Holiday Giving: Top 10 Gifts for the Working Mom

This time of year, there is no shortage of “What to Buy” lists floating around the Internet. And since we, too, love page-views, we’ve compiled one of our very own!

Top 10 Gifts for the Working Mom

10. Bourbon.

After a long day of “having it all,” what mom doesn’t want to relax and drink all memory of the last ten to twelve hours away? It doesn’t even need to be great bourbon; for the working mom, quantity of alcohol often trumps quality. Especially on a day involving a 3-hour “lunch meeting” followed by a presentation followed by road closures on the way home followed by making dinner and trying to keep a toddler who has no concept of drowning alive through bath time.

9. Yoga Jeans.

Do not expect her to ever use them at yoga. Yoga jeans are the world’s second greatest invention after Pajama Jeans (which, if you were a good friend/parent/partner, you already gave her last year). They suggest stylishness but also are as comfortable as leggings but they get less threadbare around the seams where her thighs rub together.

8. Silk pillowcases.

What you think you are giving is luxury. What you are actually giving is better hair. And an overall time-savings in the morning, which is that critical time of day when the working mom is expected to put together an appearance that says “competent professional” while fighting a fast-fingered gnome who just wants to paint Puppy’s face with lipstick and flush her hairbrush down the toilet with the car keys.

7. Coffee. Gift cards for coffee shops. Travel mugs. Starbucks stock.

Just make it easier to put the caffeine in her body.

6. Time away.*

*From you. Maybe it’s a gift card to a store that’s not in your neighbourhood. Maybe it’s a class she’s been wanting to take, or a voucher for a massage somewhere relaxing, or an appointment for a haircut in the city. Give her something she can do on her own. Three hours to re-charge after a long and harried week with work and you and the child(ren) will do wonders for her personality and your life together.

5. A fully un-booked weekend complete with sleep-ins.

The holidays can seem as much like work as her day job. There is driving, there are places to go and people to see and she will likely have to wear pants to all of these events and pretend to be a functional, interesting human when all she wants to do is get into those Pajama Jeans and fall asleep reading a magazine. She is very tired. No one ever asks her what she wants to do on the weekends in December, so ask her what she wants to do one weekend in January. Chances are it will involve sweatpants and movies and junk food and not answering the phone, which means joy and a better life for everyone.

4. Clip-on earrings.

Have you ever tried to wear jewelry that attaches through holes in your body around a baby or toddler? Don’t. It hurts so much.

3. A magazine subscription.

Magazines are great! They are short and she can read them in the bathroom. Get the mobile version of her favourite print magazine and she can even read it on her commute into work.

2. A vasectomy.

The greatest gift you can give a working mom who doesn’t want any more kids is the gift of not getting her accidentally pregnant. Daycare is expensive and she does not get overtime if she is in a salaried position. If you are same-sex partners this will not apply to you and you kind of get ripped off because there are only nine things on this list for you, but then again you can do all the other nine things for each other AND you get the bonus of never getting surprise-pregnant when you already can’t really afford daycare so maybe don’t feel so bad okay?

1. A Roomba.

Or, you know, something frivolous that she doesn’t actually need but REALLY REALLY WANTS. Christmas is not the time to go practical, good sirs. She wants a Roomba so she can record video of the cat or baby riding on it and finally achieve the level of internet fame and subsequent wealth she will need to quit her job and finally get that work-life balance people are always on about. If she has never explicitly mentioned a Roomba, some other options include classy-looking jewelry (rings don’t hurt when babies pull at them), a secret iPad the kids will never find out about, or a weekend away in another city with you and no children (you will also have coerced the grandparents into babysitting). A VitaMix would also be cool.