Frugal Mother’s Day ideas

Mother’s Day is fast approaching in the UK. It is on Sunday, 22nd March. We would all like to spend a small fortune on our mums, I am sure, but if you are on a tight budget you may be looking for more frugal Mother’s Day ideas.

Not spending what you cannot afford isn’t being mean – it’s being realistic. I hate that the marketers make us feel that the more you spend the more you love someone! With a bit of thought and creativity you can pull together a really lovely gift for under £10.

I try to pick up little baskets and pretty boxes in the charity shops as I am doing my rounds. These make a good basis for various mini hampers, which would be nice for Mother’s Day.

If you don’t have any baskets handy, they do a nice basic one in Poundland.

I also keep tissue paper in different colours and little bits of coloured twine, so that I can arrange things to look really nice in the basket.

Here are some frugal Mother’s Day ideas that I hope you will like. None of the below are affiliate links.

Rose beauty basket

I would head to Poundland first. Here you can find all sorts of nice, inexpensive bits and bobs.

How about a beauty basket, with some Fresh Rose bath salts, complete with real rose petals? These come with a free face mask too and are a massive bargain at £1. Chuck in some rose scented soaps too. These come as a pack of five in a heart shaped presentation box.

Complete your rose themed box with some luxury hand wash, and you have a lovely gift for £3.

Stationery basket

The Works is great for stationery. Maybe your mum would like a pretty notebook? They have some lovely ones between £2 and £4. I like this Think Happy Thoughts one, which is just £2.

Add a pack of pastel highlighters for another £2 and some black fine line pens for £1. This will be  around a fiver.

For £3 more, you could buy a bee memo box, which is currently only £3 – excellent value!

Chocolate basket

You can spend a lot of money on a box of chocolates. But the Card Factory does a box of Belgian chocolates and you can personalise the lid with photos of your mum for only £9.99.

You could also make a chocolate basket pretty cheaply by buying chocolate from Aldi and Lidl. I would choose  a Miser Roth dark chocolate bar with orange and almonds for £1.45 (delicious!), some Turkish delight for 69p, some Choceur mini white chocolate bars for £1.59 and maybe some hazelnut mini delights for £1.29.

There is loads to choose from and the quality of Aldi chocolate is excellent. My choices come to just over £5. If I decided to push the boat out I would make it a chocolate and bubbles basket with a bottle of organic cava for £6.99.

DIY cream tea

I got this together for my friend’s birthday and she really liked it. The first thing is to try to pick up a really pretty vintage looking cup and saucer from somewhere – I often see them in charity shops for a couple of pounds.

Then head to Aldi for a pot of their delicious Specially Selected strawberry conserve, which costs just 85p, some Scottish breakfast tea for 75p, and a pack of Earl grey, again 75p.

Add a pack of Village Bakery sultana scones, which will set you back another 79p. To complete your DIY cream tea kit, head over to the chiller section for some double cream for 89p. Clotted cream would be even better but you will have to go elsewhere for that as Aldi don’t sell it.

Depending on how much you pay for your cup and saucer, this should cost you less than £6.

Flowers

It may seem like a cliche for Mother’s Day, but there aren’t many people who don’t like a nice bunch of flowers. However, when you are on a budget a £30 bunch can be too expensive.

This is where the budget supermarkets come to the rescue. Lidl are particularly good for flowers – you can get a dozen red roses for just £3.30 – but Aldi can also be pretty good value. You do need to check that the flowers have been sitting in water and look fresh; I have seen some that have clearly been hanging around a few days in Aldi that look a bit sad.

You could buy several bunches for £2-3, arrange them and tie them with a piece of ribbon for a really great value gift.

Cards

There are lots of other options for frugal Mother’s Day gifts if you do a bit of research. It is also possible to buy a decent card for £1 or less. The Card Factory are brilliant value I think, and Asda also often have a decent range at a low price. I resent paying £3 and upwards for something that will be in the recycling in a few days!

And if you don’t want to buy anything, you could bake a cake or use your artistic skills to make something special.

I hope you like my suggestions for a frugal Mother’s Day. What would yours be?