Mother's Day gift ideas for grandmothers

[octmom]

DS is almost 6 months old and is the first grandchild on both sides of the family. SIL (DH's sister) has a daughter, born in February, so MIL now has two young granchildren, a boy and a girl. DS is my mom's one and only-- and she is madly in love with him!

I'm looking for gift ideas for both grandmothers for Mother's Day. Any suggestions? My mom has more photos of DS than I do, so a simple framed photo won't do. I post my digital pics on Ofoto and send the link to her right away and she always orders prints ASAP. (Whereas I have yet to order any since Christmas!)

My mom lives about 8 hours from us and MIL lives about 1.5- 2 hours away, so neither sees DS all the time, but they have each seen him at least every 6 weeks or so since birth.

Thanks in advance.

Jerilyn
DS: Sean, 10/29/03

[s_gosney]

I was just thinking about writing a post like this earlier! My only idea so far was to make garden stepping stones and put dd's footprints on them. DH already vetoed that idea saying it would be too messy. I'm interested to see what ideas everyone has!

[JLiebCamm]

Do you live near one of those paint your own pottery stores? I have friends who put the baby's handprints on a plate, add the name and date, and embellish however the mood strikes them. Then the store fires a glaze over it to make it permanent. I guess this is a little messy but it's a great idea.

[cmyk]

We went to a pottery place and DD made tiles (trivets) and plates for Christmas for my parents and in-laws. My MIL cried when she opened hers!

Shelley

[kathsmom]

I don't know what your budget is, but I know that some people have posted in the past about putting their child's picture on a tote bag for the grandmothers. I know that Brighton was doing this at one time, but I don't know if they still are or not.

What about starting a charm bracelet for the grandmothers? I have a sterling silver charm bracelet that has a silhouette of a girl for my DD and a silhouette of a boy for DS. Their name is engraved on the silhouette with their birthday. My brother and I gave one of these charm bracelets to my mom one year for her birthday with a silhouette for each grandchild with the name and birthday engraved on it.

Along the same lines, you could get them a locket with your DS's picture in in it.

HTH and good luck!

[darby24]

Well the ideas I had have already been suggested!

Stepping stone. We did this for my nephew at age 1 (as a present to his parents) He was actually asleep in my mom's arms while we pressed his feet and hands in. Didn't bother him in the least! Came out wonderful and my sister and I were just looking at it today.

Paint your own pottery. I was just there on Friday with my sister and two nephew's. My nephew J had his foot done at 3 weeks on a 4x4 tile and so we had to take nephew S to get his done. We also did a larger tile, 5x7 and had both kid's footprints done. Very cute. You could go together is SIL and get two footprints done on a nice plate (for MIL) - or do it by yourself.

Photo on anything. Whatever it may be - shirt, apron, bag, mousepad, you name it.

My favourites are the first two with the pottery being number one. The stepping stone you really need a place for, do they have a garden. the pottery one is really easily adaptable. Now I have no clue on what to get my own mother for mother's day, it's my sister who gets to give all these cute kid related stuff!

[August Mom]

Along the lines of the footprint/handprint idea, have you seen the Babyprints kits? They hold a photo and a handprint/footprint. There's a wall model and tabletop model. We did these and the grandmas loved them. The material to make the impression is very easy to use and is not messy. And, you can start over if baby doesn't cooperate. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007LB17/103-8153473-6209426?v=glance http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005RCS1/ref=pd_sim_na_2/103-8153473-6209426?v=glance&s=baby

[octmom]

Thanks, everyone. I think I will follow the handprint/ footprint theme and copy something one of my friends did for grandparents at Christmas. She used a non-toxic inkpad and did her DD's handprints and footprints. The she bought black (wall) frames with 3 openings and put a b/w photo in the middle, the handprint on one side and footprint on the other. I attempted this a while ago, but struggled to get DS's handprint. (He kept scrunching up his hand.) I think I will try again. Already bought the frames and ink at Michael's, so I have nothing to lose. I love the paint your own pottery idea, but don't think I have time to get it fired and mailed. Maybe next occasion...

Thanks again!


Jerilyn
DS: Sean, 10/29/03-- home from daycare today with mommy because I have my first ear infection. :(

[amp]

We gave these to grandparents shortly after DS was born (maybe 3 mths?) and they loved them! We also made one for ourselves and it's one of my favorite frames. We have the tabletop version sitting on our mantel.

[JElaineB]

Is this like an Italian charm braclet? If so, can you tell me where you got the charms? Thanks!

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[kathsmom]

Jennifer,

It's a regular charm bracelet. I believe that I have seen some Italian charms on ebay that have a baby theme. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I wish you luck on your search!

[BethinMass]

Kind of a cool website that I used for both my mom and my mom-in-law's birthday's last month.

http://www.ipads.com/

Made a Notebook with the kids pics on it (can make an address book, or a to-do list).

They both loved them. The first page is laminated and I was really impressed with it, considering how cheap it is.

Thinking of getting the coloring books for my soon to be 4 year old for favors for her birthday party :)

[octmom]

Thanks for this! I will defn. order something from this site!

The coloring books are a very cute idea.

Jerilyn
DS: Sean, 10/29/03

[Jeanmick]

Here's another website you might be interested in:

http://www.personalcreations.com

If your Mother and MIL are into jewelry...

Last Mother's Day, I gave my mother a gold locket with both my kid's pictures in it. Since my brother and my SIL will probably have children of their own one day, I bought a locket that can insert four pictures in it, similar to these:

http://www.classic-charms.com/4photolockets.html

She wears it ALL the time!

Edited to add: Oops...Toni already mentioned the locket idea above...sorry!

HTH!

[lmintzer]

How old were your babies when you did tihs (at the pottery places)? We have one near us, and this would be a great idea for my mom for Mother's Day. I can see doing it with my 3 year-old, but with my 5 month-old who puts EVERYTHING in his mouth? Hmm. Maybe if we got creative.

[redhookmom]

Last year I gave both grandmothers one of those blank grandmother books. The kind that you fill in childhood memories etc.

I am not sure if anyone has filled it out yet but I hope they do. I know I would treasure anything that one of my grandmothers had written.

I debated if this would truly be a gift for them and decided it would. I would like to receive something similiar for Mother's Day.

[amp]

Jessica - I think this is a great idea! Did you buy a specific book that said Grandmother, or was it just a regular joural/blank book?

[redhookmom]

I bought the fill in the blank type. There was also plenty of room to write stories and include photos. I bought a different one for each grandmother. Here is a link to one of them:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/094143432X/qid=1083078431/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-2817314-6803960?v=glance&s=books