What To Buy and Bake For Your Mum This Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is on 11th March this year, and this year I’ve actually been organised enough (!) to bring you all a guide full of gift suggestions, my picks of gift subscriptions, hampers, chocolates, flower arrangements and baking recipes for you to gift to/ look forward to doing with/ bake for your Mothers and Grandmothers in a couple of Sunday’s time. However, this is just a rough guide if you’re stuck for ideas. The best gifts money can’t really buy, and doing something nice like doing the washing up, bringing breakfast in bed or picking some wild flowers will make all the difference if you’re home. I was actually born on Mothers Day, and for my Mama, her first grandchild I think was the best gift she ever received!

Elizabeth Scarlett Bambou Blanc Pouch | Liberty London Gift Card | Fortnum & Mason Macaron Soaps | Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia Bath Oil | Hotel Chocolat Pink Champagne Truffles | Bagsy Chubby Stick | Liberty London Rachel Cotton Eye Mask | The White Company Spring Scented Candle

Shall we start with some of the more traditional gifts, the sort of things that come up when you search ‘Mothers Day’ on a department store website, things like candles, chocolates and toiletries? I don’t know any chocolate or champagne loving woman who does not love receiving a big box of Hotel Chocolat’s slightly strawberry flavoured Pink Champagne Truffles. In the bathroom, my Mummy recently gave me one of The White Company’s Spring scented candles with honeysuckle, rose and cut grass. I’ve not even lit it yet and I’m obsessed. Also, if she’s into a nice, long, luxurious bath time, she’ll love Jo Malone’s English Pear & Freesia Bath Oil, and Fortnum’s adorable little macaron soaps.

I don’t have siblings, but I know some of my friends team up with theirs on Mothers Day gifts: if this is the sort of thing that you and your brother/ brothers/ sister/ sisters like to do, I suggest you go for gold and order her a Fortnum’s hamper. There are so many on the Fortnum’s and Mason website to look at, but I think the best value one there at the moment is the Express Hamper (pictured above) packed with so many goodies including Elderflower, Strawberry and Rose Tea, Fortnum’s Strawberry Truffles, Monarch Marmalade, and some traditional shortbread. Alternativly, if your Mother is anything like mine, just club together to get their Rose Champagne and & Chocolate Gift Box. Everyone needs that many pink champagne truffles in their life.

Alternatively, there are a whole range of classes you could get to take together, or subscriptions for her to enjoy herself throughout the year (I got my boyfriend a cheese toastie subscription for Christmas and it is great to see him get excited when it arrives every month!) These are my picks: a biscuit icing class at the Biscuiteers Cafe in Notting Hill (you can read about my trip to one of their icing classes here), though I’m sure a box of their iced biscuits would also go down swimmingly (I like this floral Mothers Day biscuit tin, this butterfly biscuit tin – which I gave to my Mother one year – and this gluten free afternoon tea themed biscuit box). You can book the pair of you into an icing class here.

As a family, there are two subscriptions we’ve loved for years that would make amazing Mothers Day gifts. A few years ago Pomora gifted me an olive oil subscription which my Mother and I have been sharing. Every quarter you get three tins of the best quality olive oils I’ve ever tried – we both use nothing else now. Sometimes you’ll get three tins of one of their two types of extra virgin oil, and sometimes their infused oils. I could write a love letter to their lemon infused oil, and Mummy and I both rely on their truffle oil for our salad dressings. Still in a foodie direction but stepping out of the kitchen my parents have had a Hotel Chocolat tasting club subscription pretty much since they launched, and I don’t think you can find better chocolate on the British high street. They’ve now launched a 6 month gift membership you can send via email, which perhaps will make a lovely gift if your Mum loves chocolate and you can’t make it home for Mothers Day?

Mothers Day afternoon tea with a homemade Victoria Sandwich (filled with raspberry jam & vanilla buttercream, find the recipe on my blog) and the simply stunning bouquet full of her favourite freesias I ordered for my Mummy from @bloomandwild (use my code RACHELBLOOMS for 15% off!) 💐🍰 #mothersday #victoriasponge #cake #flowers #bloomandwild #letterboxflowers #freesias #stocks #roses #spring #sunday #weekend #march #rachelphipps

A post shared by Rachel Phipps (@missrachelphipps) on Mar 6, 2016 at 8:13am PST

If you want to go down a more traditional route, I order all of my flowers I’m sending as gifts from Bloom & Wild. Their bouquets are always stunning, and it makes the whole delivery process so much easier. For those of you who don’t know, Bloom & Wild send letterbox flowers, where the flowers are sent in a long, thin box that fits through most letterboxes so the delivery can’t be missed. Inside, any delicate blooms are individually wrapped, and there are easy instructions for assembling each arrangement in a vase. They also last ages, have a different selection each time you shop so your blooms are always seasonal, and you can add on little extras like chocolates, champagne, and even Biscuiteers biscuits. Recently they’ve also started a range of letterbox houseplants (!) and flower subscriptions. You can view the full Mothers Day range here.

Mini Limencello Glazed Vanilla Baked Doughnuts | Mothers Day Strawberry Buttercream & Pistachio Mini Cakes | Mini Pastel Meringues | Mummy’s Classic Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake | Super Simple 3-Step Chocolate Brownies | Chocolate Cake with Fresh Passion Fruit Buttercream

Or, you could step away from your credit card and make your Mum something for Mothers Day instead. Cake always goes down well: if you’re a novice in the kitchen and your Mother likes classic bakes, go for my Mummy’s Classic Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake, and if she’s into something adventurous, my Chocolate Cake with Fresh Passion Fruit Buttercream would be perfect. If you’re planning a little afternoon tea at home with some small cakes, sandwiches, a pot of tea and a bottle of pink bubbles take the time to make my Strawberry Buttercream & Pistachio Mini Cakes, or my Mini Limencello Glazed Vanilla Baked Doughnuts. Alternatively, if you’re planning on packing up your bakes and taking them to her, match either my Mini Pastel Meringues or my Super Simple 3-Step Chocolate Brownies depending on what sort of bake she likes best!

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