Our Favorite Gifts for Moms

I love a good lip balm and lip gloss, especially during the colder seasons. This fun pack from Tower28 has a range of colors for her to experiment with and choose the perfect shade for her look that day. Maybe discover that the best color for her is one she never expected. There's a range of light to dark shades, from a pale pink watermelon kiwi to warm brown tiramisu, and the lip treatments nicely distribute the color to make them work for all kinds of skin tones. My favorite is the red bean mochi shade.

This mini tote bag is, in my opinion, the perfect size. It fits a wide range of things without being big and bulky. It fits not one, not two, but three water bottles without becoming unwieldy or tipping over. I love using it on outings with my family to load up my husbands and my Owalas and my kiddo's mini Owala all in one spot while still having room for my lip balms, sanitizing spray, and headphones. The nice long straps make it comfy to wear, and it does an impressive job of being a spacious bag without being a pain to carry.

If she already has an e-reader and that happens to be a Kindle, rather than getting her another gift card to order her next book, make that Kindle easier to hold. PopSockets has a collection of Kindle cases with a MagSafe adapter built in, letting you easily attach a magnetic PopSocket grip to make the Kindle easier to hold. It's a great gift for any Kindle user. There are several designs, and my personal favorite, the adorable dragon-adorned “Curled Up With a Good Book,” is available in both the case and grip, so you can gift Mom a matching set.

If you’ve only ever associated Cricut with Mormon scrapbookers or cheugy Midwestern Pinterest crafts, it might be time to take another look. At least, it was for me. I had a Cricut machine ages ago, when it only accepted preset-design cartridges, and I was surprised to discover that the modern-day Cricut lets you make anything you want, via the brand's Design Space app. You can design something yourself, upload different logos or fonts, or browse the extensive library for inspiration. (The app is free, but full functionality requires a subscription at $10 a month or $100 a year.) The app will then walk you through exactly how to load your vinyl, cardboard, iron-on, or whatever material you’re making, and the Cricut will cut it flawlessly in just a couple of minutes.

I’ve made multiple vinyl stickers, decals, and custom greeting cards, all from my phone. You can’t go wrong with any of the Cricut machines, but I like that the Joy Xtra is small enough (12 x 5 inches) to fit in a drawer, so it won’t require tons of storage space. The Everything Bundle makes a great gift, as it includes multiple rolls of vinyl, sticker paper, and iron-on material, as well as useful tools. —Kat Merck

If Mom takes more photos than she could ever enjoy, get her an Aura frame she can watch them on whenever she likes. The Aura app makes it easy to quickly upload photos from your camera roll or Google Photos, and it'll let her know if she's already uploaded that photo, too. Aura makes several digital photo frames, but the newest frame, the 12-inch Aura Aspen, is a great size for most rooms. It takes everything I liked about the supersize Walden frame and shrinks it to a more manageable size.

I have had trouble in the past finding pajamas I didn't hate. There are a lot of brands with super affordable pajamas, but I found the fit irritating or the waistband uncomfortable if I tried to wear them all night long. The only sets that haven't left me feeling that way are bamboo pajama sets, including these comfy PJs from Cozy Earth. It's not a huge surprise that I love the brand’s pajamas after how much I love its bamboo bed sheets, but these are a great essential to gift mom that will improve her sleep. The bamboo warms up and feels like it melts around you, compared to other fabrics that feel heavy or in the way when you roll over at 3 in the morning. I can't recommend them enough. I'd throw in a set of Cozy Earth's Plush Lounge Socks ($38 for three) while you're at it, which I can't stop wearing around the house, to make for a cozy combo set.

As a mom to a child who plays on four sports teams, I spend a lot of time on field sidelines—in the rain, in the heat, for days at a time at weekend tournaments. If you know a mom like me, I can tell you without hesitation that that mom wants a good chair. Not a cheap, folding camp chair or a tripod stool—a proper, comfortable, structured chair that rocks (literally and figuratively), and sports a cupholder.

I got this rocker chair after seeing at least a handful at every game I went to, and though it’s not as portable or stowable as a camp chair (and it is a bit heavy to carry—I wouldn’t recommend toting it long distances), it’s worth it for the comfort. It’s got a wide seat, a 400-pound capacity, and a generously sized cupholder, and, best of all, it moves back and forth exactly like a real rocking chair. Perfect for soothing nerves or distracting yourself from bad calls. —Kat Merck

Look, I know I say below not to get Mom anything chore-related. But if she tends to have several to-do lists she's managing at once, then she needs the Roterunner Purpose Planner. This paper planner has a weekly spread with multiple separate and pre-labeled to-do list areas, including work, home, and personal projects, and stuff to buy, plus smaller checklists for each day and plenty of space to write in her daily schedule. There are similar checklists on the monthly spread for her to list out her bigger to-dos for that month. I love the larger B5 size to have plenty of space for everything in one place. It's one where you fill in the dates yourself, so it can be any combination of months she chooses, which is great to feel like she never has to keep up with it every month or have wasted pages.

I originally tested this water bottle bag as a travel accessory, but I liked it so much that I now use it as my everyday purse. At least once a week, someone compliments me on it and asks where it’s from. The strap is wide, so it’s reasonably comfortable to wear as a cross-body; it comes in seemingly endless colors, fabrics, and styles—including a new clear version for stadiums and one with a detachable pickleball racquet holder—and it stands up on its own. The purse part doesn’t carry much; there's just enough room for cards, a phone, and keys, but this helps cut down on weight and bulk. Once you’ve gotten used to carrying your water bottle everywhere you go, you won’t ever go back. (It will hold any water bottle 3.5 inches or less in diameter.) In fact, this would specifically make a great gift for a mom who has just exited the diaper-bag stage and is ready to lighten her load. —Kat Merck

If she loves a good blowout, I can't recommend the Drybar Double Shot enough. Every time I use this blow-dry brush to dry my hair, I get the most compliments—my friends can tell when I use the Drybar compared to other blow-dry brushes that leave me a little frizzier. It's powerful and lightweight and has three heat levels (cool, low, and high) that you control on the base of the brush, and it's the top pick in our new guide to the best blow-dry brushes.

If you're looking for a cheaper option, I've been really impressed by the new Chi Volume Styler ($90), which has a hot comb side to it that helps eliminate frizz. I'm still in the early stages of testing, but so far, I'm pretty impressed, and it's a great price.

Look, being a mom is pretty stressful. A great way to help feel a little calmer and more centered is by using a weighted blanket. My absolute favorite is the Lola Original Blanket, which is a little lighter than most weighted blankets but still gives me that nice weighted feeling without feeling too heavy. A weighted blanket should be about 10 percent of your body weight (e.g., 15 pounds if you weigh 150 pounds), but I find I prefer weighted blankets that are a little lighter, specifically the 10-pound options. Lola's largest blanket weighs 10 pounds, comes in gorgeous faux-fur colors, and has a bubble-like feel to it. It's a luxurious gift that has benefits beyond just coziness.

If your mom or mom-friend laments that she'd like to be on her phone less but doesn't want to miss out on any photo moments, then the adorable Camp Snap is the perfect solution. This fun digital camera takes digital photos that feel straight out of the early 2000s, allowing her to go phone-free without missing a chance to take a photo. The Camp Snap comes in a ton of cute colors and can hold up to 2,000 photos on the preinstalled memory card. It comes with an included USB-C cable to download the photos onto your computer, but it has no screen on the device itself, so she gets to take her photos without getting distracted by double-checking the results. Plus, some colors can ship immediately, making it a great last-minute gift.

If the mom in your life is anything like me, then she often spends the whole day out and about with the family. (Or on her own!) Finding a good tote bag to stash a day’s worth of gear can be tricky, but Yardsale’s Day Bag has become my favorite for this. It's great for everything, from a trip to the zoo, where we have to pack towels for the water-play and sweaters for when the sun goes down, to days where I take multiple classes at my aerial studio and need a bag that can handle a couple yoga blocks, a stability ball, and my ankle weights, plus some outfit changes. It has a magnet separator you can snap into the bag to make two sections, which I love using for a set of shoes on one side and non-ground-contact items on the other. It's waterproof, so I feel safe throwing multiple water bottles into it and bringing it somewhere where it could get wet, and the drawstring top keeps it feeling secure even after I've stuffed way too much inside. I love the soft butter-yellow shade, but it comes in a few other nice colors, too.

Perhaps your mom wants to be stretchy, especially if she’s battling achy knees and joints in yoga class. The Stakt Mat is a stacking mat (thus the name!) that folds up easily to create more support where you need it, and it’s easy to clean the mat up after class. I love double-folding for extra knee support in flexibility class, but the mat feels like an extra-firm yoga block, keeping the feeling of the hard floor away from my sensitive knees, even if I don't fold the mat over. It's an impressive twist on a yoga mat, and everyone who sees me use it wants one for themselves, moms or not. Healthy knees are for everyone!

I'm not the only mom—or parent, or adult—who loves a good cup of tea. This stylish electric kettle comes in a range of eye-catching colors, and even at its affordable price it packs all the features we like to see. It has an insulated, double-walled body (to keep you from accidentally burning yourself), four preset programs for various teas, auto shutoff, and a “keep warm” mode. It's a beautiful upgrade for any mom's tea routine.

I love Birthdate Co.’s candles so much that I got one for each of my friends. Each one has a custom scent designed for that day of the year and includes various birth-date knowledge on the label, including astrology details, which makes for a great personalized gift. You can gift her her own birthday or a child’s birthday (or both!) so she can commemorate two of the most important days of her life and geek out on the fun information the candle has for that day of the year.