Mother’s Day is just around the corner. If you normally get your mom a bouquet of flowers or take her out to a restaurant, think outside the box and get her a gift that keeps her more prepared and self-reliant! Here are some ideas that can get you started to give her something unique that says, “I love you, Mom, and I want to help create a better life for you!”
Great Preparedness Gift Ideas for Mother’s Day
(Take note. Be sure to know your Mom. Mother’s Day gifts can be iffy. If you’re Mom is one of those that looks at anything that remotely looks like a house work gift as an affront to all womankind, give her something pretty, then give her this gift the next day as a bonus!)
The Gift of Words
There are a ton of books on the market now that will help Mom learn about those preparedness and self-reliant skills she wants to know. If she’s like me, she’s a huge reader and LOVES the gift of words!
- Survival Mom: How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios – This is a good primer on all areas of preparedness for the family. It’s the book I got my start on, and it comes highly recommended.
- Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival: The Essential Guide for Family Preparedness – The most thorough book I’ve read on food storage and preparation out there. Angela lives the life and knows what she’s talking about!
- Simply Canning: Survival Guide to Safe Home Canning – Besides the Ball Book on home canning, this is the best canning book I’ve read. Sharon runs the Simple Canning website and is so knowledgeable!
- The Restoration Series – If the Mom in your life loves fiction, The Restoration Series, by Terri Blackstock, is a great series – it’s easy to read, set around a family in a down-grid situation, and how they cope, along with their neighbors, to make it through the trying times.
• READ MORE – My Preparedness Library
The Gift of Preservation Pt. 1 – Canning
This is one of the first great steps in self-reliance and food storage. If the Mom in your life is an avid vegetable gardener and isn’t a canner, yet, these suggestions would be perfect. And even if Mom isn’t an avid gardener, the ability to can fresh produce that you can buy is still far above relying only on canned food from the stores. Try these suggestions!
- Water Bath Canner starter set – by far the easiest way to begin canning, Mom can start with jams and jellies and move on other items as she gains confidence. Yumm…thinking now of applesauce or watermelon jelly!
- Pressure Canner – taking canning up a notch for things like vegetables and meats, a pressure canner can give Mom the tools to begin to fill her food storage with ready-made meals.
- At Home Canning for Beginners and Beyond DVD – and to go along with the canner, this very highly recommended DVD that is a step by step on how to can all manner of product by Kendra of New Life on the Homestead. I loved this DVD and it makes a great companion to the water bath canner.
The Gift of Preservation Pt. 2 – Dehydrating
This is my favorite way to preserve, and I would have LOVED a dehydrator as a gift for Mother’s Day one year! You can go with a Nesco budget model that works wonderfully, or upgrade to an Excalibur deluxe model, either give Mom the ability to put food by for her family that is easy, almost foolproof, and saves so much room and money for the pantry! You can also direct her to this site to get a ton of dehydrating tips, recipes and techniques to get her started, or purchase the Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook to go along with it.
• READ MORE: 101+ Dehydrating Recipes
The Gift of Preservation Pt. 3 – Create a Meal
Here’s a unique, quick and easy gift idea — give your mom the gift of meals! Whether your mom can cook for herself, or likes variety, or you want to help build her pantry with easy to do foods, here are some ideas on how you can get her started!
• Gifts in a Jar – Create easy to put together meals from your own food storage, or create meals together with her to help stock both of your pantries. You can get 101+ ideas here.
• Easy to Prepare freeze dried meals – whether you stock Mom up on individual items or fully prepared meals, freeze dried foods can be a great way to store food for long term that keeps Mom stocked for everyday life as well as an emergency situation. And with the addition of hot stock or hot water, they make quick and easy meals to prepare.
• READ MORE – How to Use Freeze Dried Meal Pouches
The Gift of 3 Days
Create a 72 hour emergency kit for your mom full of those necessities that she needs, plus a few of her favorite comfort items (chocolate NOT recommended because 1. she’d just eat it, and 2. it might melt. No..strike that, she’d just eat it !) This is a great way to show you care about her well-being, especially if she lives alone. You can get a free downloadable checklist here.
The Gift of On the Road Safety
Like the 72 hour kit, the car emergency kit is a great way to make sure Mom is prepared for any road event. Make sure she has flares, tire equipment, blankets, emergency food, lighting and more.
The Gift to Help Her Stay Organized
One of the biggest issues people have with preparedness is keeping it all organized – from knowing what they need to have, knowing what they do have, and knowing where they have it all, if the Mom in your life loves to be organized, then a Preparedness Planner is the place to start! I’ve been using mine for a few months now and love how it works. You can order the planner, put it in a pretty binder for her, or give her the downloads to create one for herself (doing it for her would be a huge bonus, trust me!)
• READ MORE: Create Your Own Family Emergency Binder
The Gift to Save a Life
If your Mom is interested in taking more classes, make sure to give her a gift certificate for the American Red Cross or hook her up with The Patriot Nurse to take classes on CPR and First Aid, or in the case of The Patriot Nurse, more advanced first aid knowledge in Medical Prep 101/102. There’s also the Prepper’s University with renowned mom prepper The Survival Mom that would be something she could do at home.
• READ MORE: 10 First Aid Skills Every Parent Should Know
The Gift to save HER Life
Making sure Mom is able to take care of herself, and not be reliant on someone to be there for her always, is one of the greatest things you can do for her. Give her a gift certificate for a self-defense class or a handgun safety class. Better yet, do it with her! This will give her the life skills to help her better defend herself. Many martial arts studios will have the self-defense classes or can recommend one for you.
• READ MORE: 10 Basic Safety Tips for Women
The Gift of Skill
Has your Mom always shown interest in quilting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, soap-making, woodworking or cheese-making, but never has taken the plunge to learn these skills? Get her gift certificates to local classes and help her get the basic equipment she’d need to learn these skills! Not only are they great hobbies to pass the time, they are great self-reliant skills that can be turned into a career if need be. And an especially sweet treat for Mother’s Day is to take those classes right along with her!
• READ MORE: 150 Homesteading and Survival Skills You Need to Know
The Gift of Time
Especially if Mom is alone, the gift of time helping her create a garden to raise her own food, helping her learn a new skill, walking her through what it takes to do basic emergency repairs on her car or on her house, take some classes with her, and/or helping her learn to be more self-reliant is the best gift in the world.
• READ MORE: Emergency Preparedness for Seniors: How to Take Care of Grandma in an Emergency
What are you giving the Mom in your life for Mother’s Day?