We’re sure you know this already, but Mother’s Day is coming up soon (May 9), and if your mom or mom-figure is into gardening and botanically inspired products, we’ve got some timely gift ideas for you! Right now, you can consider us your best friend, because we’re doing all the creative brainstorming for you—all you have to do is have fun creating and basking in the joy on your mother’s face when she sees what you’ve made her.
Now, we’re assuming a couple of things here: That you have plants in a garden (or access to plants), have access to do an internet search on specific projects and recipes, and are open to purchasing possible specialty ingredients or supplies. Most of these projects are very simple and inexpensive to make, while a couple are slightly more challenging (but still completely within a beginner-to-intermediate DIYer’s capabilities).
7 Botanically Inspired Crafts for Mother’s Day
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Happy Hour Luxuries: Oh, the opportunities are nearly limitless here! For the mom who likes her craft cocktails, you can help her along with easily made flavored simple syrups and infused alcohols. Simple syrup is a mixture of sugar and water that elevates ho-hum cocktails, but add a little rosemary or lavender into it and you’ve got something pretty special. Ditto for infused alcohol—vodka works well for this, but it does take a little time to let the ingredients blend into a good flavor, so plan accordingly.
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Herbal Tea: Make your own herbal tea blends using herbs like chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, mint, lemon verbena, sage, basil, and more. Herbal teas can, of course, be made with fresh herbs, but for a make-ahead Mother’s Day gift, plan to dry your herbs out, then combine them into the blend of your choice. Package in a glass container with a cute label and you’re good to go!
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Bath Bombs: Mom will enjoy a good relaxing soak with herbal bath bombs. There are tons of recipes out there with different types of ingredients, but most include baking soda, some sort of milk powder, citric acid, essential oils, and dried herbs/flowers. You’ll also need a mold if you want to be extra fancy, but there’s really nothing wrong with forming a more rustic shape with your hands. We’re betting that you make one for yourself for every two you make for your mother, but that’s just a guess.
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Pressed Flower Art: This is a perfect craft if you don’t want to have to get very specialized equipment, and it’s also very easy. Just collect your botanicals (single blooms, sprigs of leaves, flowers with longer stems), then place them inside a book, without overlapping the plants, between a folded piece of white paper. Make sure the book is a hefty one, and once your botanicals are safely inside, close it, secure with a rubber band or place another heavy book on top. Set it aside for a couple of weeks, then use acid-free glue to affix to white paper, frame it, and you’re now officially the Best Offspring on the Planet. Try roses, rudbeckia, or larkspur, in addition to annuals and herbs.
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Potpourri: Gather individual flower petals or whole flowerheads and arrange them on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan in a single layer, add some essential oils, and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours. There’s a bit more to it than that, but really? Not much!
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Clear Glycerin Botanical Soap: Admittedly, this project is a little more involved and you’ll have to purchase specialized materials for it, but come on—this is your mom we’re talking about here! Nothing’s too good for our mothers! And as with the bath bombs, you’ll find loads of different recipes online but most use a glycerin soap base, essential oils, some type of mold (ooh, a flower mold would be lovely), and botanicals like flowers, herbs, and foliage. These types of DIY soaps are called “melt and pour” and are among the easiest soaps to make. Let’s do this one, and save the exotic goat’s milk soap with lye for another time, okay?
- Dried Flower Candles: Collect your dried, pressed flowers (#4 above) and using supplies like paraffin wax/soy wax, cotton wicks, and essential oils, you can present your mother with a dried flower candle that she will cherish. She’ll light it while taking a bath with an herbal bath bomb and sipping a Lavender Martini while gazing at the impressive pressed flower art hanging on her bathroom wall. Totally doable if you love crafting or have about 5 siblings to help out.