mother's day gift guides!
so into celebrating the ladies in our lives
Hi guys! Excited to talk Mother’s Day today. Your response to our budget-friendly dinner ideas was tremendous, and we appreciated your enthusiasm so much. We worked really hard to share our most budget-friendly tips and tricks, and we broke down the exact costs of 10 of the most affordable What To Cook recipes for you! I’m so glad that you all enjoyed reading it so much and learned from it.
And today we have another post that we’ve been working hard on, because there’s nothing more important to our all-mom team than celebrating mothers!
If Mother’s Day is a tricky day/season for you, we see you and are sending tons of love. There are gift ideas below that would be good for any woman in your life, mom or not — and/or that you can plant as a gift idea for yourself for any occasion — but if the topic is too much for you, hit delete on this email and we’ll see ya Saturday morning with a brand new complete-meal recipe!! Love you!
Mother’s Day is a big deal. It’s the one day a year when we are celebrated uniquely for our contributions as mothers. But from conversations with friends and readers, I know that Mother’s Day often falls flat and doesn’t deliver the big day of celebration that many of us hope for.
If you’ve been a reader/@carochambers follower for a while, you’ve heard me wax poetic about the importance of ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT on Mother’s Day, but here’s a reminder/refresher, because it’s so, so important!
The key to a nice Mother’s Day is setting expectations of what you want the day to look like, and then effectively communicating them. I do not view this as bossy or demanding. I think this is actually such an incredible gift for your significant other/support network. Set them up for success!
For some moms, that might look like spending all day with your family, with a fancy restaurant brunch and a home-cooked dinner. For others, that might be a day of quiet solitude — with zero diaper changes or questions asked. Or maybe it’s a mix of the two. The important thing is that you think of your perfect day (a perfect day that’s actually doable, at least!!), and then communicate it to the person/people planning to do the celebrating. They cannot read your mind!
A few ideas:
ALONE DAY! When I had only tiny kids who didn’t understand Mother’s Day, I asked for an alone day for Mother’s Day! I’d go workout, then go out to lunch by myself (with a good book, duh), then to get a massage.
BREAKFAST INTO ALONE DAY! Now that my kids are older, they want to help celebrate me. I’m going to tell George that I’d love to sleep in while they go grab me my favorite latte and get chocolate croissants. I don’t even eat breakfast, so the kids cooking me a chaotic breakfast would not be a relaxing way to start my day. We can all sit and hang out together and have our lattes and croissants, and then I’ll head off for a nice massage or maybe just to the pool by myself to bask my gigantic belly in the sun and read my book!
$FREE.99! Mother’s Day doesn’t have to cost a thing. Tell your S.O. (or mom, or sister, or aunt, or friend) that what you would really love this Mother’s Day is to be alone in your own house to have a little time for self-care! Ask them to take the kids out to breakfast then to the park. Being alone in your own home is such a luxury as a mom! Use that face mask you never use, paint your nails, re-watch Bridgerton for the sixth time…
HANG WITH YOUR S.O.! If you’re craving time with your significant other, have breakfast with the kids, let them give you their cards and love you up, then get a babysitter and GTFO! Go out to lunch, or to the pool/beach, or maybe a couple’s spa day!
BUT WHAT ABOUT MY MOM/MIL? Great news! The weekend is two days long! Pick Saturday or Sunday to be all about celebrating YOURSELF, and on the other day you can celebrate your mom and/or MIL!
We’re so excited to share these guides! We’ve spent a ton of time pulling together ideas for moms, moms-to-be, dog moms, grandmothers, and any other lady you want to celebrate this Mother’s Day — and beyond! Use these guides for Mother’s Day gifting (and gift-idea planting), spring birthdays, hostess gifts, etc. There’s a wide range of price points — and we’ve noted the prices, because we know from experience that it’s a bummer to click a link only to see that something’s out of your budget. Hope you enjoy!!
Our guides include:
Gifts to hint for your S.O. to buy for you
Gifts for your mom/MIL
Sweet little gifts for your mom friends (this is just a great gift guide for any day of the year if you, like me, have a village of friends helping you raise your kids and need ways to say thank you, I appreciate you, I love you)
Gifts for a mom-to-be or newly postpartum mom
This is the guide to forward to your significant other!!
A Vitamix (from $499.95)! If you've followed me for long, you know what a Vitamix groupie I am. It is a truly, truly superior product and belongs in every kitchen. They're pricy! But it's one of those things where it actually makes a huge difference in how your recipes turn out. I just shared 5 unexpected ways that a Vitamix makes mom's life easier on IG. Buy it once, own it forever and ever. Beg and plead for one for Mother's Day — just trust me, every single one of you who has listened to me on this over the years cannot believe what a night and day difference it is going from a standard blender to a Vitamix. Thank you to Vitamix for sponsoring this post!
Birthstone ring ($270) or initial necklace ($260). Maya Brenner is an LA-based jewelry designer and mom — her jewelry is beautiful and a really great price point for solid gold. It’ll last forever without tarnishing! I l love how it looks to stack thin gold rings with my wedding rings. And for the necklaces — you can get them with a single initial, or more, if you have more than one kid.
Molly has this heirloom locket ($250) with photos of her babies in it and I compliment it every time we’re video chatting. We love this style ($175), too. The hugest win is that the company (The Locket Sisters) actually puts the photos in the locket for you with a protective resin coating so that you don’t have to deal with that yourself (AKA, never actually deal with it and wear an empty locket forever and ever).
This one’s for the dog moms! You can get this Goldbug Collection gold-plated charm (and others!) engraved with your pup’s portrait ($375) (also doable: a kid’s silhouette!).
You can’t go wrong with an excellent new non-stick skillet (this one is my fave high-sided skillet, perfect for one-pot meals; $96). I have so many non-sticks that I love, but this one is my fave skillet set right now ($70).
A framed pic of you with all of your babies (starting at $23). Significant others! Mom is always the one taking the pictures — it’s so, so special when someone remembers to grab one of her with the kids. You still have time to snap a really sweet pic of her and her kids before Mother’s Day! It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be professionally taken. Grab a pic of all of the kids in bed with mom this weekend, then send it off to Minted, add a fun brightly colored mat that coordinates with a color in the photo (see how the yellow mat coordinates with our yellow PJs?) and it’ll show up at your house a few days later. Trust me, she will love it. Use code CARO to get 20% off (some exclusions apply). PS, that code works if you need anything else, like baby shower invites or even graduation announcements.
A nice, roomy handbag ($238 for black; one brown shade is currently $142.50!). If you, like me, use holidays like Mother’s Day to ask for a bigger item on your wishlist, I could not love that purse more. It’s big enough for kids’ snacks and socks, my huge Owala water bottle, and a laptop. It will hold up for years, and can be worn crossbody — a major plus in my book. A smaller bag is always nice, too — I adore this one ($250).
A spa day at a nice local spa. Or bring the spa treatments home with the red light face mask ($470) that me and all of my friends are obsessed with.
A day and night of solo time and uninterrupted sleep at a local hotel. Enough said!
I’ve already expressed my love for Kosterina’s Mother’s Day olive oil gift set ($83). Truly such a good high-quality — and pre-gift-wrapped! — gift for a mom or MIL who loves to cook.
Speaking of moms who like to cook… might I suggest either What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking ($23.50) or Just Married ($19)? Just Married would actually be fun for empty nesters! Most of the recipes serve 2.
One more idea for a mom/MIL who loves to cook: quality wooden spatulas ($39 for a set). These are highly functional — the straight flat edge makes scraping food from the bottom of the skillet so easy — and look great stored on a countertop.
Nice PJs ($124). Every mom needs a pair! Use code caroxlake for 10% off.
A special vase ($264) for the mom who always has fresh flowers in the house! I was gifted this vase and it is absolutely stunning, every time someone walks in the house when I have it out they literally gasp, haha! Would be a great, very special gift. They have lots of different styles and colors. Use code CARO12 for 12% off your order.
A piece of art. We love these petite limited-edition prints by Raleigh artist Inslee Fariss — they come in magnetic acrylic frames, would look cute on a coffee table or bookshelf, and are a great price point ($55). I also love Anne-Louise Ewen for original art or prints — I actually own the original of this print (starting at $66), if you want to be art twins! It’s pretty perfect for Mother’s Day — I see a mom cradling a baby, surrounded by chaos, lol.
Personalized bath ($83/personalized towel) or hand towels ($110 for a personalized set). You could order them with her monogram, street number, nickname, a cute phrase, etc. Use code CARO15 to get 15% off!
Monogrammed stationery (starting at $39 for 25). Did you know that Minted offers artist-designed stationery, too?! We love this, this, and this design (that last one is letterpress!). Use code CARO to get 20% off (some exclusions apply).
A nice face oil (starting at $40) that smells amazing and goes on silky smooth! Use code CARO10 to get 10% off!
Fancy heirloom tomato-scented hand soap ($116) for her kitchen or guest bathroom! A friend gifted me a Flamingo Estate hand soap/lotion set as a hostess gift when they stayed with us for the weekend and it’s just such a lovely, thoughtful gift that you don’t want to buy but need.
Give the gift of great smut (or whatever her genre of choice may be) in her ear with a Libro FM audiobook bundle (from $30).
For your romance-loving friends: a trope hat ($35) from 831 Stories.
Gold-plated huggies (starting at $48). I have gifted them to many, many of my friends. If you want to go gold-gold, for a more special gift (maybe to request from your S.O.), George gave me these little knot guys ($695) for Christmas and I can sleep and shower in them and they’re really beautiful.
Or a fun beaded necklace (on sale for $34)!
A pair of Adidas ($120) in a fun color they wouldn’t buy for themselves. They’re the most comfortable and go with everything.
At this point I’ve gifted almost all my friends a Jenny Lemons food hair claw ($12-$24).
This is a repeat from the mom/MIL guide, but monogrammed stationery is such a thoughtful gift for any lady you love. Use code CARO to get 20% off (some exclusions apply).
A gift subscription to this newsletter ($50 for one year or $7 for one month) — because, duh! You can buy it now and schedule it so that your friend receives the first email on the date of your choice (Mother’s Day, her birthday, etc.). If you’d like something to print and wrap, click here!
This heating pad ($40) has been getting me through my fourth pregnancy. If you/she doesn’t have one yet, it’s time! Amazing for loosening up a tight back from holding/feeding a newborn, too.
Cute night lights ($9) for illuminating the way to the bathroom when you’re up all night to pee now, and nurse/feed the baby later.
A Hatch alarm clock light ($170) — ditto! I’ve nursed two babies by the gentle glow of my second Hatch setting (they have three programmable settings!). Since it’s also a clock, it will also let you ditch having your phone by the bed.
Nice maternity PJs ($108) that she’ll still want to wear after pregnancy/breastfeeding. Use code caroxlake for 10% off.
A cozy robe. Waffle robes are the best robes and Brooklinen’s is on sale right now for $97!
Socks are a hospital bag must. Get her a pair she’ll love — these are my favorites ($14).
An eye mask ($16) that actually works.
A fun food gift! I live far, far away from many of my best friends, so I have sent or been sent so many fun food gifts over the years. The cheapest, and possibly most fun, food gift to send is a grocery store cookie cake with something funny written on it, like, oh I don’t know, “sorry about the hemorrhoids” or “cookies and (breast)milk.” Some other food ideas:
Little Sesame Hummus Taster Pack ($36) — the hummus is incredible and the pita is also soooo good.
A baked goods box ($149) with croissants, chocolate croissants, and cookies. I’ve tried them all and they are unreal.
A six-pack of my favorite ice cream ($130). It’s pretty pricy through GoldBelly, so this option is really best for New Yorkers who can pick Caffe Panna up locally. Graeter’s is another fave that’s a bit more affordable to ship (starting at $84.95). OR, Instacart them a bunch of pints on a night when you know they’re home!
Dinner!! Just go on UberEats and send them dinner one night so they don’t have to cook! Especially lovely for an extremely pregnant friend nearing the end of her pregnancy. Her feeties hurt!
Please & Thank You ready-to-bake cookie dough ($75 for two dozen cookies). We always talk about how frozen cookie dough is the best treat to bring a mom postpartum. If you’re not there locally to deliver it, here’s a delicious alternative!
I love these BaubleBar custom totes ($98)— you can choose letters (her kid’s names?) and icons that represent her. I was gifted one with a margarita, stick of butter, and other cute icons on it that represent the things I love! It’s a really fun twist on a classic monogrammed bag, plus the bag itself has tons of great storage. Get her the large, she’s gonna need it! These might not actually make it by Mother’s Day, but had to include on this gift guide!
What to Cook launched in December 2020, which means there are more than 200 recipes in the archives. To help you cook through them, let’s revisit what we cooked this week over the last few years.
1. asparagus (or not!) grandma pie, 2024
Grandma pie is a pizza cooked on a baking sheet — allegedly named for the Italian grandmothers who immigrated to the U.S. and didn’t have access to pizza ovens, so they had to cook it in the oven! It’s a crisp, thin-crust pizza that is so, so good. With asparagus on top — plus an arugula salad — it’s a perfect spring meal!
2. bee-sting pizza insalata, 2023
Ha! What a coincidence we did pizza this week in back-to-back years. You all went wild for this pizza. If you haven’t cooked it ever or in a while, get on it!
3. chicken flautas & roasted corn salad, 2022
Flautas (which are basically big taquitos made using flour tortillas instead of corn) are a hit for my whole family. Once you make this recipe you can choose your own adventure with flautas, mixing up the filling however you want/with whatever you have. And don’t sleep on the roasted corn salad — so good.
4. chicken parm burgers, 2021
A delicious alternative to traditional burger night — and with a side of baked sweet potato fries!
Congrats to Jess, who won last week’s Tahini Baby giveaway!
Ed note: Inslee's acrylic block art was a super last-minute — and exciting! — find (ie, it missed our many proofing/fact-checking rounds!), and I miswrote in the email that they're "original" art. They're actually limited-edition prints rather than originals. I also misspelled her last name 🤦♀️ — it's Fariss rather than Farris. All has been updated in the post, but I wanted to note that and apologize in case it confused anyone reading the original email! xx
Posting prices in this guide is just the coolest ever. So appreciated in this clicky internet world. I'm happy to support creators with affiliate links because it's a ton of work, but clicking a link to a $$$$ item is a bummer. THANKS!