As far as I can tell, there are at least 3 times a year when you’ll be expected to buy your mother (and/or wife, if your kids are young) a gift. There’s Mother’s Day, her birthday and, of course, Christmas.
It’s currently, as I write this, rapidly approaching Christmas and I wanted to write a gift guide to help you all out with gift ideas for your Mum or wife or other significant female in your life.
But then I decided rather than just an average run of the mill gift guide, I should write an article all about the things I like best in the world. Things in my house that bring me joy each day, or make my life easier in some way.
So, I’ve compiled my list of “Things I Like” which could also be known as “Gift Ideas For Your Mum”. Of course, every mum is different and, funnily enough, we all like different things! But, if your mum, or wife, is anything like me, I can personally guarantee that she will love these things!
Oh, and if my husband or children are reading this, there’s no need to buy me anything from this list because, as you probably already know, I already have all of these things, which is how I know that they belong on my list of favourite things!
So, if you’ve ever wondered ‘What can I get Mum for Christmas’ or ‘What makes a good Mother’s Day gift’, or even ‘What do mums like’? Then, hopefully, I’ve got some answers down below for you.
Things I Like – Good Gifts For Mum
In no particular order, here are my favourite things. Maybe, hopefully, your mum will like them too!
1. Urbipod
I adore my Urbipod indoor herb garden. I always have fresh herbs ready to use in the kitchen and have a glut of herbs that I’ve grown from seed and transplanted to pots outside on my decking. Find out more about the Urbipod and why I love it so much here. Or click here to purchase one for your mum.
(I’ve also heard a rumour that the Urbipod is now available in Mitre 10 stores so you could check one out there if there’s a store near you).
2. Frankie4 Shoes
Some of you may know that I began my working career as a podiatrist and, while I no longer work in the profession, you can’t take the degree out of the girl, so I continue to prioritise foot health and comfort. Frankie4 offers footwear designed by a podiatrist that looks stylish and is comfortable at the same time.
I have a growing collection of Frankie4 shoes and highly recommend them to everyone I meet. A word of warning though, they are on the expensive side. Also, buying shoes as a gift for someone is best done by taking them into a store for a fitting to make sure they’re getting the right size as well as a shoe that they like.
If you’re thinking about getting some Frankie4’s for your mum, make a day out of it and take her to one of their stores (they have them in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and I believe coming soon to Adelaide) and take her for lunch or a coffee afterwards.
3. The Foot Collective Solemate Kit
While we’re on the subject of feet, if your mum suffers from sore or tired feet, get her a solemates kit from The Foot Collective. It makes a unique gift that might also give her some pain relief.
4. Ablespine
while we’re on the topic of pain relief, if your mum has any problems with back or neck pain, I can’t recommend the Ablespine more highly!
I’m not one who likes to attend medical appointments, so I love being able to attend to my aches and pains at home and the Ablespine is my go-to device whenever I experience back or neck pain or stiffness.
5. Neck Massager
We’re sticking with the theme of pain relief here! This amazing little device was reasonably inexpensive. I bought it on Amazon a few months ago when I woke up with a really sore neck that even my Ablespine couldn’t seem to relieve.
It feels quite strange to use, a bit like a TENS machine, but gee it made a huge difference to me and now I just like to use it for fun/comfort while I’m typing away on my computer.
6. Ice Pack
This is the last thing for body aches and pains, I promise, but this nifty ice pack is just so good I had to include it on my list of favourite things. I am a runner (by choice!) and my knees and ankles sometimes protest after a few kilometres.
This ice pack is so simple yet so clever in that you can strap it into place with the strap provided. So I can wrap it around a knee or ankle and then still get on with cooking dinner while I complete my ice therapy – love it!
For Mums Who Like To Cook
I know there can be some stigma around giving household appliances as gifts to women, but if she likes to cook, then she’ll probably love the following gifts.
7. Thermomix
I have had my Thermomix (TM6) for just over a year now. I was a bit slow in getting to the party because I felt that I couldn’t justify the expense. There is no doubt about it, this is a high ticket item, but if your mum/wife likes to cook, then this machine is amazing.
For the past few years before getting my thermomix I was using a cheaper/knock-off version. It was good but not as good as I wanted it to be and I found myself often opting for more traditional cooking methods because my thermo cooker was not always reliable in cooking time and I found it difficult to clean.
But everything changed a year ago when I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy the real thing. I was lucky enough to buy it in a deal where I got two jugs/bowls which have been a godsend. I doubt there are many days that have passed since having the thermomix that the machine hasn’t been used at least once. More often than not it would be used at least 2-3 times a day.
I absolutely love my thermomix and it has made me a much more adventurous cook too!
8. Thermomix Cookbooks
If your mum already has a thermomix or other type of thermal cooker, then she’ll love these cookbook collections.
I’m still collecting but currently have all of or most of the books from these fabulous recipe creators:
9. Tefal Optigrill
This thing is amazing! I love it for cooking frozen chicken schnitzels for the kids (if they don’t like what we’re eating for dinner) as well as to cook marinated chicken breast, lamb chops, steak and even toasted sandwiches. I love that the cooking surfaces easily detach and can be washed in the dishwasher. Such a great appliance, you can find in most stores that sell these types of appliances or on amazon here.
10. Waffle Maker
I don’t even particularly like waffles (!) but I have to put this waffle maker on my list of favourite things. I actually bought it for my then 14 year old last Christmas because he loves waffles and we only had a useless small waffle maker that could only make 1 waffle at a time.
While he is perfectly capable of using it, he prefers it when mum makes the waffles for him and I’ve got to say, I really like making waffles in this thing! They always turn out great and I look like some amazing waffle-making chef! Saturday morning waffles have now become a fixed event in our house!
11. Vacuum Cleaner
OK so this doesn’t belong in the cooking section but I didn’t really have another section to add it to and this one definitely has a stigma to it. It’s a brave man who will buy his wife a vacuum cleaner as a gift! But, while I didn’t receive this as a gift, I absolutely love this vacuum cleaner and needed to put it on my list of things I like.
Like a few of the other items in this section, this vacuum cleaner is expensive! But it has been so worth it for me for ease of use. I grab it quickly and easily and run it over the floor on an almost daily basis in the high traffic areas of the house. I love it being cordless. I love that it sucks(!) – it really does work unlike other stick vacuums I’ve tried. And I love the way it gets emptied so easily in its stand.
There’s a lot to love about this vacuum cleaner but the main thing I love about it is that now my floors look clean all the time with very little effort on my part.
For Mums Who Like Pampering
If you know your mum won’t want a practical, useful sort of household gift like the ones above, then she might prefer something more personal like the following.
12. Perfume
If you know anything about me, you know I love smelly things! Perfume is one of my all time favourite things and it makes a great gift. I cannot recommend Skylar perfume more highly. Or, a perfume subscription is a great gift – I love getting new perfume in the mail every month!
13. Room Diffusers
Personally, I love my house to smell nice so there are always a few reed diffusers set up around my house in various rooms. I also like to diffuse essential oils although I have found that regular oil diffusers just don’t carry the scent as well as I would like.
I recently discovered this nebulizing diffuser – it is amazing! I don’t really understand how it works, but it does! You just screw a bottle of essential oil into the device and set it going for a lovely clean, fresh scent.
14. Chocolate
I love chocolate! If your mum does too, then there’s no shame in buying her chocolates for whatever gifting occasion you’re buying for! Chocolate makes a great birthday gift or Mother’s Day gift – it’s great for Christmas too, but just make sure it doesn’t melt! Find out more about my favourite chocolate here.
15. The Ayurveda Experience Products
It’s no secret that I love the products from The Ayurveda Experience. You can read all about my experience with the Kesaradi and Manjish Glow oils here.
But, what I’ve not talked about before is the fact that after my first lot of these fabulous oils ran out, I decided to replace them the ‘cheaper and easier’ way, by buying something similar on amazon. Big mistake! Huge! You simply cannot get Ayurvedic products of this quality on amazon (yet, as far as I know) and so, I had to go scurrying back to the real Ayurveda Experience to replace my products with the real things – my skin is so grateful that I did!
So, if your mum likes to look her best and enjoys looking after her skin, I would strongly suggest you investigate a product or two from the Ayurveda Experience, they are sure to be well received. And their products are packaged so well (they look pretty) so they make a perfect present!
Sure, there are other things that I like in my life (books, for example! I will never have enough books!), but I think these 15 suggestions would all make really good gift ideas for most mums.
Remember, this is not just your average gift ideas list full of ‘World’s Best Mum’ slogan t-shirts and “Mama Bear” PJs. This is a list of things that I already own and love and so, if your mum (or wife or significant other) is anything like me, then the chances are good that she will like these things too!
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