A Spring Gift Guide for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Graduations, and Assorted Gifting Occasions

Published April 29, 2022 05:41PM

Most Mother’s Day gift guides are kind of bogus, right? Does every mom really want yet another dainty floral scarf? Does every dad want the same golf clubs and whiskey stones that appear on every Father’s Day gift guide? What is your cousin who just graduated even going to do with that fancy pen?

In honor of all these occasions – along with the assorted showers, birthdays, engagements, and other celebrations you’ll attend between now and Labor Day – we’ve assembled this guide to fun picks at a variety of price points that might give you a little gifting inspiration. Remember, making something at home, buying vintage, or making a contribution to a charity or mutual aid fund that speaks to your recipient are also always good and sustainable gift ideas, too.

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The VT Graduation, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Ideal as a housewarming or grad gift (but, then again, who doesn’t love a new wok at any life-stage) this German-made 14-inch wok by Ozeri is free of PTFE, APEO, NMP, and PFOA chemical coatings making it better for you and for the planet. It’s a sturdy and cute kitchen workhorse they’ll use over and over. A 12-inch version is also available for the space-conscious.

Internet-adored brands Diaspora Co. and East Fork collide in this limited-edition set for anybody who enjoys a good cup of chai (and a good cup). The set includes a rose-colored kulhad, a traditional handleless pottery cup, Diaspora’s new chai blend, packets of black tea and jaggery powder, and a neat tea strainer.

This fancy backpack made of recovered ocean-bound plastic is sleek enough for city commutes, but can also take them off a little off the grid. An integrated solar panel captures and store enough energy to charge a phone or other devices.

Sometimes the best gift is an upgraded version of an everyday item you know they’ll use. This travel mug comes in a dozen colors and you can even customize it for them with a monogram, logo of their favorite team or National Park, or other personalized designs. Maybe it’ll even keep a few disposables out of the landfill.

Oprah’s Favorite Things English Muffin and Jam Set by The Model Bakery
Goldbelly, $59.95

Don’t fret that you can’t be with them for brunch in person. Send this cute kit with freshly-baked English muffins and seasonal preserves from The Model Bakery in Napa Valley. It’s Oprah-approved, after all.

A bottle of wine is a classic gift for many occasions, but In Good Taste lets you gift a whole wine tasting experience. They offer flights of hand-selected wines in individual mini bottles, so you won’t have to worry about waste if you didn’t nail your recipient’s taste preferences. The kit includes tasting notes for each pour along with access to an optional virtual tasting guided by an expert.

We live in a time when there is hype granola and the hype granola du jour is Instagram-famous Tom’s Perfect 10. The flavors are, as promised by the name, original, and each is only available for a single month. Get them a subscription and they’ll constantly be surprised with a new flavor sensation.

After food gifts, living plant gifts are our personal favorite. Give them a little bit of life in the form of a happy little fiddle leaf fig, hedgehog aloe, or other selection from Bloomscape. Bonus: The site offers a filter for pet-friendly plants.

If your gift recipient is the type who likes to go on adventures (or set up elaborate picnics and tablescapes) they’ll have fun with this new gadget developed by Snap. Essentially a pocket-sized, very-short-range drone with built in camera, the Pixy will help them get the shot from new angles.

Pizza lovers and outdoor cooking enthusiasts obsess over their Oonis. This model is gas powered (natural gas conversion optional) which means they get more control in the cooking and less smoke is released into the air compared to the wood pellet models.

Genusee makes stylish sunglasses from recycled plastic – specifically, recycled plastic from water bottles used to bring potable water to residents of Flint, Michigan, where the company is based, amid the eight-year, still-unresolved water crisis in that community. The company donates $10 from every pair sold to Stacey Abrams’s Fair Fight, and can add prescription lenses if needed.