Gifts for Mom and Dad, from morning coffee to weekend getaways

By GiftPicker ·

Parents spend years looking after everyone else, then insist they don't need a thing when their own birthday comes around. Finding a gift that feels worthy of all that can be a lot of pressure.

Picture a regular week in their house. Where do they start the morning, what is for dinner, and what do they do on a free Saturday? The gifts below follow that week from the first cup of coffee to a weekend away. There are only a handful, and most are the kind of thing the whole family can chip in on.

For their morning coffee

In plenty of houses the day starts with coffee, so begin there. The Ember Mug 3 holds coffee or tea at the exact temperature they choose, adjustable on the mug or in the app, so the first cup doesn't go cold while they read the news. For parents who love a café drink, Nespresso's Vertuo Next with the Aeroccino3 milk frother makes espresso, coffee, cappuccinos, and lattes at home, with the frother turning milk into foam at the press of a button.

For dinner at home

If they have cooked for the family for decades, give them a few nights off. Goldbelly's monthly restaurant food box subscription sends famous dishes from restaurants and bakeries around the country, like pizza, barbecue, cakes, and pies, and each box serves at least four. For the nights they do cook, Le Creuset's cast iron round oven is an enameled Dutch oven for a Sunday roast or a big pot of soup, and the AeroGarden Harvest grows fresh herbs and greens on the counter all year with no soil, so the basil is always a snip away.

For the weekends

For parents who like to get out on weekends, the National Parks Annual Pass covers entry to federal recreation lands for a full year and admits everyone in the car, so it works for a road trip with the grandkids too. Pair it with the official Passport To Your National Parks, a spiral-bound book for collecting free cancellation stamps at more than 400 park sites, so every visit becomes a dated keepsake. For a quieter weekend closer to home, a ResortPass gift card books a day at a hotel pool or spa near them, with a cabana or a treatment if they like.

A video montage from the whole family

One of the gifts parents love most costs nothing but a little organizing: a short video of the people they love, each sharing a memory or a wish. It works for a milestone birthday, an anniversary, or a retirement.

  • Pick a deadline two or three weeks before the day, and ask family and friends to record a clip of 30 seconds or less on their phones, held sideways, somewhere quiet and well lit.
  • Give everyone the same simple prompt, such as a favorite memory with them or something they taught you, so the clips fit together.
  • Collect everything in one shared folder or album, for example a shared Google Drive folder, and add a few old photos and home videos while you are at it.
  • Put it together in a free editor such as iMovie, keep the finished video under about five minutes, and end with the whole family saying happy birthday or congratulations together.
  • Play it at the celebration with everyone in the room, then send them the file so they can watch it whenever they like.

Making it a family gift

Several of these, like the Nespresso machine, the Le Creuset, or the Goldbelly subscription, are easy to split among siblings. Agree on one gift early, let one person handle the ordering, and ask everyone to add a line to the card, so your parents get to open one thoughtful present from all of you together.

If you live nearby, add something free: show up one evening to cook dinner with them, and stay for dessert.

Shopping for just one of them? Tell the quiz about Mom or Dad, their interests, and your budget, and it will rank gifts from our catalog. Take the GiftPicker quiz.

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