Easy Mother's Day Decorations and Gifts

This Mother’s Day, give Mom a gift she can add to her garden. Present it in a plain plastic container decorated with pretty paper, ribbon and tag.

Bring the spa to Mom! Create a DIY spa box by gathering (or making) bath salts, sugar scrub, soap, a candle and bath fizzes.

Show Mom you appreciate her with this beautiful arrangement. Fill cans with small bouquets of ranunculi (be sure to shorten the stems). Place individual cans in a vintage wire shopping basket with handles or an old oil or milk wire carrier. 

Use a tray, stained with Mom’s favorite colors, to bring her a special treat or breakfast in bed. The key to this geometric look is a good stencil and water-based stain.

Brighten Mom’s day with a hanging bouquet. Make a cone out of decorative paper and secure with tape. Place flowers in a plastic cup or floral tube with water and insert into cone. Hang on a chair or a bedpost.

Two gifts in one: a handpainted pot and herbs that Mom can use all season long! 

To make the containers, wrap wide rubber bands around the middle of small terra-cotta pots and apply two coats of outdoor patio paint using a foam brush. When dry, remove rubber bands.

Fill pots with Mom’s favorite herbs such as thyme, oregano and basil. 

Look to your china collection for captivating vase ideas. Here, lilies of the valley in teacups provide sweet touches. Florist frogs hold stems steady. Use several of these as a centerpiece, or put one at each place setting as an accent.

Turn clay into a jewelry holder by rolling it, shaping it and adding personal touches (like carved initials) before it bakes.

Vintage handkerchiefs make a sweet table runner for a Mother's Day brunch. Buy them in bundles of 5 or more for the best prices. Tack the squares to a solid-color piece of cloth for your runner. 

Doilies will complement the vintage look, too. To make the doily bowl pictured at left, dip a round doily into a mixture of one part crafts glue and one part water. Smooth the wet doily over an upside-down glass bowl. Let dry, then carefully peel doily from bowl.

Store-bought seed packets become gift-worthy when the seeds are put in easy-stich burlap bags and accented with garden markers and seed packets.

Presentation is everything! This large glass cloche is stocked with coordinated gardening goodies.

Here, a fish bowl replaces a traditional vase. Clean a glass or plastic fish bowl and fill with water and colorful flowers. We used cosmos. 

Homemade caramels get a decorative spin when dipped in chocolate and accented with sprinkles. 

Candy-Box Caramels

Prop a single rosebud in a water-filled glass votive holder, then wrap in tissue paper and place in a gift box. Its beauty will slowly open like a present. 

Give Mom a basket or crate of potted easy-care succulents that she can either keep in the original container or place individually around her home. Our picks:

—Top row, left to right: Aloe striata, Cotyledon 'octopus', burro's tail (Sedum morganianum), Mexican hens (Echeveria shaviana)
— Middle row, left to right: watch chain (Crassula lycopodioides), Aloe zanzibarica, ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense), crinkle-leaf plant (Adromischus cristatus var. zeyheri)
—Bottom row, left to right: Sedum hybrid, Kalanchoe beharensis, Crassula conjuncta, string of beads (Senecio rowleyanus).

Fill an old-fashioned pitcher with Mom’s favorite flower, such as these gorgeous peonies, to create a beautiful display.

Decorate a clear glass with a simple band of ribbon. Secure with double-sided tape. Fill glass with peonies or Mother’s Day flowers of your choice. 

Carryout boxes made of frosted plastic become fun containers for floral centerpieces. Place spring blooms such as daffodils and tulips inside a short, water-filled glass before setting in the box.

Transform the tool used to plant bulbs into a vessel for Mom’s favorite stems. Fill a small container with water and flowers, then place inside the tool.