Brooke Amidei
- Apr 17

Unique Mother's Day Gifts- Think Outside the Flower Vase

Think outside the garden center (although let's get real, who doesn't love flowers or a new plant, even if you aren't a green thumb?). Here are some unique mother's day gift ideas that will surprise your mom when you treat her this Mother's Day.

Paint by Number

My sister found this site a few years ago and everyone in our family has had fun with it ever since. They make incredibly fun and unexpected gifts and they are super fun to complete (when is the last time you did a paint by number?). Her go-to company is PaintNumbers- custom paint number kits for adults. You just upload your photo and PaintNumbers will send you the paint by number canvas, all the correctly colored and labeled paints and a frame to secure it to when you are finished. Bonus points- do the paint by number together with your mom!

Flower Subscription Service

Spoiler Alert- this is not only what my mom and my mother-in-law are receiving from us this year, but it is also what I am getting from my husband (he takes instructions well). I just learned about this concept, fell in love, and had the local florist from Flower Smith Gardens who informed me about it, share all the details on Babble at Why Locally Sourced Flowers Matter and Why You Need a Flower Subscription Service.

Take a read through that article to get all of the details, but the quick and dirty (gardening pun intended) is that you can get local flowers delivered as a subscription service multiple times a season, or year, for not a lot more than you would if you were ordering flowers through a large flower shop. Every place offers different options, but you can find a florist near you that offers a flower subscription at: Local Flowers, Growers Near Me. I'm just all sorts of excited about this (and my first delivery is this week!!). I really feel like these subscriptions will be the best mother's day gifts we've given!!

Family Photo Session

Keeping the unique ideas flowing... my girlfriend's family has the best Mother's Day tradition. For several years in a row, they did a family photo session with all of the grandkids. The kind where you go in, have 20 minutes in the photo room and then you review and they print them right there! Their favorite family photo location was a mom and pop shop that they went to, but they did research and it sounds like they offer the same service at JCPenney Portraits. Same concept- you're in, and your out, with photos in hand. Her mom LOVED them! They always ordered a canvas and her mom has all of the family photos hung up together. What a great gift!

Professional House Cleaning

Give your mom the gift we all really want, the perfect mother's day gift...professional house cleaning. It's really is the best thing ever. I know we all know about it, and hopefully have been lucky enough to have had it, but seriously...for someone to clean the grossness in the showers and the floorboards, we are forever grateful! Also, I don't think this concept was as prevalent or popular back in our mom's day, so treat that lady!! It's just the right gift for all the special women in your life, so grab them each a gift card from the whole family (get your siblings involved to make it more affordable). It also a great idea for last-minute mother's day gifts. Get a gift card, print it out online and check "Rad Mother's Day Gift" off your to-do list.

Personalized Ceramics

The vase above was a thoughtful gift made for my mother-in-law. We had all of the great grand kids write "I love you" in their own handwriting and my talented sister-in-law used a vinyl cutter to create this vase with a personal touch. The best part was we also got her a flower subscription as described above so it was the perfect present to present her flower subscription. Anyway, it got me thinking, what if you don't own a vinyl cutter and aren't quite as crafty, could you still pull something personalized like this off and the internet says, "Yes!".

I found on the blog We Lived Happily Ever After, that shows how you can just use a sharpie and bake it onto ceramics. Now that sounds like my kind of crafting! She has great directions on there, and as I dove deeper into the Pinterest world researching this, I now want to bake sharpie onto all of the things, specifically mugs and plates. All sorts of best gift ideas for Mother's Day- making a special mug, or travel mug, for your mom from you, or your kiddos, and/or a special Grandma cookie plate, etc. The Pinterest ideas for baking sharpie onto ceramics are really fun to check out.

This collection of creative mother's day gifts offers options for your mom, or any type of mom in you or your kids' life- new moms, mother-in-laws, your best friend, or any of the important women in your lives. Although keep in mind, as almost any mother figure would say, nothing beats quality time with our kids! I didn't believe it until I was a mom myself, but it really is the simple things.