Five Awesome Gifts For Mom

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and if your mother or wife is anything like me, she wants to feel special and appreciated. Seriously, giving birth is kind of a big deal. And even if she didn’t actually give birth to you/your children, she still has to put up with you people. An awesome gift will tell her just how special you think she is. Here are some suggestions:

1. Spa Finder Gift Certificate – Pampering is always a good gift. Always. A Spa Finder gift certificate is good at over 5,000 spas across the country. One tip: Make sure you check that there are participating spas in your area, just to be sure.

2. Sephora Fragrance Sampler – I love a good perfume, but what I think is good is not necessarily what the sales associate at Perfumania thinks is good. Take the guesswork out by getting her one of Sephora’s excellent fragrance samplers. It comes with sample sizes of 12 favorite or 10 deluxe fragrances for her to try. Once she chooses her favorite, she can turn in her voucher for a full-sized bottle. Genius.

3. Maid Service – Forgive me if I’m being sexist, but I find housework usually falls to the woman (if that’s not the case in your life, bravo, buddy, you win at husbanding), so a respite would totally be in order. Major maid service companies like Molly Maid, Merry Maids and Maids.com offer gift certificates, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one near you.

4. Personal Stylist Appointment – Make a woman feel beautiful and you’re in. Gift her with an appointment for a personal stylist to help her pick one outfit that makes her feel amazing. Stores like Banana Republic, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and Macy’s offer this service for free. Just make the appointment and give her an AMEX or Visa gift card (make it generous) so she can buy the outfit. Don’t have these stores near you? Google “personal stylists” to find one in your area. They will charge a fee for their services, however, so keep that in mind.

5. A Porsche Convertible – Is there a car she’s always wanted to drive? Give it to her – if only for the day. Many larger areas have at least one exotic car rental place where you can get a Porsche, a Ferrari or Rolls Royce for the day. Send her out for an afternoon of shopping with her BFF or to great date night for just the two of you – in style. Weekday rates won’t cost you much more than a nice piece of jewelry, and it’s really a cool and original idea. You don’t even have to give me credit.

Featured photo by betsyweber

Gifts For Her: I Feel Pretty Edition

Sometimes a girl woman just needs to feel pretty. That means something different for everyone, but here are a few things that just might make perfect gifts for her.

Five Gifts That Will Make Her Feel Pretty

1. Lush Bath Bombs – Did you know it actually gets cold in South Florida? Well, at least I get cold, and there’s nothing I like better than soaking in a lovely, warm, fragrant tub. One of my biggest complaints in this area has always been that even the priciest bath additives can leave me feeling dry. Not these little beauties – they are packed with moisturizers. And they fizz when you put them in the tub. And they smell yummy. And? Not expensive. Great stocking stuffer. My picks: Butterball and Geo-Fizz.

2. Swarovski Harley Crystal Earrings - I’ve always wanted diamond studs, but whenever I shop for them the price makes me throw up a little in my mouth. Seriously. I could buy airline tickets to New York AND hotel for those prices. No thank you. And that’s where these little beauties come in. I have the smaller pair; I just need the larger pair (I have multiple ear piercings) for the perfect set. Did I mention these are only $59?

3. Bliss Eau De Toilette – I got a sample of this in my last Sephora order and it IS Bliss. At least for me. I am forever trying to find a “t-shirt and jeans” kind of fragrance, one that’s clean, light and “weekendy.” This is absolutely it. If you’re unsure of her fragrance preference, try Sephora’s sampler, which I reviewed last year. This year it includes the Bliss fragrance.

4. Origins Ginger Burst Body Wash – One of my favorite winter scents is Origins’ Ginger Essence. A woman once remarked that I smelled like a cookie whilst I was wearing it and a man chimed in with a wholehearted, “Yes, it’s wonderful, isn’t it?” In other words, guys dig it. I would love to layer that smell by washing with this yummy body wash and then following up with the body cream.

5. A Spanx Turtleneck Top (or two) – Nothing makes me feel sexier than a black turtleneck. It’s true. I own a long sleeve version and a sleeveless version. The only thing that would make me feel hotter is if those tops actually made me look a little more lithe – that’s where Spanx comes in. OK, they’re a bit pricey, but remember all the money I saved you on those earrings?

Featured photo by: LYDIA and her SALAD DAYS’/Flickr

Smells Like Gift-Giving Success

Finn here again. I’ve got a lot to say. Apparently.

I’m not hard to buy for—if you pay attention. But so many people just don’t. Or at least that don’t pay enough attention. Maybe they realize that I am a perfume whore (The more the merrier, I say and I’m not ashamed). What they don’t get is that just because I like fragrance it doesn’t mean I will like their favorite, which they will invariably assume, even if I didn’t say I liked it or even notice they were wearing any. And invariably that scent will be something sweet and delicate, which is NOT me at all and should be obvious to anyone who’s ever been in my presence.

But enough about me.

What I’m getting at is this: Unless you know for sure what your giftee likes perfume-wise, it really has been better just to refrain from giving that particular item.

Until now.

Sephora has the perfect solution:  Sephora Scent Samplers. It’s ingenious really. You buy the sampler, which includes a handful (7, 10 or 12 depending on the collection) of sample bottles of their bestselling fragrances. Once you’ve tried them all and decided on a favorite, you bring the enclosed voucher to your nearest Sephora store and redeem it for a full-sized bottle of your pick.

Easy-breezy and oh-so-cool. Plus, they have samplers for men, too.

A few caveats: You must redeem the voucher at a Sephora store; you can’t use it online. And it’s not valid for our Canadian friends unless they cross the border. Finally, there is always the chance that the recipient won’t like any of the available scents. But the included selection is diverse enough that the chance would be slim. Two of the collections have one scent that I’ve recently fallen in love with and I’m picky as hell.

Pricing on these are $50 for the Best Sellers or Deluxe samplers and $75 for the Collector’s Edition, which features seven miniature versions of the regular perfume bottles rather than the little sample packages. For men there are two versions, the Deluxe for $50 and the Collector’s Edition for $75.

I gave one these to both my brother and my dad for Christmas (they like cologne almost as much as do) and they loved it. Gift-giving WIN I tell you. Even my mother liked the idea and she’s a pain in the ass when it comes to gifts. Trust me, you’ll be a hero. Try it.

P.S. These are a great way to sample several fragrances and even save a few bucks on new scent if you’re in the market for yourself.

Maybe, just maybe, someone in my life will get the hint (anyone?) and buy me one of these babies. But they’re probably not paying attention.