Well, if you're like me you are starting to think about the holidays that are fast approaching. You make your list of people and ideas of what your gonna get them, and as always, beside mom's name is blank! What in the world do you get them woman who buys herself what she needs when she needs it and doesn't wait till the holidays to get it? Or perhaps you are just tired of buying her the generic items sold on the endcaps at Walmart or ANOTHER piece of jewelry. So, just try asking her what she wants...her reply is probably, "Oh, don't worry about me, I don't need a thing." That's what I usually get when I ask. Like that would really fly well if I showed up at Christmas with nothing! Yeah Right, Mom! So whether your budget is big or small I have gathered some truley unique items your mom won't expect, but WILL love!

Okay, even for the not-so-crafty, there are lots of kits that make it easy to make your very own Christmas gifts for moms. Once you tell her you did it yourself she will be amazed. And these are generally cheap, but the labor provided by you is what makes these types of gifts priceless. Ideas include:

HOMEMADE AND UNDER $20.00:

Make your mom a candle set. Make it in her favorite scent or color, placing your handmade candles in a basket or on a charger and wrapping up with some ribbon. If you don't think you are capable, there are some great kits available and are super easy to use!

Make Bath Bombs. Yeah, really! Buying her bath products is nothing unique, but if you make them in her favorite fragrance and display them in a glass bowl (that she could dual purpose later) with some decortive tissue, add a little confetti, and slap a pretty bow around it, and wah-lah, a gorgeous handmade gift! The easy to do kit is shown below!

Make a "Brag Book". Photo albums are no special gift unless they are filled with family photos. Get a smaller album (so mom can take it everywhere!), I would say about a 5x7 or so, and fill it full of you, your siblings, your children, a few of mom's favorite vacation photos, and if mom loves dad, throw some pictures of him in there too! Get into mom's old albums and find some older pictures of you and your siblings, her and dad, or her parents. Get copies of the photos made cheap! It will mean so much when she is flipping through and seeing pictures she hasn't seen in ages! Make the book a short story of her life!

A Gingerbread House? So, why would I make my mom a gingerbread house? This is a great idea if you have children! Grandmas LOVE gifts from their grandbabies! Ecspecially handmade gifts. You can get cheap kits trough Amazon, and it will not just be a great gift for grandma, but some quality time you get to spend making it with your kids! I promise, mom will love it, and the grandkids will love to tell grandma how they made it "all by themselves"!

Okay, now for thoses that have slight technical abilility, there are some great things we can do for mom that might just bring tears of joy to her eyes! These are some ideas you can do... (and might I also mention CHEAP Christmas gifts for mom!!)

Great Technology Under $40.00!

A Family Tree! Ancestry.com has put out some great software that enables you to put your family tree together faster, easier, and better than ever before! You can personalize and add photos, audio, and video and timelines! Somthing mom would never do for herself but she will love it! I have the software listed below!

A Digital Frame! Sure, getting mom a digital frame and expecting her to do anything with it is high hopes! (Some moms are technologically impaired ya know!) But getting her a digital frame and YOU loading it with tons of great family photos will be a sure winner! Some frames even have recorders so you can record a special message or even better, have the grandbabies wish grandma a Merry Christmas in their cutsie little voices!

Turn Photos to Movies! There is great software available to make photos come to life in no time! Load the pictures you want, put them in order, and add some tear-jerker music and you will for sure have a hit! These are great when you start with older photos, like mom & dads wedding pics, and end with recent pictures, maybe grandkids. This is a really great gift, and you can make several copies for others in the family! I have listed a great program below (and its cheap!) You could even make this a tradition and do a yearly review of moms life!

Now for thoses of us who like to actually just purchase a gift and wrap it up, I have some great ideas for that too! Because you BUY them doesn't mean they are thoughtless....you can put thought into what you buy! I'm not talking about buying her a Gourmet Cheese Assortment at Wally World, because you've seen her eat cheese, I mean to think of something that mom wouldn't buy for herself, but you know she would use often if she had one. Here's some ideas:

Digital Camera: If mom is still toting around the gigantic 2 megapixel digital camera with no display on the back, perhaps a nice new smaller 10 megpixel camera would suit her. These things have gone dirt cheap, and you can pick up a name brand now for around $99.

Pedicure Gift Certificate: Pick one up at your favorite salon. Don't give her cash and expect her to spend it on a pedi...a gift certificate for a pedi is great because she won't use it for anything other than herself, whereas a gift card to Target is probably gonna buy your next birthday present! Make her pamper herself!

A Nano: These Ipod Nano's are cheap, and if you have one you love it. But if you don't you don't know what you're missing, therefore mom would probably not buy one for herself, but if you got it for her she will love it. They are super easy to use for people of all ages. Even my 8 year old can do it!

A Kitchen Radio: These are slim and sleek and actually look good mounted under a kitchen cabinet. Mom spends a lot of time in the kitchen, so she will love singing to her favorite CD while making dinner! By the way, these are also inexpensive, available with AM/FM and CD. I have added one below that's only $23.00!

Netbook: These are wonderful for the traveling mom, or the mom who has yet to be introduced to the World Wide Web...super easy to use and just what momm needs for staying in touch with family through email or if she just wants to play a game of solitare. I have seen these at Dell for as low as $199.99, and average around $350.00. This may be one of those gifts you get siblings to pitch in on ;)

GPS: I don't think my mom would ever use this, but the price on these has dropped so far outta sight I just wanted to mention it. There maybe mom's out there who would get great use out of one of these! You can pick up a name brand unit for around $100.00.

The Nintendo Wii: Flat Out Great Family Fun! People of all ages love these things, once hard to find, now you can learn how to easily find the Nintendo Wii In Stock Today!!!

Well, I hope I was able to help you in your gift giving abilities this year, and if you have any great and unique ideas I'd love to hear them, I'll give you credit if I add them ;) You don't have to spend a ton of money when buying your Christmas gifts for mom.. Some of the things I mentioned could be extras on top of whatever else you give her. And, one last note, something I do every year for my mom. We get ALL her grandchildren together, take a group photo (we take 20 shots to get one good one) and frame it up. She hangs it in her hallway, and they are great conversation pieces eveytime we are over there to look and see how the children have grown through the years! Good luck to you!