5 Homemade Mother’s Day gifts that moms actually like

What can you do when the budget is tight but you want to honor and celebrate your mom? We’ve got you covered with a few simple ideas you can make this weekend and have ready to give Mom this Sunday.

These DIY gifts would all be a delight to receive, and take just minutes to make. Hopefully one (or more!) of these is just the thing for you to make for your mom this weekend. 

Happy crafting!

Using a sugar scrub leaves your skin feeling silky soft, and it’s easy to make yourself! You probably already have all the ingredients on hand.

My favorite recipe is listed below. I’ve been making this sugar scrub for about 10 years, and I try to always keep some on hand because it’s truly the best! Not only does it feel amazing, but it smells good enough to eat too.

Best DIY Sugar Scrub

Ingredients:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Store in an airtight container and it will last for months. 

There are so many ways to make a photo frame, from folding one out of origami paper to painting a wooden one to decorating one with pom-poms or cardboard figures or stickers. 

You can decorate the frame with something meaningful to you and your mom, like flowers to honor her love for gardening or small seashells to celebrate her love for going to the beach.

And of course, don’t forget to print a favorite photo to go in it, maybe one of you and your mom! If you don't have a photo quality printer, a local one-hour photo place should make this quick and easy.

I’ll speak from experience here in sharing that one of the sweetest gifts I’ve ever received was when my six-year-old nephew presented me with a dish towel on which he had drawn a detailed map of my house and backyard. His mom gave him plain white dish towels and a set of permanent fabric markers, then let him go to town decorating dish towels for family members. The detail and care he put into it was just precious, and I will cherish that dish towel forever. 

If you want something that looks less obviously handmade, you could draw or write a more stylized artistic pattern. But I have to say, I got such a kick out of that DIY dish towel that I’m totally in favor of handing over the artistic reins to little kids. 

One of my favorite ways to care for others with minimal expense is to cook or bake for those I love. I can usually be found baking something almost every day, especially during the winter months, so to me a home-baked treat is an obvious choice for a handmade gift.

If you’re not much of a baker, give this banana bread recipe a try; it’s super easy to make, comes together quickly, and is utterly delicious! 

If you know she has a certain favorite food, go ahead and whip up a batch of snickerdoodles or fudge or whatever hits the spot.

And if she doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, try homemade granola or healthy breakfast cookies for something she can enjoy for breakfast for several days.

While this option takes more advance planning than the others, she is sure to love it! 

A photo calendar featuring her kids and grandkids or a photo book of your favorite adventures and memories together is a gift she will cherish for years to come.