This is a special mother's day for me, as it is my first mother's day as a mother. I hope to learn where the apostrophe goes there (I mean, if we are celebrating all mothers, shouldn't it be mothers' day?)
Here are some gift ideas for mother's day based on what I think mother's actually want.
1) A nap. Especially if there is a small child in the house. I spent all of December singing, "All I want for Christmas is a napppp, baby," so trust me on this.
2) Time: Haha, obvious moms are busy joke, but depending on the age of the children or if you are the partner versus the kid this could change. I think if you are an older kid, the thing your mom wants the most is time with you. If you are the partner, or there are young kids, I think mom wants some time alone. My friend's partner got her a night to herself, to watch netflix in a child-free hotel room, and it was universally agreed upon as heavenly.
3) A good mother-daughter story. There are a lot of recommendations about good mother-daughter books, but in many the mothers are truly terrible--memorably bad mothering. So, try to find a story that explores the dynamic of motherhood without necessarily going to the dark place. I really recommend Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng as a great book that explores being a mother.
4) Good giving gift: International Rescue Committee provides rescue gifts. One such gift helps train midwives in developing countries so that moms can have a healthy pregnancy and delivery. I purchased a rescue gift for my mother in law last year.
https://gifts.rescue.org/product/health/care-mom-and-baby *also all rescue gifts bought before 5/13 will be matched by Air B & B
5) Decorative pictures: You probably have a lot of pictures on your phone. Get some of them printed, put in a nice frame and give to mom. This is even easier with shutterfly.com or framebridge, which will even frame them for you. This recommendation counts twice if we are talking about a grandmother.
6) What she asked for. This is my favorite gift giving approach. This year my mom got clothes for work because I asked her what she wanted, and she picked them out. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you very much.