Moms give the best gifts, so it stands to reason that you should get the best gifts for Mom when you’re shopping for her in any scenario. That includes Mother’s Day, her birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other holiday in your family’s life that includes gift-giving. I’ve made some additions for summer that are great for moms who have an upcoming birthday, or a mom you just want to treat with something nice for the warmest time of year.
If you’re worried you’re going to give her a disappointing gift or something she already has, fear not: I’ve gathered the coolest things we recommend here at WIRED that just about any mom will love. From wellness gadgets that can improve her skin, a beach bag I can’t stop using, or even a device that puts her digital calendar in an IRL device, moms everywhere can get a ton out of these gifts. Many of these items I’ve given to my mother, or other WIRED staffers have given to theirs, or it’s at the top of my list as a mother of a 4-year-old.
Updated July 2026: I’ve added a beach bag, sun hat, and linen-blend sheets as new gifts to this guide.
Featured Gifts
My Favorite Summer Bag
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Mission Outdoor
Cassi Beach Tote
I’ve had this bag for a few summers now, and it’s held up great. It’s my go-to bag for the beach or pool, and the mesh sides make it breathable for sand and water alike. The slim straps have a ton of room to sling this bag over your shoulder or onto a wagon handle, and I haven’t had any breakage even with all the towels, swimsuits, and more I stuff into it. The bottom is waterproof so it’s perfect for sitting poolside, and the stylish colors make it a bag she’ll love bringing. I prefer its look by a long mile to the bulky Bogg bags I spot at the pool, and it’s better priced.
Next-Level Skin (and Scalp) Care
The must-have gadget for women of almost any age is an LED mask. These masks promise to use red light to erase wrinkles, brighten your skin, and keep acne at bay. I haven’t seen much change in my wrinkles in my year-plus of regularly using a red light mask, but I can confirm it makes my skin brighter and calms down acne and scars much faster when I’m regularly treating my skin. HigherDose is a favorite mask of mine because the three-strap design lets it hang on my head rather than squeeze it, making it one of the most comfortable masks I’ve worn.
My other favorite LED tool actually sits on my head and also comes from HigherDose. The brand’s Red Light Hat treats your head with red light to rejuvenate your scalp and hair follicles for better hair growth, and as someone with a sensitive scalp and a hair-pulling problem, using this cap regularly genuinely improved my scalp and hair. It’s the healthiest it’s ever been, and my scalp is the least itchy, too. I love that this hat also has a battery pack, so I can comfortably wear it anywhere while I treat my head.
Chic Sun Protection
I have managed to get two different scalp burns this summer, and I am seriously over it. My 4-year-old has me going everywhere from the beach to the pool to the county fair already this summer, and even sunscreen made for spraying into the crevices of my hair hasn’t kept me safe. Enter: this Solbari wide-brim hat. It’s soft and flexible, so it’s easy to fold up and store in a beach bag or stroller, and the cotton-linen design keeps it pretty breathable, though you’ll want to reverse it onto the white side for hotter days. It promises UPF 50+ to protect your head, and the 4-inch brim helps keep my neck safe, too. It’s cute while still giving plenty of coverage, and a great pick for any mom who is going to be dragged into the sun all summer long.
Her Google Calendar IRL
My latest favorite family planning gadget is a digital wall calendar. These handy devices take the Google Calendar I live by (and just about any other digital calendar, if your mom isn’t a Google girl) and put it on a physical device I can quickly tap into without needing to grab my phone or bark at Alexa. The Skylight Calendar 2 is my favorite, because it not only includes to-do lists, meal planning, and a recipe book but also doubles as a digital photo frame. That means it displays cute photos of my family most of the time, and then, with a simple tap, it opens the calendar or whatever page I was last on to show me what’s on my family’s schedule. It does have a subscription fee, though, to get the digital photo frame feature and a few other options, like meal planning. But I think it’s well worth it to get so many features in a single device.
For the Reader
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Look, I love a Kindle, but if you want to get the best e-reader for your buck, the answer is actually a Kobo. My favorite is the Kobo Libra Colour that’s cheaper than the Kindle Colorsoft and can also double as a digital notebook if you add on the $70 stylus. I also prefer Kobo’s annotating options: You can write right on the pages instead of in weird pop-up margins and boxes only on Kindle. Kobo also has its own page-turner remote now, which I love to pair with a pillow stand holder so I can lean back and relax without holding up my e-reader while I read. I gave a similar pillow stand to my mom, and now I can spot her last reading spot easily because that pillow is resting there.
Luxurious, Cooling Sheets
Modern Dame
European Linen Sheet Set
If your mom (or your wife) is complaining about the hot nights this summer, one of the best kinds of sheets to keep her cool is a set of linen sheets. These beautiful sheets from Modern Dane are made of 100 percent European flax linen that’s grown in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands and produced in Portugal. These sheets have a weight of 165 GSM, or grams per square meter, which is what linen sheets are graded on instead of thread count. That gives them a medium weight, but these sheets feel nice and light and have been perfect to sleep on during hot summer nights. Plus, these sheets are certified with OEKO-TEX Standard 100 Class 1 and Masters of Flax Fibre certifications. You can choose from a variety of colors and prints that will perfectly match her bedroom design.
Clear Listening
My husband and I got AirPods around the same time. We were late adopters and longtime fans of our Apple corded headphones. The AirPods 4 aren’t the WIRED team’s favorite for sound, but I’m one of the many people who can’t seem to keep other earbuds in my ears, so Apple’s tip-free design is the best fit for me, though that means you aren’t getting good noise canceling. I got my first set for Christmas from my siblings this year, and originally I stuck some pretty stickers on my case to tell the difference between my case and my husband’s. I’ve since upgraded to this stylish case from Mujjo, which makes it easy to see which is mine and clip it onto my keys. It’s a nice accessory if your mom already has AirPods but struggles to keep track of them or is looking for an easier way to differentiate hers from the other members of the house.
Gamer Gear
Once my kiddo is asleep, you can find me parked on the couch with my Nintendo Switch. I recently upgraded to a Nintendo Switch 2 ($449) so I could finally buy and play Pokopia ($70), since it’s exclusive to the new console, and I’ve already clocked an obscene amount of hours on the game. It’s similar to Animal Crossing, but imagine it’s all Pokémon instead of random animal people. It has a choke hold on me, similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons did in 2020, and there have been multiple times when I’m still awake playing when my son has a midnight wake-up or an accident. (You could say it’s helping me be ready to parent.) My son is 4 and not quite ready to really play a video game, but he does love to fly around as a Dragonite in this game, and he’s loved watching the cutscenes with me when I complete parts of the story.
