13 Homemade and Creative Mother's Day Gifts for children of ALL ages

Abraham Lincoln once said,

 "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother" 

What a sweet tribute to his mom.  So, in honor of those very important mothers in our lives, we share 13 homemade and creative gift ideas.  These ideas span the generations giving you ideas for young mothers, empty nester mothers, elderly mothers, and grandparents.  Some are for youngsters to make and others are for adults to make.  We tried to share a variety of gifts that are relatively cheap {some free!}, thoughtful, simple and mostly able to be done last minute! Happy Mother's Day to all the incredible moms in the world!

1. Mother Recognition Kit

Do you remember our Survival Kits for the Military? 

Well we transformed the concept into a Mother Recognition Kit.  Here's what we included in the basket with a rolled up piece of stationary including the below description and tied with a ribbon.  {I love that this is full of practical and useful stuff, but in a very meaningful way}

Mother’s Recognition Kit

Lifesavers because you’re a lifesaver to so many people when they need it most
Lemonheads because when life gives you lemons, you always make lemonade
Gum because when you say you’ll do something, you stick to it
Starbursts because you have always taught us to shoot for the stars!
Popcorn because you give me a listening ear anytime an idea “pops” into my head
Soap because you exemplify someone who is clean and pure
Glue Sticks for your ability to stick by your family, no matter what!
Post-it-notes because you don’t postpone that which matters most
Notecards because you always “note”ice when someone’s had a bad day.
Chocolate for the incredible amount of sweetness you share with everybody
Kleenex to symbolize your compassion for those you love
Smarties for all the smart and wise advice you share with me
 Paperclips because you always keep it all together
Elastics because you’re incredibly flexible to juggle all yours and your family’s activities!
Batteries because you always keep going and going and going and going
Kleenex to symbolize your compassion for those you love 

2. Following in Mother's Footsteps Basket

Credit: Heidi Lawson

I love coming up with themes to center a present around. In future posts, we will share some of our other past "themed" baskets for gift ideas.  But one fun idea is to do a foot theme for moms since kids are always trying to follow in their footsteps.  Your basket could include: A framed picture of the kid's feet, gift certificate for a pedicure, fruit by the foot (fruit rollups), foot massager, nail polish, emery boards, fun socks, foot lotion, etc.

 

 

I attached the following quote:

"There is no velvet so soft as a mother's lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps." - Archibald Thompson

3.  Cupcake Love

 Cupcakes are all the rage right now and here's a fun way to spruce them up.  You can decorate the cupcake anyway you want.  I made flower petals out of starbursts and put a gumdrop in the middle.  Then place the cupcake in solo clear disposable cup.  I wrapped it saran wrap and tied a bow around it and voila!  A cute, simple and cheap gift idea for you or for your kids at home, school, or boy scouts to give moms and grandmas.

4.  Handprint Art

What parent and grandparent doesn't love their children's handprints frozen at a space of time.  Below is a fun idea to make a flower pot of handprints.  The leaves are made from thumbprints.  We added a little note that said, "You are my Sunshine".  You may also like the thumbprint hearts we did at Valentines.

5.  "Thanks for Helping us Grow" Edible Cookies

These are made with flower shortbread cookies (Mother's Cookies makes them, as well as other companies) and gum drops.

1. Place a gumpdrop about 1" down the top of a shish kabob skewer. 

2. Slide cookie on top and then place another gumpdrop on top of the cookie.  

Easy as pie, you have a cute gift.  You can make a whole vase of them with a green leaf that reads, "Thanks for helping us Grow"

6. Homemade Card Pack

Using your scrapbook supplies and stamps, you can make homemade giftcards for various seasons throughout the year.  This makes a great gift for moms and grandmas to be able to pull out at the right time of year.

7.  Meal Planning Frame

We showed this before, a very simple frame with scrapbook paper.  You can change the menu each week with a dry erase marker and may want to include that in your gift! Instructions are described here.

8. Cornbags

One of my grandma's favorite gift items are cornbags!  What a great way to pamper a mom on Mother's Day.  Instructions are found in our previous post here.

9. Photo Books

Rachel shared 5 creative themes to making a photo book for Mother's Day or any other holiday for that matter including Father's Day, Christmas, Birthdays, etc.

10. Coupon Books

  Easy, Last Minute and Fun.  Make coupons to cook dinner, clean your room without complaining, take the dog for a walk, empty the dishwasher, massage mom's back, etc.  A treat for any mom!  And for grandparents, you could include perform a talent for grandma, send grandma a piece of artwork, etc.

11. Homemade Movie

Have an older child or dad interview each child and ask them what they love about mom and record it for a keepsake.  With the ease of cameras on phones now, this could be something he could whip up last minute and still win for most thoughtful gift!

12. Homemade Cards with a Touch of Personal

 like this one we posted at Valentines:

13. Flower Pens in a Terra Cotta Pot

  

Great instructions can be found here on how to make these flower pens.  You can make a whole pot of them in a clay pot or just one in a cute mason jar with pebbles. 

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