Meaningful, Personalized Mother's Day Gifts Under $75

The best mother's day gift is one that shows you appreciate her, and what's a better way to appreciate someone then to show them that you remember all the wonderful things they've done for you?

1. This mother's day, make the gift, fun and personalized. The general idea is to present the gift in scavenger hunt form. Be aware, this may take a lot of planning, but it's definitely worth it. So you're first task is to take a picture of you and your mom and make it into a puzzle. You can print a picture at target for less than $5 and if you want to make it last you can put it on cardboard or really strong paper, whichever looks best to you.
The hardest part is thinking of places to hide these puzzle pieces and what kind of clues you want to use.

For example, I was notorious for falling of the playground near our house and getting splinters. So my clue would be, "I used to come home from here after playing, only to present you with the tedious task of taking each individual splinter out. Thanks for giving up hours of your time to make sure each individual splinter was pulled out" My mom would definitely know where that is, so she would go to the park, and there would be one puzzle piece with the clue to the next one on the back.

All of this shouldn't cost you more than $20, unless you count gas, which in that case is perfectly fine to do it at the house.

2. Photo albums are always nice reminders. You can buy photo albums for cheap at any craft store or thrift store. Most of the money will come from printing out pictures, which you can either do yourself, or print at Kinkos for 50 cents each

3. If you're crafty at sewing, or know someone who is, you can make a memory quilt. Just put together the quilt, and print pictures onto transfers that are meant for fabric.

4. Go to the mall, and get a picture of you, your family, or you and your mom engraved onto a keychain or a pendant at the mall. Depending on the size and kind of metal you want, those average about $25.

5. Personalize a message on a mug, so she can be reminded how much she is loved each and every morning.

6. Make either a cd of all her favorite songs or a cd of songs that are meant for mothers. There are tons out there. Type in "mother's day songs" or "songs about mothers" in google, and you will be sure to find the perfect list of songs.

7. Make a series of "thank you" notes, and frame them. Make sure they are specific "thank you's." Make sure they pertain to an inside joke, or something she will definitely remember.

Example: "Thank you for rushing home from work to fix my prom dress when I called you two hours before prom to tell you that I accidentally ripped my dress."

8. Personalized fortune cookies. You can either customize them with heart warming quotes, "I love you", or "thank you."

9. Find some of your old mother's day gifts, especially the ones you made when you were a kid, recreate them, and make them better. Add a message that runs along the lines of, "I have grown older, my artistic skills have gotten better, and my love and appreciation for you have grown stronger."

10. Cook her a dinner with all her favorite foods. Your mom probably spent a majority of the time cooking for you; it would be nice to be the one being pampered for a change.