Mother’s Day, like most holidays, is pretty commercial. Depending on how you feel about commercialization and consumerism, (or your mother), you might be looking for gifts that strike a perfect balance between sustainability and desirability or just something that won’t blow your budget.
But I have the perfect solution. It’s customizable for your mother’s tastes, your environmental sensibilities, and your pocketbook. This Mother’s Day, I’m suggesting customized gift baskets for the ultimate Mother’s Day gift.
Why Gift Baskets Rule Mother’s Day
It doesn’t matter if you get your mom a gift basket every year — you can always customize it to her specific tastes. Why spend tons of money trying to get her the latest tech gadget or waste your time making something that she doesn’t really need — or want? Get her things she’ll actually use and love; simply work with finesse to make sure what you get is sustainable, stylish, and luxurious.
Your mom will love you for listening to me. If she doesn’t, apologize profusely on my behalf, get her what she really wants (this will be pretty easy because she’ll probably tell you directly if she really hates what you’ve bought), then take these awesome items off her hands and either keep them for yourself or donate them to a deserving mom or family in need.
Here are a few of my oft-included must-haves in my mom’s gift baskets:
Domestic Luxuries
Is your mom a domestic goddess who loves to take care of her house and home? If so, there’s nothing insulting about gifting her with luxurious eco-friendly cleaning products. No, seriously – my best friend’s mom lives to clean. I don’t know what’s wrong with that woman; I swear she’s a former Stepford wife. But she takes pride in keeping a clean and comfortable house and she absolutely adores anything that will help her maintain a pristine home environment.
Fill mom’s cleaning coffers with products from brands that are dedicated to eco-conscious cleaning. Some of my favorite picks are Rocking Green’s Hard Core Concentrate, a lavender mint scented laundry detergent formulated to power through hard water to get clothes squeaky clean; Mrs. Jones’ Soapbox Eco-Friendly Cleaning Kit and Laundry Soap Jar, a full house-cleaning kit with sparkly fragrances formulated from ingredients that include castile soap, baking soda, borax and essential oils; and Shricandles’ biodegradable Lotus Jade candle, which is made from soy and housed in a Mason jar.
Gorgeous Green Beauty Products
Don’t overwhelm your mom with a bunch of cleaning supplies; balance things out with natural and sustainable products that pamper and soothe. After all, nothing tells a woman you love her more than things that make her feel relaxed and beautiful.
Indulge mom with health and beauty essentials that reinforce how much you appreciate her. Pure Natural Diva and A Perfume Organic are merely two of many fragrance brands that offer a range of artisan fragrances in an array of organic botanical scents ranging from yummy vanillas to sultry florals. LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics places sustainability as a company-wide priority and they offer delicious products that literally melt in the tub, in your hand and all over your body, draping you with luxurious moisture and mouthwatering aroma. Etsy shops like Sage Goddess have amazing bath and body goods that are sourced from the Earth with care and made to give mom a celestial glow.
Customizing Your Mother’s Day Gift Basket
Besides intoxicating fragrances and domestic goods, what else can you spruce your mom’s gift basket with? Well, anything you think she’d enjoy. My ideas are merely suggestions (albeit nearly foolproof ones), but you know your mom way better than I ever will. Toss in some organic treats from your local bakery, include a certificate of donation in her honor, a lavish pair of diamond earrings that are conflict-free or sourced from eco-friendly brands like Brilliant Earth…whatever you think will make her happy.
Etsy is my favorite go-to for amazing items that are inexpensive, handcrafted, and specialized. Their marketplace is a proven treasure trove for nearly anything unique, artisan, and green.
So About that Gift Basket…
As for the gift basket, if you’re wondering where to get one, ask your friends if they have any Easter baskets they’re getting ready to toss. Considering the billions of dollars spent annually on Easter (and this amount is growing), there has to be an abundance of baskets available. Surely you can grab one or two before they make it to the dumpster and keep it from hitting the landfill.
In the event you can’t find one, you can get highly creative with your packaging and try furoshiki gift-wrapping. Furoshiki gift-wrapping involves packing your gifts in a beautiful cloth your mom can use over and over again. You can use any kind of fabric or pattern you want, so long as it’s large enough to wrap her gifts.
Gift baskets are sustainable and sexy. You know why? You don’t have to spend a fortune putting your gifts together. You don’t need to spend hours taking old VCR tapes and converting them into pretty (cheap) flowers to prove you’re resourceful either. You get to make use of useless Easter baskets (which your mom will always find a way to reuse in some way, shape, or form), and you get to give your mother a stash of luxurious, Earth and body-friendly treats that don’t scream cheap or tacky but instead say, “I love you, but I think I love the Earth more.”
Feature image credit: ajlatan / Shutterstock