These are the gifts mum definitely doesn't want for Mother's Day

When it comes to buying your mum the perfect Mother’s Day gift, it really is the thought and effort that counts.

“I can’t lay claim to a truly horrific gift yet,” mother-of-two Deborah Whiteoak says. “I’ve only had three mother’s days, but one was spent at the hospital with a sick baby, the next traipsing the streets searching for a missing cat while pregnant, and the last cleaning vomit out of a car seat. All three were, in a word, grim.”

Just as grim as receiving a present gifted without thought or effort. As you or your kids venture out to buy mum her gift, take note of exactly what not to give her on May 13, and make it memorable for all the right reasons.

(Inedible) breakfast in bed

“One of my most memorable mother’s days was scrambled eggs made by my then 10-year-old twin boys,” food writer Lizzie Loel says. “They mistook a teaspoon for a tablespoon of salt, and added two more for good measure. They had thoughtfully decorated the tray and eggs with flowers from the garden, complete with roots, rocks and dirt. I narrowly avoided dialysis and a broken tooth!”​

If you’re going to serve your mum breakfast in bed, make sure it’s edible. Photo: Stocksy

Gift with purchase

“Absolutely my least favourite gift,” stylist Jan O’Loughlin says. “The purchase is generally boring, and the free gift is always such poor quality it is unusable. One year I was given a branded satin box of perfume with a free set of cosmetic brushes. I spent an hour picking the brush hairs off my face under poor lighting in the car on the way out!”

• Related: Is re-gifting ever OK? The no-nos of gift-giving
• Related: Items you should never buy as gifts
• Related: The best reader gift Danny Katz ever received

Cheap and nasty

“My mum was once gifted a set of extremely ordinary bed sheets bought on our behalf by our father,” stylist Dijanna Mulhearn says. “She was so annoyed she kept them until Father’s Day and gave them straight back to him.”​

Practical and appalling

“My mother once received an iron for Mother’s Day,” mother Meg Williams says. “Dad somehow managed to dodge said ‘present’ being hurled across the room, and has since lived a long and less stressful life shopping at high-end jewellery stores. Happy wife, happy life!”

Unless you want to see an iron fly across the room (towards your head), maybe skip this gift idea. Photo: iStock

Right gift, wrong location

“The best gift I ever nearly received was for a facial from a fantastic salon I had hinted about for 12 months,” designer Rebecca Johnson from Glamswag says. “I was so excited to receive an envelope on the day, but when I opened it, it was to my dismay from a horrible little salon with no name an hour away from home. Worst. Gift. Ever!”

Right idea, wrong choice

“One year I received a collection of cheap tabloid magazines, with no card, still in the supermarket bag,” stylist Nicole Jameson says. “It wasn’t even fashion magazines. I have to ask myself, do these people really know me at all?”

And the best

“I think a great tip for kids, and husbands, is to remember that it is the thought and effort that counts,” O’Loughlin says. “My son blows me away with the woodwork he brings home from school and stores away for Mother’s Day. One year it was a chopping board, last year a table and stepladder, and this year it’s a chair. These gifts mean so much more to me than any store-bought present. My daughter always scribbles a card with the most beautiful words that I keep and stow away in a box. They are fantastic and loving Mother’s Day memories that will last forever.”

Location counts when it comes to treating your mum with a day at the salon. Photo: iStock

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