Christmas Gift For Mom 2012

How about a weekend at the spa or a Home Spa Gift Set. She'll get pampered from every angle. Whether it's a great massage or an hours-long soak in a tub, or just a mud-mask facial, she'll come home rejuvenated.

Keep the pleasure going permanently by buying her an electronic foot massager. These devices look like a weighing scale. But far from bringing on the guilt, they melt away the tension. Ten minutes with one of these and she'll be ready to say yes to whatever you didn't dare ask her earlier.

Still, life isn't all worry and stress, even for moms. A day on the golf course with her golf clubs will keep her in trim and competitive with dad. Contemporary designs feature composites that would have been top secret in Jack Nicklaus' heyday. They can provide the kind of flex that makes a 200-yard shot nearly as easy as that 20-foot putt.

Jewelry is always a great favorite. But go the extra step and personalize it. Even if it's diamond earrings or the perfect pearl necklace, the gift can still bear a unique stamp. Her initials on either side of the necklace chain can do the trick. Or the earrings can be a design that is duplicated nowhere else.

Women love chocolate. If men don't know that by now, they've been spending too much time in the cave and not enough online reading gift suggestions. But don't settle for that boring box of random goo. Go for something exotic. Try a special thin Lindt Swiss slab. Or, go all out for something made just for her inscribed with a line of poetry that you memorized when you met.

Flowers are wonderful, but they don't last. Instead, think about a beautiful bonsai that will flower repeatedly year after year. Incorporate a tiny self-watering system. It adds little to the cost and make maintenance a matter of seconds per month rather than a daily chore.

Does that special woman in your life love wine? Take it a step beyond the special vintage you had in mind. Get a subscription to a Wine of the Month club and you'll get an ever changing selection from around the world. One month it may be a super Sake from Japan, the next a great Gewürztraminer from Germany. The month after that an awesome Australian Syrah will arrive in the mail.

What mom couldn't use more shoes? But buying shoes for women is a very tricky business whether the shopper is dad, son or daughter. If you haven't heard her mention that unique pair down at the mall, better go virtual. Online shoe shopping can now fit her foot better than a careless salesperson. Templates allow her to tailor the fit to her individual foot and the selection is unbounded.

No matter what that special woman in your life is looking for you can find it with a little diligence. Remember, what they want most is to know that you cared enough to search for just the right thing. Now, if you could only figure out what that is...

There are two ways you can approach this. First, you can give her the same traditional Christmas gifts that people always give their moms - like perfume, a bathrobe, or a kitchen gadget. Second, you can take the surprise route and give her something she wouldn't expect from you, but would love to receive!

Let's talk about traditional gifts for mom during the holidays. Moms love getting these types of presents because they're usually the kind of things that are easy for their loved ones to figure out for them.

Perfume is a great gift for mom, but instead of just buying a single fragrance, why not buy a gift set that includes the fragrance, plus some bath and body items to boot. Some perfume gift sets for mom even include luxury items like jewelry.

Bathrooms that are luxurious can help pamper mom after a long day at work (or home). You can find plush microfiber bathrobes that feel amazing, or stick to a terrycloth robe if that's what she prefers - just make sure you get the length right.

For the kitchen, some of the perfect gifts for mom this year will be programmable slow cookers where they can start dinner early and have it ready by the time their work is all done. A standing mixer is also a welcomed kitchen gadget for mom.

Now if you want to shock her by giving her a gift she wouldn't have even thought to ask for, but will really appreciate, why not go with a technical gadget that she'd normally be buying for someone else?

For example, a portable vehicle GPS system wouldn't break the bank for you, but it would ensure mom never gets lost on the road. Is she a fitness buff? Get her a watch-based GPS fitness monitor made by Garmin. It not only tracks her workout and stats, but it makes sure that if she's hiking or biking somewhere, she'll have maps to get her home safely.

Everyone's switching to HDTV and Blu Ray technology. Does mom have this yet? If not, why not upgrade her set so that she can watch all of her favorite shows in high definition. Give her a gift certificate so that she can order some of her favorite Blue Ray discs, too.

Gifts for mom don't have to be the same, old boring routine. But then again, maybe mom relies on traditional gifts because it's when she expects them. You'll have to make that tough decision, but at least now you have some ideas to run with.