me and mama

Me and my mama

OK no one panic… American Mother’s Day is May 8th so you still have time to not be a terrible child. I’m getting a little ahead of the game this year because my guide is almost 100% handmade and I wanted to give plenty of lead time for the featured sellers to make & send your items should you make the wise decision to shop from my guide. Not only am I offering up a sweet giveaway for you AND your mom this year, but I also secured exclusive discounts on lots of my picks so you have no excuse for buying the moms in your life Precious Moments figures this year. (No, not even if that’s what she wants. NO EXCUSE.)

If you want even more ideas check out my gift guides of yesteryear here.

First up, after all the baby showers I’ve been baking for lately I wanted to find some cute things for the mom-to-be. The Small Object not only offers items everyone can use – like mustaches on a stick – but they also have extremely cute (unofficial) birth certificates to hang in the nursery. Not a pastel monkey in sight. For mama herself check out Mutha Crafter’s “I’m so crafty I make people” shirts and accessories. While you’re there you can save 10% off your purchases when you enter BAKE10.

Next up, a little something for the DIY mama – a toaster pastry press (aka Pop Tart maker) from Williams-Sonoma. It’s under $10 so it’s perfect if you’re on a budget. For just a few bucks more you could include a jar or two of fancy fruit fillings. (I like Rare Bird Preserves, so if you’re in the Midwest, look for ’em!)

If you think she’d like a Pop Tart maker then I can promise she’ll love handmade caramel, nougat and marshmallows from Have It Sweet Confections. My dad and I threw down on a bag of their spiced caramels – my mom didn’t even get any! Go check out their shop, you will seriously lick your screen. Don’t fill up on screen-licking, though, because Have It Sweet is going to send the winner of my giveaway a 1/2 lb of the caramel of his or her choosing. Here’s the deal – you have to at least share it with your mom and they’ll ship it at the end of this month because they’re crazy busy with Easter orders.

This is soap. For real.

Cool story alert: I went 30 years having never eaten a deviled egg. I find them physically repulsive and frankly, eggs weird me out. For the past 4 years I’ve baked cupcakes for my friend Hillary’s son Bishop’s birthday and my favorite part of the party every year is scoping out Hillary’s mom’s deviled egg carrying case. For years now I have been aware that hers are, apparently, the best deviled eggs in the world – mainly because I’ve seen Hillary’s husband Tim eat about 50 of them over the years. But last year I let it slip that not only had I not tried her deviled eggs, I had not tried any deviled egg ever. After a moment of disbelief, I was handed an egg and given the “try it, it won’t kill you” speech by Mrs. Hillary. Terrified, I shoved the entire thing in my mouth thinking I could just maybe swallow it without tasting it. As I am not a python, this wasn’t possible, but I was relieved to find that deviled eggs are not nearly as repulsive as I originally thought. They’re kind of like squishier potato salad. So, in honor of Hillary’s mom and my first-and-last-ever deviled egg, I bring you deviled egg soap by AJ Sweet Soap. Not only did I find soap that looks EXACTLY like a deviled egg, but I also sweet-talked a 10% discount on the whole shop for my readers when they enter FORMOM. Cool story!

OK, so maybe your mom doesn’t bake and she won’t wash her ass with a deviled egg. That’s OK, baby. I got you. Let’s assume she sews. In that case, you should probably get her this Cath Kidston house-shaped sewing basket because well, it’s kinda awesome. I got a sewing machine for my birthday in December. I haven’t used it yet, but I look at it pretty often, so I wouldn’t mind one of these myself.

Shoe clips = new shoes every day!

Fine, fine. Your mom doesn’t rub eggs on her naked body, won’t make you a Pop Tart and she doesn’t sew. Well does she wear shoes? Because if she wears shoes you should give her the gift of versatility with these handmade shoe clips from Cookoorikoo. You’ll also find lots of quirky jewelry any mom would like. I’m a mom and I wear my yo-yo necklace all the time. There you have it: proof. Enter BAKEANDDESTROY and you’ll get a whopping 20% off your order!

Your mom might tell you that you were the best Mother’s Day gift of all. She is sweet, but she’s also lying. Meet her halfway and give her a photo of you and your siblings in a hand-painted picture frame from Whirley Girl Designs. Enter my giveaway and you might win mom the frame of her (or your ) choice!

So what am I getting my mom this year? Well, like me, she’s a big fan of romantic drunkard Charles Bukowski, so for her birthday I bought her this Bluebird in My Heart necklace from Recycled Rings here in Chicago. It even came with a copy of the poem. So if your mom is the literate type, check out that shop an enter MOMSDAY for 15% off your purchase. My mom also happens to be a world champion scrapbooker. I don’t know if there’s an official belt,

Your mom wants to hug this guy!

but if there is she owns it. So I thought of her when I came upon these scarapbook kits from Lili Bee Studio. Perfect for the pro-scrapbooker mom and the newbie alike. You can take 15% off kits and project kits (classes not included) when you mention the code BAKEANDDESTROY15.

If there was one thing my dad always gave my mom crap for it was her love of putting pillows all over everything. There are approximately 37 pillows on every couch and chair and I don’t know how many on the bed. What? She likes to be comfortable. So I thought of her when I saw these pretty pillows from Anna Joyce Designs. I also think her couch would look cute buried under a Hug a Cloud plush pillow-type-guy from Goodbye Blue Monday. If you agree, only about your mom’s couch, you can enter BAKEANDDESTROY for 10% off your order.

I got three things from my mom: cheekbones, a wicked stink eye and a sick coffee addiction. My mom’s a badass, so she takes hers black, but she keeps cream and sugar around for her non-cowboy friends. I think she would like to keep said cream and sugar in these pretty handmade containers from Whitney Smith. Did you know Miss Whitney is also a blogger? Well, she is… and she’s also offering 15% off to my readers when they enter DESTROY.

My mom is hella organized. She has a label on her label maker if you know what I mean. So I can totally see her sticking this vinyl wall calendar up over her desk. Actually, I would not mind one of those myself. Hint, hint.

The mug of the beast! (For ultra cool moms only.)

Speaking of hints, there are a few things on my personal wish list this and every Mother’s Day. Gift certificates to Bake It Pretty are always welcome, as are wrestling-and-cake themed prints from Betty Turbo and cute hair thingies from Lucky Cupcake Hairclips. Lucky Cupcake has lots of bows that support great causes and a brand-new hemp tote for eco-concious moms. Enter BAKEANDDESTROY and take 10% off your Lucky Cupcake purchase!

The Giveaway

OK, so if you were paying attention you would know that there’s a 1/2 lb of delicious, chewy caramel from Have It Sweet Confections and a hand-painted picture frame from Whirley Girl Designs up for grabs – I’d say that’s a pretty nice Mother’s Day gift for you to give your mama. But what’s in it for you? How about a $25 gift certificate to Threadless and a super flippin’ cool Bake and Destroy coffee mug? Yep. One of you will get ALL that stuff because I am the best friend ever. All YOU have to do is leave a comment on this post thanking your mom (or mom-type person… I’m not trying to pour salt in anyone’s wounds!) for something. Did she teach you to bake? Show you how to throw a punch? Contribute some DNA to your awesome good looks? Thank her in the comments and I’ll pick a random winner at the end of this week – April 15th to win the whole shebang.

Good luck! (Love you, mom!)

P.S. Here is a picture of my mom and me at WWE Monday Night Raw. You’re welcome.

The contest is over – congrats to Audrey!