Thoughtful and sustainable gifting - some Mother's Day ideas

Mother’s day is a day for celebration, but I’m aware that it can be a painful day for many of us too. In this blogpost I’m going to tell you why I’ve put together my mother’s day gift sets and give you some ideas for sustainable and experience based gift-sets too.

‘Make time for tea’ gift-sets

Its almost a year and a half since I lost my Mom suddenly to a stroke and it still feels very raw and painful. The first Mother’s Day following her passing I wanted to avoid completely, my family and I met up with friends and had a day out at Kew Gardens. But this year I wanted to do something in honour of my Mom and to channel my grief in a positive way.

Whenever I used to visit my Mom, the first question was ‘Do you want a cup of tea, Kate?’ And the answer 99% of the time was always a resounding yes. The tea was an invitation to chat about our families, work, problems and my Mom would always have a funny story to share or impart, or to tell me about one of her latest trips; she loved going abroad and had lived a full life exploring Africa, India, Morocco, China and the list goes on….

The tea was an invitation to slow down and I always loved and cherished these catch ups. But with young children who had their own busy schedules, inevitably I didn’t keep up the regularity of these visits as often as I’d have liked. I do take comfort from the fact that I visited the day before she passed away and she was telling me how she had cleaned her beautiful conservatory which was home to lots of exotic and unusual houseplants and flowers.

Its so easy to neglect our family and friends, but we can gain so much from a simple catch up over a cuppa.

So that’s why I put together these ‘Make Time for Tea’ gift- sets, with these postcards acting as an invitation for the next tea-date. The gift-set features a porcelain mug, thrown on the wheel; a handmade porcelain spoon and a tea-bag, from the sustainable and organic brand Pukka Herbs. The items are thoughtfully wrapped in a recycled box and packaging, with a porcelain tag and a dried bloom as a flourish.

The mugs comes in a variety of glaze finishes: pink ombre with white, a deep blue ombre with white; a denim/petrol blue and a mint green/turquoise combination. I’ve also been extending this collection with tea-pots and tea bowls so keep an eye out for those in the next few weeks.

The post-cards were designed by designer, and calligrapher Becca Cherry.

Make time for tea gift set featuring denim/petrol blue mug.

Make time for tea gift set featuring green and turquoise mug

‘Make time for blooms’ gift-sets

As well as her large conservatory, my Mom had always been an avid gardener and the house was always filled with her garden flowers or freesias and lilies that my Dad would buy for her. So I decided to do another gift-set for Moms who appreciate flora and like to spend a few moments arranging some blooms.

These gift-sets feature a postcard and a posie of dried blooms, from my friend Bex from Botanical Tales, who has grown and dried most of the flowers herself.

My hand-thrown vases come in a variety of shades and shapes, including pinks, blues and bronzes take a look in my shop to see more.

The vase gift-set comes with an everlasting bouquet and comes gift wrapped in a recyclable box.

Here is a little video of me in my studio, showing how I throw my mugs.

Clay and other workshop ideas

I am also running a couple of workshops to handbuild a porcelain vase or a set of tea-lights and then decorate it, either with some patterned paper or in a freestyle design of your choosing using blue underglaze. These could be the perfect gift for Mom or to attend with a friend.

Here are the details where you can find out more, but I’m running two workshops. One in Kings Heath on March 25 and one in Malvern on 14 March as part of the Blue Magpie Contemporary Craft Fair; I will also have work available to buy during these sessions.

Here’s a video which shows how I construct the vase from porcelain paper-clay.

Some alternative workshop experiences

Having creative experiences is so good for the soul. Here are some other brilliant workshops organised by friends which make great alternative mother’s day gifts which you could take your Mom to.

Candle-maker, Becky Avery it hosting a spring soy candle making workshop in Trowbridge. Find the details here.

Jeweller, Kate from Grace and Flora is showing people how to make textured earrings in her studio in Twickenham.

Bex from Botanical Tales is showing people how to make an everlasting wreath workshop in her studio in Farnham.

And closer to home, Jordan from Isherwood&Co is hosting a spring workshop at her fabulous plant shop in Stirchley, Birmingham.

I hope find some time to slow down and enjoy Mother’s Day whether you are a Mum, partner, son, daughter, grandson, or even granddaughter.

Best wishes,

Katie

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