Plant a flower-themed gift card in this hand-painted pot

My first grader painted this terracotta pot at school and delivered it to me with a sweet card and a packet of seeds.

I swapped out the seeds for a flower-themed gift card.

Download e-Gift Card

The Visa Gift Card pictured has a flower bouquet on the front. But with Mother’s Day only hours away, I suggest you download this flower-themed gift card from Amazon.com instead.

It’s electronic so you can purchase, download, and print today.

Download and print this flower-themed gift card from Amazon.com

More “Plantable” Gift Cards

Other gift cards to “plant” include:

• A local nursery or the home improvement store (with nursery)
• Fashion Bug Flower Gift Card
• JC Penney Flowers Gift Card
• Blooming Tulip GiftCard from Target

Check out our “Mother’s Day” section for more ideas today!

Mother’s Day is next Sunday and I have an idea that you can pull together quickly.

Get mom a gift card to Banana Republic and attach it to a fresh bunch of bananas. You can get creative and draw faces on the “nanas” or include the fixin’s for a banana split. Make homemade banana bread, banana pancakes, or banana cream pie even.

Running out of time?

Get a Banana Republic e-Gift Card instead. Electronic gift cards can be sent to your e-mail address (or mom’s) and are customizable with pictures and message.

Plus mom can use a Banana Republic Gift Card at ALL Gap, Inc. stores–including Gap, Old Navy, Athleta, Banana Republic, or Piperlime. She just might go bananas with all those options!

Gift Card Girlfriend is getting a makeover!

In addition to sharing our creative gift card ideas, we’re converting each gift card vignette to a “Get it Done” shopping option as well. We’ll scour the net to find everything you need to make a gift card more personal. All you have to do is click the pieces and buy. (The convenient gift card–just got easier to give!)

Mother’s Day First

The site redesign will launch officially in a few weeks, but for now – check out the Mother’s Day section. You’ll find great ideas to kickstart your own creativity plus “Get it Done” deals to buy today. Below is one of my favorites!

Feet Retreat

Get Inspired: Stamp the kids’ feet or take a picture of their piggy toes and put it in a keepsake frame. Add a pedicure gift card and a note that reads, “From our feet to yours!” Or pair the gift card with a pedicure accessory or lotion like the ones shown in our “Get it Done” deal below:

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• SpaFinder GC
  Amazon.com
• Flip Flop Pedi Set
  Amazon.com
• “I Love You” lotion
  Amazon.com

Even a cash gift could be made personal

I’m often asked the question–why not just give cash?

Simple Answer

If you give me cash, I’ll spend it on gas and groceries before the week is out. I’m a mom on a budget. I don’t often indulge in pretties for myself because the kids need new shoes, braces, cleats, field-trip money, and so forth. I’m not complaining because we have it good compared to so many others. I’m just saying that cash will get mindlessly absorbed into the family finances but a gift card will be mine to mindfully spend on myself–without feeling guilty. And that is a gift.

If You Do Give Cash…

Many of my gift card suggestions can dress up a monetary gift as well. Several of the All Occassion ideas translate nicely. For example, put a roll of cash around a pizza cutter and deliver ”Pizza Dough” that will surely get eaten.

This is What Summer is All About

Summer vacation is winding down and I can honestly say that we’ve lived it to the fullest. Rarely more than an hour away from home, we stay-cationed all over the Bay Area. We went to the beach, played summer league baseball, watched professional baseball, swam every water park in the area, ate ice cream, made ice cream, rode our bikes, connected with old friends, and made several new friends. It’s been a good summer.

I’ve Let Myself Go

But in the 10 weeks we’ve enjoyed as a family, I have completely let myself go. I haven’t done my hair in weeks. Ran out of a few essentials in the make-up bag and didn’t bother to replace them. My toenails are bare and my eyebrows a bit bushy. My lack of self care comes down to two things: time and money. (Doesn’t it always?)

Time and Money

I spent the early part of the summer training my boys to quietly go downstairs in the morning, bypassing the usual tap on my forehead to see if I’m awake. Their quiet departure allowed me an extra half hour or so of sleep. The indulgence, however, meant the kids were either starving or clawing at each other by the time I got up. So I had to shave time off the beauty routine to make up for it. I also let them stay up later which meant less time to myself at night. Heck, what am I saying? Less time to myself all DAY too. Love those kids, but forget about scheduling hair, salon, doctor, or dentist appointments while they’re home. And besides, money I might have spent on myself is going to admissions for various activities anyway.

Back to School

But it’s back to school time and that means every mom I know with school age kids is about to get a makeover. And I will be setting the pace. I need a new do, a splash of color on the toes, gonna look into that Yoga class I’ve talked about for months, and probably need to get my teeth cleaned as well.

So while I see retailers advertising “back to school” specials that revolve around kids, I think they’d do well to remember us moms are in need of a little pampering ourselves. And we could use some gift cards to offset the expense because we just spent all our money on summer activities and school registration. I suggest the following:

• Hair salon gift card for a cut and color
• Nail salon gift card for a manicure and pedicure
• Massage or Spa gift card to work out the summer kinks
• Gym or Yoga gift card to find her center again
• Organization store gift card to help her figure out the new fall schedule
• Lunch gift card to reconnect with girlfriends

It doesn’t have to be her birthday. If you know a mom with school age kids who is about to send the kiddies back to the teachers, get her a “Summer Survival” gift card to celebrate her return to freedom!

No child's scrapbook left behind.

My mom made a scrapbook for all seven of us kids. So when I had my first child, I too embarked on the memory making journey. Within six months, Ally’s book was so full of photos and quotes, I had to buy her a second scrapbook. (You know where this is headed.) Baby number two has half a book. Baby number three has a box. No book.

Blurb.com Saved Me

As the pile of unscrapped photos, school papers, and artwork increases, so does my guilt. I swear (swear, SWEAR), one day I’ll get those scrapbooks caught up. Until then, I’ve been saved by Blurb.com.

With Blurb’s Booksmart software, every month I add pictures and stories to a family memory book. The pages are not as “pretty” as scrapbooked pages, but they aren’t as time-consuming either. And at year’s end, I order a copy of the family book for each child.

I do have a long range goal to give each child an individual scrapbook of their first years, but for now Blurb.com is helping me avoid the feeling that these precious days are flying by unrecorded.

Save Someone Else

Blurb.com also offers gift cards. If you know a mom suffering from scrapbook anxiety, why not give her this time-saving gift as well? A gift card to Blurb.com or any photo book service (e.g. Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc.) would also be great for New Baby, Wedding, Graduation, and other life events where you know photos taken are likely to end up in a pile after the party is over.