Gift Ideas for Mom

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by Alan Murray and Laura Landro
Friday, May 11, 2007

When it comes to Mother's Day, my sentiments are with Anna Jarvis, who campaigned to make it a national holiday a century ago.

According to legend, Ms. Jarvis was arrested for trying to stop women from selling flowers at a Mother's Day festival. \"I wanted it to be a day of sentiment,\" she said, \"not profit.\"

But alas, times change. Hand-picked wildflowers will probably no longer do the trick. Mother's Day is a time when all men need to remember there are certain things we can never do, and certain burdens we will never bear. For that, we must pay.

For your own mother, of course, sentiment may still go a long way. A collection of family photos or a bouquet of flowers with a hand-inscribed note can elicit the same sort of gratitude she showered on you the first time you gave her an ill-shaped pottery bowl from your fifth-grade art class.

For the mother of your children, however, the bar may be higher. Below, my suggestions. None of these, by the way, can replace the traditional Mother's day brunch -- which is a must at our house.

• Flower-a-month club. There are a number of these that are readily available online, at a cost of about $40 a month. You can buy three months' worth, or a whole year, and remind the mothers in your life of how special they are year-round.

• Monthly croissants. Is she allergic to flowers? Williams-Sonoma offers a variation on the theme -- three months of croissants from pastry chef Jean-Yves Charon. In May, she'll get a dozen plain croissants made with butter and thin layers of yeast dough. In June, she'll get croissants filled with premium Callebaut chocolate. And in July, she'll get 18 mini croissants. The pastries will last in the freezer for three months, and thawed overnight before baking. The cost: $89. While we're at it, you can do chocolates instead, through givechocolate.com, for about the same price as the flowers and croissants.

• Birthstone necklace. RedEnvelope.com has an attractive gold necklace with a family tree that can hold the birthstones of up to five children. The cost depends on how many birthstones you need, and the quality of the stones. Blue Nile also has birthstone necklaces online.

• Singing slide show. Brookstone offers up a high-tech photo frame that automatically scrolls through selected digital images, and plays music you download with each. Current cost: $299.

... And a Woman's Point of View

Anna Jarvis would probably roll over in her grave to learn just how commercial Mother's Day has become: consumers are expected to spend nearly $16 billion on the holiday this year, showering Moms with clothes, jewelry and flowers, according to the National Retail Federation.

But Mother's Day has also become a much more inclusive holiday over the years, so there are more mother figures to shop for. The Mother's Day card display at Hallmark has something for everyone: In addition to the usual cards for Mom, aunts, sisters, and grandmothers, there are also cards for birth mothers, adoptive mothers, stepmothers, \"any mom\" and even \"anyone.\"

As a stepmother myself, I was intrigued to learn that a proposal to declare a national Stepmother's Day the Sunday after Mother's Day actually made it to the Senate floor a few years ago. But the idea never got any traction -- perhaps because in today's extended and blended families, it really isn't necessary. You can personalize gifts for different mother figures -- without taking anything away from your own mother on Mother's Day.

Here are some suggestions:

• A classic locket. Alan is always right to think of jewelry, and a birthstone necklace is nice. But I love the idea of a classic locket with a personal photo hidden inside. RedEnvelope offers pretty lockets in heart shapes, ovals and squares that open up to display three or four different photos -- about $80 to $115. If you think that's too kitschy, there's also a necklace with Chinese characters for the words \"mother\" and \"daughter.\"

• Cookies for a cause. The goodies Alan suggests are always welcome, but better to tug Mom's heartstrings with a box of customized treats that help a special cause for children. Delectable Edibles creates beautiful hatbox-shaped gift boxes with goodies like Triple Chocolate Cookies, Unforgettable Chocolate Chunk or \"Not Just\" Oatmeal Cookies. You can also order cookies in special shapes to reflect her favorite things -- such as high-heeled shoes for the fashion plate or a combination of daisies and bumblebees for the gardener. Owner Cristina Desmelik Wright, whose son has juvenile diabetes, donates part of each sale to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

(Alan responds: If I gave these to my wife, I'd probably end up eating them.)

• Personalized purse. Love the singing slide-show idea, but for a more portable memento, have her favorite photo -- the grandkids, her bulldog, or even a child's drawing -- imprinted on a handbag, tote or cosmetics case. Bagettes.com seals photos and other art onto satin and canvas fabric with a high-tech imaging process. From $20 to about $200. If she isn't the type to give up her Prada handbag for a tote with a photo, personalizationmall.com will put a photo on almost anything: accent pillows, afghan throws, beach towels, mugs and mouse pads.

(Alan responds: I can't bring myself to buy purses. I just can't get my head around why women need so many of them. The shower curtain with photos is an original idea -- but isn't it a little creepy having your family watching you in the shower?)

• Photo album. Thanks to online photo services such as Shutterfly.com and Snapfish.com, you can also be your own vanity publisher, making a hardcover book of photos with text customized for each of the special mothers in your life for prices starting at as little as $20 each. Snapfish, for example, has books with a die-cut window for a cover photo and up to 150 pages.

(Alan responds: Glad we're in synch here. This sounds perfect.)

• Pajamas. Pajamagram.com makes PJs and robes monogrammed with her name or initials in a keepsake organza hatbox with a lavender sachet and do-not-disturb sign -- so she can sleep in. I'm partial to the Heart Safari pajamas: white T-shirt with a pink satin heart appliqué paired with cropped zebra-striped pants and coordinating satin trim (about $50 with monogram).

• Quick getaway. For a big splurge, design a mini-vacation customized to her needs and interests. (And be sure to arrange all the support elements: If you aren't accompanying her, ask her best friend to go along and promise to cover things on the home front, such as child care.) If her idea of a good time is the shows and the slots, book a weekend in Las Vegas at a hotel with a great spa and shows, like the Wynn or Caesars Palace. If she's more of an outdoors type, Canadian Mountain Holidays (canadianmountainholidays.com) offers a \"Bodacious in the Bugaboos\" heli-hiking package, which includes helicopter drop-offs in scenic hiking locales in the Rockies near Banff. (About $2,000 per person for three nights, not including air fare.)

(Alan responds: If I told my mother I was taking her to Las Vegas for Mother's Day, I think she'd think I'd lost my mind.)

Note: Prices at time of publication. Laura Landro and Alan Murray are assistant managing editors at The Wall Street Journal. Both are happily married ... but not to each other.

Write to Alan Murray at Alan.Murray@wsj.com and Laura Landro at laura.landro@wsj.com
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