Last-minute Mother’s Day must-haves

I have a few prints from Posterjack and no matter what I’ve ordered, the delivery time has been short and the quality excellent. If your home has one of those pesky corner “shelves” thanks to a circular stairway, you know that finding anything large-scale enough to fit there can be a challenge. This is a 20″x30″ Posterjack gallery box, which comes looking very much like a canvas print with a frame around it. At this size, it’s big but still sturdy enough to stand on its own. (But of course it still comes ready-to-hang, too.) Just be sure to use high-resolution images if you’re going to print something big for mom, and trust Posterjack’s resolution detection software if it tells you your image is too small. At $114.99 plus tax and shipping, this also makes a great group gift from grandchildren.

Let’s say you have fewer than 20,000 Aeroplan Miles in your account. While that’s not enough for a return flight, there’s definitely enough in your account to go shopping. Starting at just 4,000 miles, Aeroplan offers plenty of Mother’s Day gift ideas . With 13,000 miles, I would choose the $100 gift card for L’Occitane — one of my favourite shops. The Shea Butter Hand Cream is a staple in my life (it’s seriously incomparable to any other hand cream). What I love about getting gift cards is that it gives me the opportunity to try products I might not otherwise buy with my own money. The mom in your life probably feels the same way, so go spend those miles!

No one said you had to go shopping in the women’s department for mom. A watch is the perfect example of knowing the person for whom you’re buying. I personally don’t like dainty watches — the bigger the better for me. GUESS offers on-trend watches in reasonable price points (typically in the $100-300 range), and if you’ve had some success buying fashionable accessories for mom in the past, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to pick out a watch that she’ll treasure.

If you’ve got less than $5 in your pocket, then the handmade $4.50 raw-edge soap from La Chacha is going to be your best bet for Mother’s Day giving. These are high-quality, made-in-Canada soaps infused with gorgeous scents like peppermint, eucalyptus, tangerine and — my personal fave — lemongrass, to name but a few. Made in small batches with 100 per cent natural ingredients, draw mom a warm bath, light some candles and give her a bar of La Chacha soap. (Then, for goodness sake, close the door and leave the woman alone for at least an hour.) You can also find La Chacha products at the upcoming Craftadian Show in Mississauga on May 14.

If mom’s into makeup, chances are she hasn’t treated herself to a new set of brushes in years. And unless she takes scrupulous care of her brushes, they’re probably in dire need of replacing. I am totally geeking out over the new Tweezerman Brush IQ makeup brushes. In short: they’re amazing. Tweezerman partnered with DuPont to create this line of synthetic brushes — and there’s a lot of science in these little guys. The  “Natrafil filaments” (a.k.a. the little hairs on the brushes) look and feel like real hair; and as a real-hair-brush-junkie myself, I can confirm that they perform like real-hair brushes, too. In fact, I dare say I like them more than my real-hair brushes. They hold and transfer makeup and pigment incredibly well, feel great on your skin and wash brilliantly. If you can only choose one, make it the flat-top foundation brush — it makes me OMG every day.

I bought three bracelets recently from this fabulous little Toronto-based etsy shop — one for my niece for her First Communion, one for Miss Q for some occasion down the road, and then I had to buy one for myself (pictured). These cost-effective bracelets are lovely, customized with your initial, and sized based on measurements you provide. Shipping is fast and inexpensive, too. 

If you haven’t read my original Tieks review, or the follow-up post after I’d been wearing the best ballet flats (ever) for a couple of years, go ahead and do that now. We’ll wait… OK, good stuff. Now that you know why mom would love a pair of Tieks, here’s what you need to know if you’re ordering from the USA: you’re golden! Shipping is free but you can also choose expedited shipping to ensure they arrive before Mother’s Day weekend. If you’re ordering from Canada, the courier usually delivers Tieks quickly (I’ve gotten mine in anywhere from two to four days) but it will run you an extra $35 in shipping and you may also have brokerage and duty fees (not always but budget for it just in case).

For less than $100, you can score mom a pair of these fab TOMS sunnies, all while giving sight to people in need. Each pair comes with its own soft case, and the shades themselves are made out of SOLAFLEX, which is a proprietary rubberized material that gives them pliability and durability. After wearing these all week on a recent trip to Punta Cana, I can tell you that they fit well, do a great job of blocking the sun and your kids will love making faces at the lenses.