The clock is ticking if you’ve yet to buy your mom a gift. While it might be too late to pick up some items before Mother’s Day arrives on Sunday, not all hope is lost. As it turns out, there are still a number of great gifts — including the latest Kindle and Beats Fit Pro — that will arrive on time, many of which are also discounted in the run-up to the holiday.
We’ve rounded up a selection of the best last-minute gifts below, along with a few digital ideas for the true procrastinators among us. We’ve also curated a wide-ranging Mother’s Day gift guide should you need a little more inspiration as well as a wallet-friendly gift guide for those working with a tighter budget.
Finally, before we dive into the gifts, be aware that you’ll probably have to pay extra to get many of these presents in time from Amazon, assuming you’re not already a Prime member. The good news is that, in many instances, retailers like Best Buy will ship their items for free by Mother’s Day, so there’s no need to quickly subscribe to Prime if you’re worried.
Lego’s Orchid set comes with all the Legos your mom will need to build a beautiful orchid she can display as home decor.
Flowers are beautiful, but they also die quickly. For a low-maintenance gift that’ll last, you might want to check out Lego’s newer botanical sets. With the included Legos, your mom can construct a blossom-topped bonsai tree or a nine-piece bouquet that she can then proudly display as an attractive piece of home decor. What’s more, a few of the sets are on sale for just $39.99 ($10 off), including the Lego Bonsai Tree (Amazon / Best Buy), the Lego Orchid (Amazon / Best Buy), and even the Lego Succulents (Amazon / Best Buy).
$50
The Chromecast with Google TV introduces a dedicated remote and new software. It brings together recommendations from all of your streaming services and supports 4K HDR content with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10 Plus.
There are a lot of good streaming devices on the market but not many like the Chromecast with Google TV (4K). The device is uniquely capable of pulling together recommendations from your mom’s favorite streaming services while offering helpful information like Rotten Tomatoes ratings. As a result, she’ll be able to quickly and easily find the next show she wants to binge. The device also offers support for 4K content, Dolby Atmos sound, and Dolby Vision HDR. Right now, you can buy it for around $49.99 and get it in time for the holiday from Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. Read our review.
Jabra’s Elite 3 earbuds have a refreshed design that’s more stylish than the company’s past earbuds. While they don’t have many frills or extra features, they fare well in the key areas of sound quality, comfort, and battery life.
If you’re looking to gift a good pair of true wireless earbuds for under $100, Jabra’s Elite 3 can provide almost everything mom might want. Not only do the earbuds look good and feel comfortable to wear, but they also offer good sound quality, IP55 water resistance, and long battery life. So long as she doesn’t need newer bells and whistles like active noise cancellation or multipoint support, the Elite 3 offer a lot of appeal in a relatively inexpensive package. Normally $79.99, you can pick them up right now at Amazon starting at $67.19 or at Best Buy for their full retail price. Read our review.
Amazon’s new entry-level Kindle comes with a host of much-needed upgrades, including a better display, longer battery life, and USB-C charging.
If your mom is a bookworm, you can’t go wrong with gifting her Amazon’s latest entry-level Kindle. Although it’s not waterproof like the more expensive Kindle Paperwhite, both e-readers offer a crisp 300ppi display and long battery life. Admittedly, the base model is smaller than the Paperwhite, at 6.2 inches, though that could also be a plus given it makes the e-reader far more pocketable and easier to hold with one hand. Normally $99.99, the entry-level Kindle is currently on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with ads starting at just $79.99. Read our review.
The Fitbit Luxe looks more like a piece of jewelry. It boasts a colorful OLED touchscreen display and tracks a variety of statistics, including your heart rate, sleep, exercise, and more.
The Fitbit Luxe is a good choice if you want to gift an active mom something practical yet pretty. In fact, your mom might actually think you’re gifting her a piece of jewelry because the wearable resembles a traditional bracelet — well, at least more than most fitness trackers do. While it lacks newer fitness-tracking features like the ability to track stress, it boasts a colorful OLED display and can keep tabs on the basics, including your heart rate and sleep patterns. Right now, you can buy it on sale in various colors for $89.95 at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target.
The Echo Show 8 is the midsize smart display in Amazon’s current Echo lineup and can be used to display the weather, news, calendars, grocery lists, and more. You can also use it to control your smart home devices, watch streaming video, or listen to music. It even supports video calling via Zoom and Amazon’s Alexa calling service.
A smart display like Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8 is a versatile gift that moms can use to perform a wide range of voice-enabled tasks. It can function as a digital photo frame, sure, but it will also allow her to control other smart home devices, stream video content from Netflix, and even make Zoom calls using the same 13-megapixel camera on the Echo Show 10. Normally $129.99, the Echo Show 8 is currently on sale at Best Buy and Amazon for $74.99, which marks its best price of the year. Read our review.
Apple’s entry-level iPad from 2021 has a 10.2-inch screen, an A13 Bionic chip, and a 12MP front camera that supports Apple’s Center Stage feature. It’s also compatible with the first-gen Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard and is the only iPad that still has a 3.5mm headphone jack.
If you have the money, why not buy a gift that can act as a note-taking device, an e-reader, a laptop, and all-around entertainment and productivity gadget? Yes, I’m talking about Apple’s entry-level iPad from 2021, which is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy in the Wi-Fi configuration with 64GB of storage for $269.99 ($59 off). The affordable ninth-gen tablet is also on sale for $10 more at Walmart and should arrive in time for the holiday.
“Why the old one?” you might ask. Well, despite the fact that there’s now a larger 10.9-inch iPad in town, we think the last-gen model offers a lot more value for your money, especially since it costs $130 less. The 2021 model is still an excellent tablet, but it doesn’t support USB-C and lacks Apple’s newer processing chip, meaning it’s a little slower than the latest model. That said, it does have a headphone jack, just in case mom isn’t a fan of wireless earbuds.
Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite has a 6.8-inch E Ink display with adjustable color temperature for nighttime reading. It also boasts a faster processor, additional battery life, IPX8 waterproofing, and — finally — a USB-C port.
For moms who like to soak in the tub or lounge by the pool with a good book, the Kindle Paperwhite is the perfect gift. The e-reader is waterproof, after all, and sports months-long battery life so she can leisurely read for as long as she’d like. Other notable features include USB-C support and a sharp 6.8-inch display that’s easy on the eyes.
Regularly $139.99, the ad-supported model with 8GB of storage is currently selling for $109.99 at Best Buy and Amazon. Read our review.
The Theragun Mini massager is a small, ultra-portable massage device that’s quiet and effective at providing relief for muscle pain and melting away tension.
Gifting mom a Theragun Mini is kind of like buying her unlimited soft tissue massages whenever, wherever. The three-speed massager is powerful but also tiny and quiet enough that she can pull it out whenever she needs some relief. Right now, you can buy the last-gen model in time for Mother’s Day from Amazon for $144 ($54 off) and from Best Buy for $149.99.
The Beats Fit Pro earbuds have integrated wing tips that help keep them secure during runs and workouts. They also have excellent noise cancellation, and their sound has just the right amount of bass and kick to keep you motivated.
If your mom is a fitness fan, the Beats Fit Pro are a gift she’ll appreciate while sweating it out at the gym. With their integrated wing tips, the wireless earbuds are designed to stay securely in mom’s ears no matter how vigorous her workout is. They also offer active noise cancellation and excellent sound quality, so she’ll be able to easily stay focused and motivated while getting her reps in. If you want to pick them up in time for the holiday, you can grab them at either Best Buy or Amazon (if you’re a Prime member) for around $159.99 ($40 off). Read our review.
$70
A one-year Calm membership provides unlimited access to the app’s content library, where you’ll be able to enjoy guided and unguided meditations that cover sleep, stress, gratitude, and other topics as well as masterclasses with mindfulness experts.
If you want to give mom the gift of relaxation but it’s too late to buy a physical gift, rest assured that you can still buy a ton of digital gifts that’ll help her practice self-care.
For example, you could buy her a subscription to a meditation or mindfulness app like Calm or Headspace. A one-year Calm subscription runs $69.99, while a year of Headspace currently retails for $54.99 ($15 off). You can also subscribe to a couple of months of Headspace for $12.99 per month if an annual subscription is too pricey for you.
$13
Headspace offers hundreds of guided meditations that are destined to relieve stress, improve productivity, and help you exercise. You can either pay $12.99 every month to subscribe or pay $69.99 for a full year.
Alternatively, you could buy your mom something that’ll help her lighten the load in other ways. For example, gifting her an Instacart or DoorDash gift card means she won’t necessarily have to cook after a tiring day of work. Instead, she can just sit back and relax while somebody else delivers dinner (or groceries) to her door.
$25
You can pick up an Instacart gift card starting at $25 or, alternatively, purchase an Instacart Express membership — which offers unlimited free delivery and more — starting at $29 for three months.
For nature-loving moms or ones who are simply in need of a break, there’s also the $80 America the Beautiful National Park Pass. The pass grants mom a year of access to all of the country’s national parks, so she can visit the Grand Canyon or Yosemite whenever she wants. Plus, if she can’t visit one of the nation’s flagship parks, it still provides access to plenty of recreation spots scattered throughout the US.
$80
This pass grants free entry to all 63 national parks, from the Grand Canyon to Yosemite, as well as over 2,000 recreation sites across the country.
If your mom is all about exercising, there are a ton of subscriptions you can gift her, including Peloton’s $12.99 a month plan. With it, your mom will be able to enjoy thousands of on-demand fitness classes spanning a range of workouts, from dance to strength training. Best of all, she doesn’t need to own a Peloton bike or treadmill to use it.
$13
Peloton’s $12.99 monthly subscription offers thousands of streamable fitness classes revolving around a variety of different workouts, ranging from strength training to stretching. It’s a service that’s available to everybody, so you don’t need to own a Peloton device to use it.
For the mom who loves to sit back and binge the latest hits, a gift card to one of her favorite streaming services — or one she has yet to try — can make for a great gift. A Netflix subscription, for example, starts at $6.99 and grants mom access to popular shows like The Diplomat and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story along with a host of well-known staples.
A subscription to the $12.99 a month Disney Bundle is another good option given it provides access to Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus, allowing your mom to tap into the latest season of The Mandalorian, her favorite sports team, and more.
$30
The well-known streaming service offers individual subscriptions starting at $6.99 per month as well as more premium tiers that allow for 4K resolution and additional users.
$13
For $12.99 a month, you’ll get ad-supported access to Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus, which is cheaper than you’d otherwise pay if you purchased each subscription separately. Alternatively, you can also gift a year of the ad-free version for $109.99.
If mom’s more into reading the latest bestseller or audiobook, picking up either a Kindle Unlimited or an Audible subscription might be the better option. Kindle Unlimited grants access to 2 million digital ebooks for $9.99 per month. However, right now, Amazon is offering the first two months for $4.99 instead of $19.98.
For moms who prefer listening over reading, there’s also Audible, which starts at $7.95 per month for access to thousands of audiobooks. However, if you gift the monthly premium plan for $14.95, mom will also be able to keep one title every month.
$10
Kindle Unlimited grants access to millions of digital titles, from bestsellers to classics, for $9.99 a month.
$15
The monthly Audible Premium Plus plan offers access to thousands of downloadable audiobooks while throwing in one free title you can keep.
There are also a wide range of music streaming services that’ll grant mom access to millions of songs and podcast episodes. These include Spotify (Amazon, Best Buy), of course, but also others like Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited (Amazon). Amazon’s goes for $7.99 a month, is ad-free, and lets mom choose from more than 75 million songs in SD, HD, and Ultra HD. (There are even spatial audio tracks.) Meanwhile, an Apple gift card (Best Buy, Target), grants mom access to over 90 million songs through Apple Music ($9.99 a month).
$30
A Spotify Premium gift card gives giftees ad-free access to millions of songs and podcast episodes.
$25
An Apple gift card can be used toward accessing over 90 million songs on Apple Music as well as the company’s various products and services.
$9
An Amazon Music Unlimited subscription gives you ad-free access to millions of podcast episodes and over 75 million songs starting at $7.99 a month.
Finally, if you’re still on the fence about what to buy mom, there’s no shame in buying a gift card from a major retailer like Amazon or Best Buy. After all, it’s the gift that’ll give her the most amount of options, so she can get exactly what she wants.
$25
Amazon gift cards start at $25 — or an amount of your choosing — and can be used toward almost anything, regardless of the department.
$25
Best Buy gift cards start at $25 and can be used toward purchases both in-store and online.
$20
Walmart gift cards start at $20 and be used toward purchases from a range of departments, both in-store and online.
$10
Target gift cards start as low as $10 and — like those for Amazon and Walmart — can be used toward purchases made both in-store and online, regardless of the department.
