or limited abilities.  I suggest photographs.  If you can keep them visible in frames, that's great.  But if your parent has no room for framed pictures, put them in a book.  I've used a 3-ring binder with plastic pocket pages (try office supply stores) for 8.5x11" and 4x6" photos.  Your parent can page through the pictures alone, or you can look at them together and talk about the people and places that are (or were) important.  Also, you can use online photo processing services to create books and calendars.  Ask your relatives to send you digital photos throughout the year, then make a calendar for the next year with all the people that your parent loves.  The photo captions can be reminders of people's names or other information that your parent may have forgotten.

Great suggestion, Marney!  What's especially important is the captions and that's one I never thought to do!

I LOVE the idea/reminder to include captions! I always forget to do that too and it adds such a personal touch!

Would someone share thewebsite where they were able to purchase the recordinfg of history, interview etc.

Kate

Hi Kate,

I wasn't the one who came up with the "family history" video but I did find a few websites for companies that do these kinds of gifts/projects :

http://www.familylegacyvideo.com/ [familylegacyvideo.com]

http://familytreevideo.com/ [familytreevideo.com] - this one says "family tree" but they also offer voice-overs for more of a storytelling effect

http://www.generationsremembered.com/family_history_oral.htm [generationsremembered.com]

I can't personally vouch for any of these since I haven't purchased from them but I absolutely love the idea and I'm bookmarking them for a future-gift idea.

Good luck!

Lisa

I used the company Save Their Story--

http://www.savetheirstory.com

They go anywhere in the country. My friend had used them for her Mother and was really pleased and passed the info on to me. Plus they're affordable. Some places I looked at were way too expensive.

Thanks Patti ! It's nice to know of a company that someone has personally used and can recommend.

Thanks- great ideas!

My mom turned 70 last year and coincidently her birthday was on mother’s day! I was looking for "family history" videos and really liked the services offered by http://www.familylegacyvideo.com/ [familylegacyvideo.com] But the problem was, first it was going to take too much time to get the video ready and secondly I didn't want to bother my mom too much- she got really nervous about getting 'interviewed' in front of the camera when I talked to her about this!

Then I discovered another place that makes family DVDs from photographs http://www.smilingsnaps.com [smilingsnaps.com] and I decided to give that a shot. The DVD had a musical show custom-made with our family pictures- right from my mom's younger days, her marriage with my dad, the kids, grandkids- basically it depicted her whole life in a 15-minutes show! She really loved it and we all had moist eyes watching it.

Because of the popularity of scrapbooking, I made my mother one using pictures from family members and her own photo albums.  I secretly scanned what I used and then returned them.  I focused on all aspects of her life - grandchildren, great grandchildren, her life before her kids etc.  While she liked it when I gave it to her last year, she has spent many hours going back through it.  Plus it is proudly displayed for visitors to view.  It's like a mini time capsule.

dparsons - Thanks so much for your kind words about Family Legacy Video [familylegacyvideo.com]. I'm glad you found a service that fit your needs. It's not uncommon for folks to be nervous about the idea of being interviewed on camera. My experience has been that, once the storyteller starts talking about his/her life and times, the camera and lights are largely forgotten.

Cheers, Steve Pender