Hellobee

Mr. Peas and I have been married for 7 1/2 years, and I finally feel like I’m getting good at holiday shopping for our parents. My basic rules of thumb for my mom & mother-in-law:

• no clothes that require me to guess sizes;
• no generic “this is what I bought everyone else” gifts;
• bonus points for any gift that feels personalized, indulgent, or expensive.
• give tangible gifts – whenever possible, I try to avoid just giving a gift card. I recognize the flexibility and ease of gift cards, but they also transfer the work of picking out a gift to our moms. Plus tangible gifts allow you to involve your kids in the gift giving process in a more meaningful way.

Here are 10 gift ideas, at various price points, for the moms and mothers-in-law in your life (price listed subject to change and hopefully drop during this week’s big holiday sales):

1/ Crossword puzzle pencil set ($9.50) – I recently listened to a podcast with the owner of CW Pencil Enterprise, a NYC-based store that sells, you guessed it, pencils. As the daughter of a crossword-loving mom, I instantly fell in love with the idea of gifting my mom a crossword puzzle pencil set, possibly paired with a gift card for her to purchase her favorite pencil (option a, b, c, or d), a crossword puzzle book, or better yet a gift subscription to the Sunday Times.

2/ “Feed the Resistance: Recipes + Ideas for Getting Involved” by Julia Turshen ($10) – After the 2016 election, my mother-in-law made a concerted effort to become more involved with local politics. This handbook for political activism (with recipes!) is the perfect way to acknowledge and support her important efforts to make a difference. If your mother-in-law shares the same political leanings as mine (and it’s perfectly OK if she doesn’t!), it’d be fun to pair this book with a donation in her name to a progressive organization and/or the new perfect-for-coffee tables book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” from Pete Souza, the official White House photographer.

3/ Digital photo frame with sharing capability ($170) – There are so many ways to share photos these days, but by far the most well-received and loved present I’ve ever given my parents and in-laws is a digital photo frame with sharing capability. These frames allow you to email or set up cloud sharing for your photos, so that your mom or mother-in-law can be pleasantly surprised by new photos of your little one(s) while enjoying her drink of choice. This frame makes a great group gift, especially for families with members scattered across the country (or world!)

4/ Origins Best Sellers Gift Set ($45) – I stole this idea from Mrs. Bee’s fabulous post on Sephora Gift Sets. My mother-in-law loves Origins (as do many women in her age group) and would be thrilled to receive this gift set. In fact, it’s sitting in my Sephora cart right now and will be one of the gifts she receives from our family this year. This is a perfect gift set to pair with a Sephora gift card for other beauty loving moms and mothers-in-law.

5/ Barefoot Dreams Cardigan ($116) – This cardigan has appeared on many gift lists over the last year, and for good reason! It is the softest and comfiest piece of clothing I own, plus it actually looks good. I’ve worn it everywhere from work to Target to push & deliver day at the hospital (sizing tip ~ the arms on the small are pretty tight). I also love gift ideas that, if well received, could inspire future gifts to the same recipient, and the Barefoot Dreams line has tons of options at different price points (ranging from socks to robes to throws and even a mermaid tail).

6/ Nespresso coffee/espresso machine with milk frother ($218) – Although we got rid of our KCup machine a few years back, I’ve kept our old Nespresso one because it produces far superior results. I really want to upgrade to this new combination Nespresso machine that makes both coffee and espresso and comes with a milk frother, and I know my mother-in-law would love one as well. Although I love brewing my own coffee in the mornings (we use and LOVE this Oxo coffee machine which replicates the pour over process), sometimes we just want a single cup. Nespresso machines are also terrifically useful when you host family at the holidays.

7/ Echo ($99) – My mother-in-law loves her Echo (as do we!), and I’m loving the new color options, especially the heather gray and oak finishes! These often go on sale during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you’re gifting an Echo this holiday season, I highly suggest offering to help set it up for your mom or mother-in-law. She will enjoy it way more if it’s preloaded with her favorite music and audiobooks.

8/ A thoughtful photo art print (starting at $29) – Moms love photo gifts. Every single year my mom asks for a photo calendar for Christmas, and most years we deliver (our favorite service to create photo calendars is mpix). But my favorite photo gift of all time is this Heart Snapshot Mix Photo Art Print from Minted. We created one of these for each of our moms using photos from the first 24 months of Big P’s life and plan to do the same for both Little P and Baby P (so they’ll have a nice set of 3 heart prints). We’ve also used Minted to create birth announcements and holiday cards and are always extremely impressed by the design and quality of its products.

9/ Personalized, beautiful jewelry (starting at $69) – I just gifted a Lisa Leonard necklace to my sister who had her first baby this past spring. I am such a fan of these personalized jewelry pieces for all the moms in your life – new and “old”.

10/ Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker ($104 on sale) – Fitbits are (almost) universally loved gifts, and the new styling makes this an even more attractive option for your mom or mother-in-law (sizing tip ~ I have a very small wrist and the small barely fits me, so large is often the right size).

Bonus ideas for long distance moms and mothers-in-law – If your mom or mother-in-law lives far away and you won’t be getting together for the holidays, gift subscriptions are a great idea. My favorites include: Jeni’s pint club; Audible; and Book of the Month.