Typically, golf sites like ours post the obligatory gift guides for the holiday season, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. The idea being that we’re big golf aficionados, we know a lot of different brands that make cool stuff, and may have a helpful perspective on good golf gifts. Frankly, most of the mothers I know aren’t exactly wanting golf stuff for Mother’s day, and most of our audience here is comprised of golfers that always have golf on the mind. So rather than provide a golf-based Mother’s Day Gift Guide, we’re going to help you, our fellow golf-obsessed friends, come up with some good gifts for your mom this year that AREN’T golf, and something more in line with the outside world that they actually might want.

The main point is to just STOP being a “golf guy” for one day and think about the mothers for a minute. I specifically reached out to some of the beloved mothers in my life and asked for suggestions based on the perspective above. These are some of their ideas.

Cook Dinner for Mom

Regardless if this is for your own mom, your wife, whoever, think of all the meals they’ve cooked for you and your family over the years. The least you can do is give mom a break and cook for her for once. And listen, make something nice. With the invention of Google, cooking has never been easier. Search the web for some recipes and just give it a shot. Worst case, you do a practice meal and get to enjoy some good food before the big day. If not just the food, the mother in your life will appreciate the thought and effort. Especially if you’re not exactly known for your culinary prowess.

Cocktail Hours

This was suggested to me as a nice and casual way to socialize without turning it into a whole ordeal. For our 2020 pandemic Mother’s Day option, my family got together outside, enjoyed the nice spring weather, and a few cocktails purchased from our local craft cocktail house. The rules I’ve been provided for this gift is that any food should be “non-cook snacks” so as to keep the vibe light and the overhead minimal. Additionally, no beer or wine. This is a classy, yet refreshing, ordeal to celebrate our mothers. Wine and beer are commonplace, not for such a special event for the moms.

Alone Time

Whether you want to admit it or not, moms don’t get much time to do stuff by themselves. By choice or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s true. And chances are if you’re a big golfer with a wife and kids, you’re likely getting some good recreational hours on your own while she’s holding down the fort. So why not give her back some of that free time? (PSA: you should be doing this for more than just Mother’s Day. Keep a healthy balance for everyone in the house.)

Some good suggestions I got:

• Send her to get a manicure or pedicure, or something along those lines – whatever she wants to do to pamper herself that day
• YOU take the kids to the park, as well as some other activities, for awhile
• Send her shopping (for fun shopping, don’t let her run errands too – regardless of how they spin it, grocery shopping without the kids in tow is not fun either)

Outdoor Stuff

To some degree, consider their hobbies here, but maybe if you insist, you can squeak some golf stuff in here. But DON’T make it the only thing. In my opinion, I always think of Mother’s Day as the start of Spring in the US. The start of being able to be outdoors and regularly enjoy nice weather. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we can still get snow in Chicago, but you have to start somewhere. Anyway, when I think of that, I think of lounging outside. Maybe get a nice lounge chair where the mom in your life can lean back and soak in some sun in the yard, on the patio, or the deck.

Last year, I got my wife the window box she wanted for our house and some plants and flowers to go in it. It added a nice warm and refreshing look to the house that just makes you feel good. It was also fun for us to mount it to the house and put it all together. A nice, fun, outdoor activity.

Or another option could be a nicer big pot or urn with plants and/or flowers in it. Not only will it be just lovely for the season, but your mom can also use it for new plantings in the years to come.

Treat Yo’self

I didn’t really have a good title or any sense of how to group all of these things into one category. But in my opinion, they all sort of fit into fun “luxury items” that someone may not look to buy for themselves, but would really enjoy as a gift.

• Earbuds. Regardless of the brand, wireless BlueTooth earbuds are everywhere and extremely practical
• Nice lotions and moisturizers – get her the good stuff instead of the crappy junk from Target that she normally just buys “because she’s already there”
• A fancy coffee machine that makes different types of drinks and actually works well
• A good chopping knife (my mom recommended that, but if my mom or wife wants a good chopping knife, they can ask me and I’d damn well buy them one for any day ending in Y.)
• “Cute family pictures” – find a good picture of your family that is high resolution, print it it out and put it in a nice frame. Now listen closely. Get the photo professionally printed. Yeah, you sit here and tell me your printer prints on photo paper and your cell phone is a good camera. I don’t believe you. Well, certainly not most of you. Get a HI-RES picture PROFESSIONALLY printed, and get a NICE frame. This is a Mother’s Day gift for crying out loud, not a lazy arts and crafts project. And if I find out you just laser jetted it onto normal printer paper…

Clothes

The older I get, the more I stay away from this area unless I’m specifically provided some options. But maybe you’re braver than I am and have a better finger on the pulse. Here are what suggestions I got for clothing:

• Cool sneakers
• “Pretty” pajamas (I don’t know what that even means…)
• Cool joggers and a fun top to go with it

CLEARLY you can tell those are all my word choices. Good luck with this one. Keep receipts.

Final Thoughts – Mother’s Day Gift Guide

There you have it, golf fans. If you can’t come up with at least SOMETHING to get the moms in your life out of our 2021 Mother’s Day Gift Guide, I don’t know what to tell you. Like I said, take a day to set golf aside (unless one of the mothers actually wants to do something golf related) and just let the day be about mom. It’s ok, there’s plenty of golf to play. You could also go real big and make it Mother’s Day WEEKEND in your house!

Most importantly, happy early Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I know I couldn’t do it without the ones in my life, and I hope they have great weekend!