'The best gift is time' - present ideas help!

Linda-Lou

How about a trip to the cinema, if there is a film she is looking forward to seeing?
My dd and I enjoy our ( rare) girly cinema outings. HTH xxx

feefeefalloo_2

I agree totally with the cinema idea, (orange wednesday's to keep the cost down?) or my local cinema has a 'silver screen' during the week where they show older films, it's cheap and includes free tea and coffee.

Going with the 'gardens' theme how about going to a garden centre for a look round. They usually have other stuff as well as plants - homeware, clothing etc (or the ones near me do anyway!) plus a coffee shop for maybe a cream tea! My mum loves doing this.

midnightraven3

once you start digging, there are a surprising number of free things to do locally

do they have doors open day where you are?
in september, lots of places open their doors to the public, places you cannot normally go

http://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/opendays/default.aspx

some are lovely, some are weird, some are interesting
but there is something for everyone


Be a tourist in your own city for a day
imagine you are showing your city to someone who has never been there before
a huge amount of people take for granted where they live

we are on the mailing list for the civic hall etc
they send out mailing of all the events locally (some free some not)
local library will have a diary of events

you could keep a diary/scrapbook as you go through the year
each trip, take a few pics, keep ticket stubs etc
and make your mum a scrapbook of your year

Phoolgrrrl

Def afternoon tea, Me my mum and sis do it at least once a year wiht a manicure or similar pamper tratment. As already said garden centres can have quite nice cafes that might do afternoon tea.

A baking day coming up to Christmas? I do this with my Granny. Not sure what age your daughter is, or if you even like baking, you could make a fancy cake for her birthday together, like a butterfly (pretty easy) or a castle (pretty hard).

If doing National Trust keep an eye out for membership offers on quidco etc.

Getting dressed up and going for cocktails?

tabitha67

Notice you're in Kent - if your Mum is too, Sissinghurst would be a fantastic day out for a garden lover, or a day trip to France to wander round the hypermarkets, buy some lovely French grub and have a nice lunch out.

How about a drive out to the coast, and take a specially prepared afternoon tea, with sandwiches, scones and cake and a flask.

Make sure you take a camera on your days out and that's next year's gift sorted - a collage of lovely photos to remember a great year.

If you both enjoy cooking you could have a day foraging for blackberries/sloes/crab apples etc and make some nice preserves with your finds.

Many of the large churches/cathedrals do concerts - that's a lovely way to spend an hour, then go for a glass of champagne after.

Your Christmas present idea is really lovely and I may have to pinch it for my Mum and Dad!

jtr2803

So many good ideas that it's going to be hard not to make it more than once a month! I found a really good website that details lots of events in the county so will be scouring that this weekend for ideas.

I was actually quite shocked at how expensive some of the Nation Trust venues were so will definitely have a look at the open days site and see what is local.

There are some lovely little market towns around so I am going to ask my OH to come up with a tour of rural Kent as he drives around all the time and knows lots of great little cafes/bakeries etc.

Jonesy46

I just bought my wife a watch! There you go- the best gift is time! Nopun intnded! Haha! It was half price too so i can get hr something else as well!
http://www.nigelohara.com/bulova-ladies-adventurer-mop-dial,-bracelet-watch-96m113-pid18813.html

Katiehound

As you have quite a lot of National trust properties locally would it be worth buying an annual membership? Then you could have a NT day each month- maybe as well as the others......or perhaps that one could be a birthday present.NT have special event days I think (sorry I'm not too clued up as very few properties in my area.)

Day trip to France sounds a good idea- I think there were bargain offers with P&O recently, so off season deals.

It's amazing what you can think of...outside the box. Sounds like you have more than enough suggestions now.

pantherblackfocus

Lots of great ideas here. How about asking your mum if there is anything she would like to do/see herself but never got round to.

ALittleInLove

How about a pamper day?
You could take your mum to a spa or (to save a bit of money) a local beauty salon.
Or if you especially want to save some money there are a lot of mobile beauticians you could get to come around for a treatment or two? And then spend the rest of the time with a nice film and a takeaway or something similar.