Gifts for Moms, Who Deserve to Take a Load Off

Mother’s Day is a time to tell our moms, chosen or otherwise, how much we appreciate all they’ve done for us. But in 2021, after a year that saw mothers shouldering the majority of the burdens of the pandemic whether in the home or the swiftly disappearing workplace, it feels especially important to let the moms we love in our lives know how much we love them. Whether pampering them with soothing face-goop or picking up something aesthetically pretty to brighten up their living space, here are some ideas for what you can do for Mother’s Day 2021 (it’s Sunday, May 9, so you still have time).

As for the rest of the year, the best thing you can do for them is your share of the housework and childrearing. 🙂

If your mom enjoys a glass of wine at the end of the day, consider sprucing up her routine with wine glasses by Estelle Colored Glass. Estelle offers a wide array of glassware in gorgeous colors and a variety of styles, from classic stemware, to stemless, and cute coupes. The blush pink and mint green options are my favorites, but the blue and lavender shades are also gorgeous. They’re a bit of a splurge, at $75 for a pair. But the color and craftsmanship are really special and you’ll be supporting a Black woman-owned business. If you want to get something even fancier for your wine-loving mom, consider the decanter, it’s insanely beautiful.

Don’t let the name fool you: Boy Smells candles delivers a dreamy range of fun and complex scents that smell incredibly fucking good. Yes, it’s definitely an It Girl candle, but it lives up to the hype, and what mom doesn’t want to feel a little trendy? My introduction to the brand came years ago when I bought the Ash scent for my boyfriend, and I ended up using it more than he did. I’m currently the owner of three Boy Smells candles: Cinderose (“rose, tuberose, oakmoss and smoke”), LES (“black currant, peach blossom, jasmine rice, cardamom and white cedar”), and Cowboy Kush (“suede, saffron flower, labdanum, pot leaf, tonka, raspberry and patchouli”). Of those, I’d recommend Cinderose to my mom, but hey, you know your mom best. The Boy Smells site offers a variety of offerings in a few different sizes and bundles. Maybe give your mom Slow Burn (based on the Kasey Musgraves track, featuring notes of “incense, black pepper, elemi, guaiac, raspberry, tonka, amber and smoked papyrus”) for something a little more special.

If there’s one thing I could change about my mom’s home decor, it’s her bedding. No offense to her (maybe it was my dad’s idea, who knows), but it is so old-fashioned and not in a charming way. It’s like bedding in a bag, with tacky embroidering and smooth artificial fabric that feels like the inside of a windbreaker I wore as a kid in the ’90s. Blech! My mom loves to kick back in bed and watch MSNBC, and she deserves to watch her Rachel, Chris, Joy, Ari, and everyone else on that accursed network she considers kin on way nicer bedding. So if it was up to me, I’d treat her to a new duvet cover from Bed Threads, an Australian company that specializes in gorgeous pigmented linens at reasonable prices. I recently bought myself one of their duvet covers in the color Pink Clay, but maybe Tumeric would be more my mom’s speed. But seriously, there’s something for any color scheme. If your mom leans towards a darker palette, she could try Ink, Ruby, or Olive. If she prefers more pastel-forward colors, go for Terracotta, Lavendar, Rose Water, or Sage. Plus, they’re easy to take care of: Just wash separately and either hang dry or tumble dry on low.

Motherhood is generally stressful in even the smoothest, most user-friendly of circumstances, which certainly does not describe the last year, and many moms you know are likely feeling very tightly wound lately. Might I suggest cannabis? Specifically, edibles, which are discreet and often pretty tasty on their own merits. Obviously, check your local laws and use your best judgment here, but in many states, you can now walk into a dispensary and walk out with an attractively packaged chocolate bar or equivalent treat with its THC content clearly labeled. It’s a nice way to turn the internal volume knob down a bit, without the headache-y feeling that even two glasses of wine gives some of us.

Gift cards aren’t exactly the most exciting thing to wrap, I’ll grant you that much. But you know what is exciting, for many mothers of small children? Literally just 20 minutes sitting alone, without anybody touching her or demanding her immediate assistance. A great place to get that: outdoor seating at a coffee shop, bakery, donut emporium, ice cream stand, etc., etc. A $50 gift card is a great way to enable that, in a small way, while also supporting her favorite local business in a tough time.

Spa facials still seem, to me, like the domain of the person with disposable wealth and the time to indulge in it, but that doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t deserve to feel like their skin has been kissed by morning dew. Skincare’s ongoing renaissance has meant pricy treatments and complex steps, but I’m a huge fan of Sephora’s in-house line, which delivers high-quality results at drugstore prices. This little essentials kit includes their cleanser, which I swear by—it gets out most of my waterproof mascara on the first rinse with just a bit of rub; their lightweight hyaluronic acid-infused moisturizer, which I like best in summer when it’s humid and my face is all sweaty; and a purifying mud mask, all for $20. If you’re really nice, you should offer to massage in the moisturizer for her!

Everyone can fend for their own with a bagel basket from Zabar’s or Ess-a-Bagel, which ship nationally; alternately, have you considered picking up a spatula and making some dinner for mom if you haven’t already? Domestic work, it’s for everybody!