A card from Hallmark is lovely, but a card with family photos on it is less likely to end up in the recycle bin. Create a custom photo card for you mom in iPhoto by following these easy steps and then print it out and deliver it in person.
If your mom is far away, don’t just shoot her a text message or one-line e-mail. Instead, use iPhoto ’11’s fun custom e-mail templates to send her a thoughtful greeting packed with photos of the family that she’ll enjoy. Hold down Command and select up to 10 photo thumbnails, then click the share button in the bottom right corner of your screen and select Email. Pick a template that suits your style, personalize the text, and hit send.
FaceTime is perfect for a Mother’s Day when you’re far away. Skip the traditional phone call and get the family together for an extended video chat on her Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad 2. If your mom is on a PC, Skype is a great alternative. And if she is completely lacking in video chat technology, skip to the end of this slideshow—we have the prefect gift idea for you.
The digital photo frame is a classic parent gift. We recommend the $60 Aluratek ADPF08SF 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame, which rotates through your favorite photos on an 800 by 600 LCD screen. You can position it horizontally or vertically, and it connects with both Macs and PCs. Though its internal memory is lacking, the frame has SD and SDHC card slots, and it can connect to a USB hard drive or thumb drive. Get mom started by including a memory card full of, well, memories.
Mother’s Day shouldn’t be all about the offspring. Yes, she likes to see you and chat and admire her handwork, but she also enjoys a little “me” time. The $140 Kindle 3 is an amazing device for any book-loving mom. Be a sweetheart and load it up with a few ePubs or PDFs that she’ll enjoy. As a bonus, she’ll be ready to go when Amazon rolls out its Kindle Lending Library later this year.
This one is by special request from one of our mothers. The New York Times recently rolled out their digital subscription plans, which put a price on iPad, iPhone, and regular nytimes.com content. The plans range in cost from $3.75 to $8.75 a week depending on your combination of mobile devices, and they have discount deals available for the first few months. However, our favorite option is opting for home delivery of the Sunday print issue for around $7.50 a week (amount varies according to location), which gets you full access to all New York Times digital content.
This is one of our favorite point-and-shoot cameras. It lacks manual controls, but is packed with great sharing features and takes lovely photographs. The $300 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX5 has fun modes for panoramic, low-light, 3D, and HDR images.
If moving images are more mom’s speed, give her a pocket camcorder. The $170 Bloggie Touch from Sony was designed with sharing in mind. She can shoot video and quickly upload it to the social networking or video sharing sites of her choosing. The Bloggie Touch shoots 1080p HD video and can also capture 12.8-megapixel still images.
Give mom the gift of silence or uninterrupted rock-and-roll with a pair of noise canceling headphones. The 6-ounce Panasonic RP-HC500 headphones (right) cost $200 and can keep their wearers from hearing outside noises up to 22 DB. Another option is a pair of the $350 Quiet Comfort 3 headphones (left) from noise canceling pros, Bose.
An iPad! If you really really love your mother, and happen to have a spare $500 burning a hole in your pocket, consider getting her an iPad 2. She can use it to make FaceTime calls, stream Netflix movies, play Words with Friends, read books, check the New York Times, and even snap some low-resolution still images. She’ll absolutely love it. But she would also love flowers, so no pressure.