Thursday, May 8, 2014

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

If you're looking for cute, homemade, from-the-kids Mother's Day gift ideas, look no further. During my monthly daycare provider group meeting, the discussion turned to what everyone was having their daycare kids make their mommy's. Everyone had such cute ideas! Every year I have my daycare kids make handprints and give them to their mom's, but after such brilliant ideas were passed around, I may need to switch it up next year.

I tried out a new brand on modeling clay from Michael's (Creatology) and I wasn't overly impressed with it. Two of the colors (blue and purple) fell apart and we couldn't even use them for our hand prints. The others looked rough around the edges, but the clay did capture the hand prints and all of the little lines in their hands. I typically use Crayola Model Magic and will go back to using that brand in the future.

This year, my daycare mommy's are receiving: a painted frame with a photo of their child, a flower pot that the kids decorated, a handprint, and a homemade card (made with Dot markers).

Wooden frames found at Michael's or Wal-Mart for $1, painted with Crayola washable paint. Plastic flower pot found at Wal-Mart for $1. The kids planted marigolds to grow with their mommy's.
The kids used Do A Dot shimmer markers to decorate cards for their moms. I folded them and wrote "Happy Mother's Day! Love, ___________"  I finally found a use the small-ish papers we had laying around.

I had the display sitting on top of our media console so it greeted each of the parents picking up their kids.

The kids have loved planting flowers this spring (we have already grown some in Styrofoam cups) and were thrilled to plant one that they can grow with their mommy.

Here are a few of the ideas that were thrown around the daycare group table:
  • A cupcake wrapper flower (use a cupcake wrapper for the flower, draw a stem, and the child's hand prints on the stem for the leaf)
  • Hand print and footprint flowers
  • A decorated coffee mug and/or plate
  • A decorated apron
  • Framed hand prints or feet prints
  • Giant card: I'm using this idea for the grandma's from the kids. The kids have loved coloring pictures on the inside of the card. Just fold a piece of poster board in half and there's your card--a lot cheaper than actually buying a Mother's Day card.

Looking for other ideas, try these: jewelry, chocolate covered fruit (okay, so any type of chocolate is good! Visit these local establishments: http://www.beaverdaleconfections.com/ or http://chocolatestory.com/), Starbucks gift card, a manicure or pedicure, a Mother's Day brunch, a mini weekend getaway (we're headed to Omaha for a weekend of fun), or the dream of every tired mom I know, a day of rest. Don't forget to show your love and appreciation for all of the special mom's in your life!