11 Gifts for a Mother Who Doesn’t Want Anything

My mother really does have it all. If she doesn’t have it, it’s because she doesn’t want it. I’ve had to be very resourceful all these years in trying to come up with gifts that are unique, practical, and fun. Here is a list of some of the things I’ve tried over the years.

1. Perfume samples. I’ve done this twice, and she absolutely loves it. I go to one of the online perfume shops and select around $100 worth of sample perfumes and colognes. Mother says she has the most fun trying the different samples.
2. Scrapbook pages. I bought her a nice leather scrapbook. Since she doesn’t like to craft, I also make pages for her. I borrowed old photos from her brother and made copies. Then I created pages based on photos of her childhood. I also made pages of her and Dad, of each of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, plus I did one on the house she’s lived in for over 50 years.
3. Greeting cards. I purchased a greeting card organizer. On the dividers I wrote the names and birth dates of family members and friends. Then I made about 50 handmade cards of all genres and put them in the box.
4. I purchased a Murder Mystery weekend for two at a gorgeous bed and breakfast so that she and her best friend could go and enjoy together
5. I found old grainy photos of my dad going clear back to his babyhood and had them professionally reproduced by a photography studio. Then I had them put together in a collage frame. Mother cried when she opened it and then hung it on her bedroom wall where she can see it from her bed.
6. I bought a needlepoint kit during the summer one year and worked on it for months before Christmas. When I finished it I took the picture to a local framing shop and had it professionally stretched, matted, and framed. It turned out gorgeous if I do say so myself.
7. I bought a really nice terrarium and had the local florist fill it with live plants.
8. I found a lady online who paints gorgeous mailboxes. I had her create a beautiful one for Mother with her name on it. She’s very proud of the pretty mailbox people see when they come to her door.
9. Craft fairs are always good places to find unique items. One year I found a mirror with a wooden frame that was handmade out of something like 100 small pieces of wood. Mother had it on the wall in her living room for many years.
10. Magazine subscriptions are something I’ve given her over the years which she has enjoyed because she loves reading. There are so many publications available in all ranges of interest. I’ve given her such things as “National Geographic”, “American History”, “The Smithsonian”, and “The Iowan”.
11. I got her a subscription to a monthly crossword puzzle club once, too, but she said the puzzles were too hard. However, if your mother likes hard crosswords as I do, this might be a great option for you.

Hopefully I’ve sparked your imagination a little and helped you along your way to finding your hard-to-buy-for mother the perfect Christmas gift.