Mom, I Love You

Edible DC’s Guide for Mother’s Day Gifting

Photo courtesy of Poppy Flowers, a DIY-bouquet called “The Tulip Box.”

By Tim Ebner, EdibleDC Contributor

Aside from sleeping in or breakfast in bed, mom’s everywhere deserve a special day filled with tokens of appreciation — a greeting card is fine, but a surprise gift from a local or craft artisan shows that you went that extra mile to get her something unique and you can put this Mother’s Day over the top.

Edible DC is here to help you with all your gift-giving needs for mom. If you’re planning to send a special something, you best hurry — there are only a few more national shipping days left before Sunday, May 9. Meanwhile, there are plenty of local delivery and pickup options still to spare.

From flowers to wine and meal kits to self-care essentials, and gifts for those who love to cook or garden. This year, there are several ways to say, “I love you, mom!”

Try Some Flower Power

A bouquet from She Loves Me.

With two new locations coming later this year in Eckington and on Capitol Hill, She Loves Me is on track for a big year of bouquets. Before these storefront openings, the floral shop is delivering expertly crafted bouquets featuring spring's finest florals paired with a strawberry rose lychee donut from Rose Ave Bakery, an Asian-American pastry shop known to sell out in mere minutes. Online orders are available for local delivery or pickup. And you can also subscribe your mom for membership into the Secret Garden ($44 per year). This is a members-only Instagram that comes with instructional design basics, floral industry secrets and other insider tricks to create a range of wild and whimsical floral bouquets.

Poppy Flowers, a DC startup, is quickly expanding into a national flower power delivery service. It’s a female-led company with a mission to deliver high-quality flowers at fair prices. Founder Cameron Hardesty started volunteering in The White House flower shop, learning floral design from Chief Floral Designer Laura Dowling. For the freshest tulips of the season, in a variety of shades, order the tulip box ($95). It’s a fun assortment that ships nationally and it’s an interactive floral kit, which comes with design instructions and access to Poppy video tutorials.

Mom’s with a sweet tooth might want an edible bouquet, and Ice Cream Jubilee in Navy Yard has an ice cream cookie bouquet kit available for pickup. The small ice cream cookie bouquet kit ($32) comes with a pint of sweet cream and honey ice cream, cookie decorating supplies and access to a live class to make 10-12 cookies. Meanwhile the large ice cream cookie bouquet kit ships via Goldbelly (Use code GOLDBELLYIT for $15 off first time orders).

Meals & Subscription Kits to Make Life Tastefully Easy

Colada Shop’s guava pastelitos

For an easy breakfast-in-bed option, Colada Shop’s Chef Mario Monte has a Mother’s Day package priced at $60 a box. The package can be pre-ordered via Tock or pastelitos can be shipped nationwide via Goldbelly. Each box includes a bouquet of 6 flower-shaped mini guava pastries, four empanadas, four croquetas, and coconut oat and quinoa pudding with pineapple compote. Best of all the kit comes served with make-your-own mimosas.

H Street’s Stable DC is putting a Swiss twist on Mother’s Day brunch at home, offering a brunch package ($85) that has all you need for a celebratory meal. The Mother’s Day brunch package boasts plenty of scratch-made breads and pastries from Chef David Fritsche including two buttery croissants, a loaf of traditional Swiss Wurzel bread, Tếte de Moine cheese spun into the shape of flowers and served with pear bread, and two Berliners, Swiss-style doughnuts filled with jam or mousse. The package also comes with house-smoked salmon served with traditional condiments, chicken liver pâté with rhubarb chutney, a bottle of sparkling wine and orange juice for making mimosas at home, and an 8-piece box of truffles from Swiss chocolatier, Läderach, which took up residence in Union Station earlier this year.

Sticky Fingers is another operation offering treats that can be sent to moms nationwide, plus free shipping on select items. Your mom deserves the three-month cookie subscription featuring two flavors of freshly baked classic and sandwich cookies (eight cookies per month, $114 with shipping included). Or order up a Mother's Day brunch kit including spiced pancake mix, and adult-sized apron, a kid-sized apron, baking conversion chart, and two kinds of seasonal shortbread ($60 plus shipping). In a pinch and can’t decide? The gift pack offers a choice of three chocolate chip, sweet 'n salty, or s'mores cookies and two brownies ($25, shipping included).

At Home Spa Day

The Call Your Mother spa party, aka sparty, kit.

Call Your Mother is not only your Mother’s Day bagel brunch headquarters but it’s also serving up spa swag this year, including the softest robes around, cozy velour slippers, and a beautiful Green Lavender candle made locally by Frères Branchiaux. A spa swag bag or bagel brunch box is $85 on Tock.

Kinship in Shaw recently launched a new cookware and homegoods shopping site that’s timed perfectly for Mom’s Day. The Spa Day Set ($110) comes with all the elements for a bit of self-care from the restaurant’s unique scented candle to an organic tea blend evocative of a wild-flower meadow and this box set can be shipped directly to the recipient of your choice, with a note to their attention.

Wine & Cocktails, Always a Treat

Early Mountain Vineyards lineup for 2021.

Meanwhile, closer to home, Early Mountain Vineyards will happily supply your mother with “summer water,” aka rosé. Known for their well-blended wines made with grapes grown on their vineyards outside of Charlottesville, their drop-dead gorgeous tasting room and restaurant make for a delightful afternoon. You can share Early Mountain’s wildly popular rosé, sent straight to your mom with your love. Early Mountain is also waiving shipping fees on orders of more than 3 bottles, order here.

If your mom wishes she was in Italy, she’s not alone. Ordinarily, Tuscany would be packed with tourists this time of year. Warm weather, world-renowned restaurants and hospitable wineries, which can offer a pleasant wine tasting experience, while admiring a unique panorama. It has been a long time since anyone’s last trip to Italy, and creative ways to cope with the travel cravings remain absolutely necessary. A glass of wine for example, while undoubtedly a source of responsible joy and comfort can also serve to help you explore the world, just a little bit, all from your favorite seat in the house. If you’re longing to hop on a plane to Tuscany, instead consider these three Chiantis from Tenuta di Arceno, which can help hold you over until that fateful day on Tuscan soil.

Meanwhile, our sister city to the north, Pittsburgh, has a craft cocktail from Wigle Distillery easy enough to pour straight on-demand directly from the bottle. This pre-batched cocktail shows off two spirits that have taken home top honors. “We are thrilled to be able to bottle up a Negroni that showcases our award winning Gin and Saffron Amaro,” Alex Grelli, Wigle’s Co-Owner, told Edible DC. Saffron’s vivid yellow color and nuanced flavor is hard won, and Wigle’s Saffron Negroni Bottled Cocktail retails for $45 and ships nationwide.

Essential Kitchenware

Photo courtesy of Made In DC.

We think Kamala would approve of this Made In DC kitchen apron, featuring the first female Vice President sipping on a cocktail with the tagline: “A woman’s place is in the White House.” Justice is served.

For a cutting board a cut above the rest, try Fab Slabs. These boards are made from wood-grain and are absolutely stunning and practical for everyday kitchen uses. Mom will enjoy these richly-toned cutting boards and grazing platters, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Finally, we love the Turkish towel offerings from Coco Loom, a maker of versatile linens made from 100 percent Turkish cotton, perfect for use around the home or for an outdoor picnic. These ultra-lightweight towels are loomed by master artisans using traditional and modern weaving techniques, and they’ll add a pop of color to mom’s special day.

Tim Ebner is a Washington, DC-based food and travel writer. He is an award-winning contributor to edibleDC and won the 2021 IACP Award for Best Beverage Focused Column for his seven-year stint writing “The Buzz” for our magazine. Tim also writes for Eater DC, Thrillist, City Paper, Forbes and many others. Follow his journeys @ebnert or at timothyebner.com