Mother's Day Gift Ideas - £5 Budget - Affordable

In the UK we celebrate Mother's day on a Sunday in March. It's always a Sunday, which is perfect for my mum because she makes sure she gets to have at least an hour long bath every Sunday. And no doubt one of her 4 children will buy her a bath product.

The first present I chose for my mum by myself was a pink TY teddy bear with a rainbow coloured ribbon around its neck. I was about 9 at the time and it cost me £5. I remember proudly telling her the price when I gave it to her.

I was really close to my sister while she still lived at home so we used to just put our money together and choose a more expensive present. For maybe 4 years in a row we bought her a body shop gift set which was £15. It was her favourite scent but I don't think she ever managed to get through the set in a year.

When it comes to cards I won't choose the most expensive one, I prefer the cheaper cards that are blank inside so I can write something more personal. I don't find it particularly easy to tell people that I appreciate them with words, so, more often than not, the card contains a recent funny memory and a stick-figure drawing of her relaxing, surrounded by gifts.

When I was on a tight budget at University I made her a card with scrap paper and tissue paper and she loved it. That same Mother's day we were staying the night in Bangor so for her present I bought a few different bars of chocolate which I know are her favourite and we spent the night laughing and taking silly photos together. I spent about £3 in total and it is the Mother's day that sticks in my mind the most.

I am a lover of children's magazines and 2 years ago I found a tutorial on how to make a sleepover gift for a friend. It was a Sundae style glass with a face mask in and headscarf tied around it. I used this as inspiration to make a bath Sundae for my mum. I bought her a box of Radox bath salts and half filled the glass. Then I rolled up a purple facecloth (her favourite colour) to put on top. And put a mini Soap and Glory bottle on top of that. The Sundae glass was probably the most expensive, it cost about £10 all put together and she was really happy with it. The rest of the Radox box lasted a good while too.

2 years ago I bought her a Me to You mug and hid 2 votive yankee candles inside. The yankee candles smell really nice but I wouldn't buy those again, only because she doesn't have anywhere to put them. It's much easier to buy her a candle in a glass or tin than find a holder that fits them too.

Last year I bought her a Bomb Cosmetics candle from Clintons which smells beautiful and I wish I got one for myself too! They don't sell them in store near me anymore but are still available online for £7.99.

This year she has been listening to music in the car a lot more but hasn't been able to find a few of her CDs she likes. My fiancee, my mum and I have been playing a game when we watch Take Me Out. We have to choose a man each and keep our light on no matter what. My mum seems to always end up choosing the youngest man of the episode. So it felt appropriate to get her the Take Me Out CD for the car. It's the type of CD we can sing along badly to and laugh at ourselves.


So those are a few of the Mother's day gifts I have bought in the past, I'm going to list some more affordable ideas below:

A simple White Box Photo Frame from Boots to put a photo of the two of you together in. I chose white because I feel like you can put white photo frames anywhere and they won't look out of place. £5.

A Glade candle in a glass jar. I love the style of the jars, it just makes it look even more pretty. There are a few different scents to choose from so I would advise you to find them in store to decide. I got 2 of the ' With Love' candles for christmas and I love them. £5.

A Rose bubble bar from Lush. This is part of their mother's day collection and I think it's pretty and feminine. With the bubble bars you can normally crumble them and use them over 2 or 3 baths but this one is cheaper and quite small so I think it's more ideal for one bath. £2.95.

Portobello Rose A6 Journal from Paperchase. I really like the designs on Paperchase notebooks and this one is really pretty with a pink ribbon to tie it shut. It's a great price for a padded notebook too. £5.

Pack of pens or just one pretty pen. I always prefer to get my mum a pack because she always leaves pens in different rooms. I bought her a pack of 4 pastel coloured pens for her birthday and she used them to write letters to her grandchildren. There are a lot of pens that look prettier but I prefer to buy ones that I know are nice to write with. £4.99

You could also:

• bake her a cake or some biscuits, or bake them together so you can spend quality time together too.
• take her out for lunch
• choose a DVD you can watch together
• buy her some bubble bath
• put together a mini scrapbook or photo album
• get a photo keyring made (max spielmann sells the keyrings for £1 if you could print your own)
• paint or draw her a picture of a place you have been together that is special to you
• just spend time together!

If you use any of these ideas  or have any of your own gift ideas I would love to read about them. Leave a comment letting me know how you spend this Mother's Day (: