gift guide: mother’s day.

May 7, 2018

mother's day 2018 | reading my tea leavesFor anyone looking to give the mothers in their lives a little something special on Mother’s Day this year, here are a few ideas for the adventurous, thrill-seeking, tech-savvy, gadget-loving, handy, all-around brilliant and dynamic mothers in your lives.

This very bright sweater for getting noticed in.

This board game for winning.

This neck-tie for staying fancy.

This moonshine for sipping.

These whiskey glasses for helping it go down smoothly.

This ice cube tray for supporting a plastic-free iced coffee season.

This bluetooth speaker for broadcasting favorite podcasts tunes to the picnic blanket.

This zero-waste quilt for lounging on.

This fedora for hiding under.

This universal bit kit for being able to make any tech-related repair a person could think of.

This simple set of covers for keeping tech safe.

This 2018 membership to the Feminist Bird Club.

Action items:

In an effort to ground all of this gift-giving in something a bit more down to earth, here are organizations you can support to help mothers at home and around the world:

For incarcerated black mothers: Join the #FreeBlackMamas Mother’s Day initiative to help pay bail for mothers who are in jail because they can’t afford to pay their way out. Why pay bail? Pre-trial incarceration has drastic longterm and immediate impacts on families and communities. Just a few days spent in jail can mean a lost job, lost housing, and torn-apart families. Sign up for a tool kit and find more information about this year’s National Bail Out to bring mothers to their families on Mother’s Day. (The NYC Black Mama Bail Out initiative is this way.)

For pregnant mothers in precarious places: Support Every Mother Counts, a global nonprofit dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother. They work both internationally and right here in the US, one of only thirteen countries with a rising maternal mortality rate. This month, together with another terrific non-profit, Choice in Childbirth, they published Maximizing Midwifery, a report focused on using midwifery to achieve high-value maternity care in New York.

For indigenous mothers and mothers of color: Support Sistersong, a nonprofit with a mission to strengthen and amplify the collective voices of indigenous women and women of color to achieve reproductive justice by eradicating reproductive oppression and securing human rights.

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5 Comments

  • Reply Joanna May 7, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    Hi Erin – love all your ideas! Question: How do you find out about so many cool organizations to promote? And there are so many – which do you support most and why? You’re always so thoughtful about making our world better – would love to know more about your thought process. xo

    • Reply ERIN BOYLE May 7, 2018 at 1:19 pm

      I spend a lot of time doing research and sometimes I hire other folks to do research for me! Always looking for organizations looking to do good for all kinds of folks who most need it!

  • Reply Katy May 8, 2018 at 9:28 am

    Thank you for not including the often-a-staple overly feminine items. Moms are the best, but that doesn’t mean they all want to smell like a garden of flowers and wear bright pink. This is one of the many reasons I return to your blog.

  • Reply M May 9, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    Fistula Foundation is a highly rated charitable organization that supports mothers!

  • Reply Mari May 10, 2018 at 11:32 pm

    This is one of the posts that makes me especially happy a friend recommended your blog and especially proud that I follow it. Thank you for being a light and sharing the links above. You are being of service to us all.

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