This year, as I did last year, too, I will be spending Mother’s Day flying cross-country on an airplane, traveling for a work event.
Before you start feeling sorry for me, let me explain why this is a GREAT thing:
1. The work event is a book festival (booksinbloommd.com) in my home state of Maryland, and I’m very excited to be there for my second year in a row, talking about my books (emilybarthisler.com)!
2. I don’t mind flying – I am actually pretty good at sleeping on planes, and I also love to read entire books in a single sitting during the flight, which is a rare treat I don’t get to do much otherwise these days.
and, most importantly:
3. This means that, on Mother’s Day, I will get to have breakfast in Baltimore with my mom, and then be home in California by dinnertime to celebrate with my own kids! The ultimate Mother’s Day feat for someone who lives far away from her mom, right?! I literally get to have it all!
This, of course, has me thinking about Mother’s Day gifts in a different light – while I would normally send flowers to my mom or just request a nice meal out at a restaurant with my family, I’m now thinking about what little comforts I might want to gift myself and the other moms and mom-figures in my life that are also travel-friendly or comforting to have when I arrive home?
Here are some of my favorite gift ideas!
1.) Amly Radiance Boost: This delightful-smelling mist is 100 mL – exactly the size limit for TSA carry-on liquids! It is PERFECT for refreshing your skin, which is something I am wont to do frequently on dry, stinky airplanes! I still like to wear a mask on planes to keep from getting germs and becoming sick, and back when I wore masks daily during the pandemic, I actually used to spray a little Radiance Boost into a mask before putting it on so I could enjoy the gorgeous scent!
2.) Kari Gran lip whips are great for travel and great for staying home- they’re one of my all-time most-loved, under-appreciated products. Every single color is great, some have shimmer like Rosie Gold, Cora Gold and Shimmer (I LOVE shimmer), and you can go completely clear and still enjoy the moisture, the slight shine, and the peppermint flavor.
3.) Abel Modern Natural Fragrance is a new addition to the Integrity Botanicals family and we can’t stop talking about it! I truly cannot decide which of the scents is my favorite! They’re all so gentle and yet so rich and complex, and whichever one I’m wearing, I end up sniffing my own wrists all day to get more and more of the scent! We offer samples of all the scents so it’s a great way to try them all and decide for yourself. Cyan Nori (a sweet, salty musk) is their best selling scent in the line if you had to pick just one.;) And, bonus for expecting parents-to-be: all four scents that we carry are pregnancy safe!
Traveling with your own candle is such a pro move in my opinion! If your hotel room or guest room has just been cleaned (or if has NOT just been cleaned!) it might smell like cleaning products or other people’s laundry or something else, but you can bring in your own scent of choice with this very travel-friendly candle in a tin from Fontana! I love the Fresh Mint Lime scent particularly right now, but you can choose from all their wonderful varieties, like Wildflower Citrus, Lavender-Vanilla-Tangerine, Palo Santo & Pink Grapefruit, and more to set the vibe you want, at home or away!
5.) For the mom in your life who needs a little daily pampering, I recommend the new Fitglow Vitamin C + Bakuchiol Body Serum–In-Cream! This generous 8-ounce size isn’t for carryon travel, but most of you probably aren’t traveling on Mother’s Day like I am, and this cream is just too good not to mention! Use it on the whole body, use it as hand cream in these dry, pre-spring chilly times, it’s SO good. I keep mine in my swimming bag to use on hands and body after swimming laps, and it’s the best.
However you’re spending Mother’s Day – if you’re observing it at all – I hope it’s a day full of peace and love for you. I hope you can use this sometimes-fraught holiday as an excuse to “mother” yourself in some beautiful way- with a nice moisturizer or mist or a new perfume. Or you can check out ALL of our other gift ideas HERE.
And I know Earth Day already came and went, but I like to think of Mother’s Day like Earth Day Part 2 – a day to be thankful for our planet and make sure we’re doing all we can to protect it. No better way to do that than to choose sustainable products from a family-owned store like Integrity Botanicals! Happy Mother’s Day to all!
