Christmas Gift Guide 2018: Gifts for mums
If there’s anyone in the family that deserves a really great gift, it’s statistically likely to be your mum.
We’ve pulled together some great gift ideas – suitable for a range of budgets, and a range of mums.
Stocking stuffers for mums
DropMix £24.99
A good board game can make or break a family Christmas. Chances are, your mum will probably appreciate not having to sit through another tense game of Monopoly this year.
DropMix is a fun, smart alternative board game from the makers of Guitar Hero that will keep the whole family happy. It’s a fantastic blend of musical freestyling and board game mechanics – so if your mum liked to get down to some tunes back in the day, she’ll feel right at home playing DropMix.
Each card features a sample from a particular song, such as the vocals from Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, or the strings section from Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life. When you’ve decided which sample you’d like to use, simply pop it down on to one of the board’s five card slots and listen from the app as your musical creation comes to life.
The game originally cost £119.99, however, it’s currently on offer for the ridiculously low price of just £24.99.
Lakeland Mini Ice Cream Maker £19.99
It might be described as a one portion ice cream maker, but if that’s the case, this little bucket of chill makes one generous portion. Which sometimes is exactly what you need and deserve. Its small size means it’s easy to find room for it in the freezer, and it has a dedicated hole for adding toppings midway through the process. Cheap and cheerful, we reckon any mum would be delighted to find this under the tree this year.
Aukey Mini USB-C Portable Charger £26.15
A sleek portable charger truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Admittedly, it’s not the most exciting gadget to play with on Christmas morning. However, it comes in handy time and time again, and your loved ones will be eternally grateful.
This Mini USB-C portable charger from Aukley would make a perfect stocking stuffer this Christmas. Just bigger than a tube of lipstick, it fits easily into any bag or pocket alongside your phone. It boasts sufficient capacity for a full charge of most smartphones and includes both a USB-C input/output and a full USB-A port.
- Read our Best portable charger round up here
- Buy an Aukey Mini USB-C Portable Charger from Amazon
Gifts under £50 for mums
Amazon Fire Stick £40
Everyone knows the best TV is on at Christmas, right? Not necessarily… there’s a wealth of excellent Christmas shows now available online. With an Amazon Fire Stick you can ensure your mum will never miss an episode of her favourite show again. The delight of good Christmas TV all year round. The Amazon Fire Stick second generation has all your national TV catch up services as well as capabilities to stream Netflix, Amazon Video, Prime Music and Spotify. It’s even got Alexa thrown in as well, so if your mum is prone to losing the remote, she can just change the channel by voice command, rather than the positively archaic click of a button.
- Read our full Amazon Fire Stick review
- Buy an Amazon Fire Stick from Amazon
Yi Mini Dash Camera £39.99
The mum in your life deserves as safe a car as possible – and a good dash camera can help with that. The Yi Mini Camera is a discretely mounted camera that provides and HD view – at a very reasonable price. It’s controlled by a dedicated app, and has built in WiFi.
iLuv Aud Click £49.99
A smart speaker that is Alexa integrated, the sleek and tiny Aud Click gives all the smart home connectivity you need, while sitting stylishly and subtly to the side. It has an integrated battery, so it travels if you need it to – although it doesn’t take Alexa with it – and makes a solid bluetooth speaker in its own right. The speaker doesn’t have an always on microphone – so if the mum your buying for is worried about accidentally ordering a crate of bananas, this might be the speaker for her.
Gifts under £100 for mums
Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker £69.00
Waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread is one of life’s great joys, and the advent of automated breadmakers has meant that you can do it without having to actually bake any bread. Truly the stuff dreams are made of. This breadmaker has a whole host of settings, including dedicated gluten free options, and can be set to a delay, so it cooks just in time for breakfast. It also keeps the bread warm for up to an hour after it’s cooked.
- Read our Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker review
- Buy a Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker from Amazon
Logitech iPhone stand £59.95
Back when we all had iPods instead of iPhones, standing chargers were everywhere, but they seem to have disappeared over the last few years. But Logitech is bringing them back, which this sleek and simple charging stand. Designed in consultation with Apple, it uses wireless charging so it will support other devices as well – although they’ll charge at a slower rate than an iPhone. It let’s you prop up for phone both in portrait and landscape, making it perfect for everything from video chats to watching Netflix.
Gifts under £200 for mums
Nanoleaf ‘s Aurora lighting system is something different in the smart home world, bringing the funk rather than just new functionality to your home. Artsy mums will just love the way these colour-changing LED panels can be assembled in pretty much any order, with the option of adding more at a later date, making the design possibilities endless. There’s a huge range of pre-loaded animations to fit any mood, or you can add the Rhythm module (sold separately) and they’ll respond to your music.
They also double nicely as a luxe night light for small children, making for an all-around great gift for a load of mums out there.
Awair 2nd Edition £159.99
If the mum in your life lives in a city, or in a world that continues to ignore climate change, she might be worried about the quality of the air in her home. Awairs Air Quality system helps take care of that – letting you know just what you’re breathing, and helping you make it as pure as possible. It’s sophisticated design means that it’s an unobtrusive addition to any room, and the dedicated app gives you a detailed breakdown of the air quality, and tips for for how to improve it.
KitchenAid Classic 2.1L Food Processor £149.00
Whether the mum in your life will want to use it herself, or watch you use it to make her things, a good processor is a must have in any kitchen, and KitchenAid are the gold standard. The classic design means they look great on the countertop (space permitting), and don’t have to be dragged out and packed away every time they’re used. It’s powerful enough to handle pretty much anything you throw at it, and comes complete with a mini bowl for when your processing needs are small.
- Read our KitchenAid Classic 2.1L Food Processor review
- Buy a KitchenAid Classic 2.1L Food Processor from Amazon
Expensive gifts for mums
Ruark MRx £399.00
If you really want to treat a mum (probably your own), you could do a lot worse than this classy as heck streaming speaker. It comes in either a sleek white finish, or a wood veneer, both of which look great, and the sound quality is outstanding. It’s controlled using an app, but streams music directly using Spotify, Tidal, Deezer or internet radio, so you don’t have to worry about leaving the room with your phone on you and dropping the connection.
Skagen Falster 2 £299.00
If your mum is in the market for a truly elegant smart watch, the Skagen Falster 2 is a real contender. It has solid fitness tracking chops, standalone GPS, and look at it, it’s gorgeous. The watch runs on Google’s Wear OS, so it’s simple to use and comes in a range of strap options.
Need more Christmas gift ideas? We’ve got you covered