Mother in law gift??

amh04

What are some idea's on gifts for my mother in law to be?? I don't know her all to well and I do know her favorite color is pink. So... suggestions?? 

amh04

Oh and how much are you generally supposed to spend on these sorts of gifts??

calindi

Is this a wedding gift for her?  What's your budget, if I may ask?

I'm a big fan of watches & jewelry.  Check out ideeli.com if this isn't imminent - they take a few weeks to ship whatever you buy, but man oh man are the deals good!  I bought FI a $800 watch for only $150 (that was engagement watch).  They do have far less expensive ones - you could spend $50 on a $300 watch and she'd never know!

ETA:  We haven't and probably won't buy FI's parents anything.  Er, wait, we're going to buy his Dad a suit since he doesn't own one and we're not renting tuxes.  So I guess we'll get his Mom something small.  And my Mom got a custom piece of jewelry I had made from her grandma's engagement ring - it's a beautiful diamond necklace, and has incredible sentimental value.  We bought my Dad a bottle of nice Glenmorangie whisky and put a note that said, "Open and drink as necessary during wedding planning.  Repeat frequently."  He got a big kick out of it, and loves good whisky!  After the wedding, since my parents are paying for everything, we're going to get them a weekend gift certificate to a B&B or something to thank them for everything.

mob2689

I am perfectly fine with a beautiful picture with a frame to match!

The real gift for us mother's are grandchildren!!  But we do understand/want that to be a while so the picture will do until then IMO!

firsttimersluck

Everyone's budget is different, so spend what you can. There is no set amount you need to spend. For our mom gifts we got my mom a necklace with Fi's birthstone and got Fi's mom earrings with MY birthstone.
Other than that, ask fi about what she likes. Check living social for great restauraunt, getaway, class deals for something more fun and different.

firsttimersluck

ack mob don't say that O.o No kids for us for a good 5 years. lol.

Zimsgirl

We're doing parent albums. 

amh04

Well.. we are getting right on the grandchildren before FI deploys. LOL. Not really trying by not really not trying.
I don't know what to get either set of our parents - my parents are paying for the wedding so I really want to do something nice for them.
As far as FI's parents go - I know we are supposed to get them something- just not sure what. I might do the watch thing or a pretty piece of jewlery or something for her.

I don't mind spending money, but I can't afford to spend a whole lot of money. Since we are contributing to our own wedding. I'll definitely check out that website for sure! Sounds like they're some awesome deals to be found on there!

amh04

Oh and when do you give them these gifts? Is it the Rehersal dinner night?

firsttimersluck

Whenever you want really, but we are giving ours out at the RD and that is the most common time

calindi

We already gave my parents their gifts... we'll give them the gift certificate for the weekend away the day after the wedding, probably.  Same as you, we want to thank them for helping financially, but I felt like I should give them something right away since they're paying it all now to show how grateful we are.  And then again after the wedding, to thank them again.  Total, the necklace cost me nothing as I sold some of the gold in the ring to pay for it, and my Dad's whisky was like $60.  The weekend away will be like $200 or so, so around $260 total for my parents.  Whatever we get FI's Mom will likely be around $50 max, and we'll buy FFIL his suit, so probably around $150 and will likely be a combined gift with Christmas. 

We also just bought a watch on Gilt.com (similar to ideeli.com) for $78 for FI's best man, who is commissioning this weekend!  It's Invicta, and the retail price is something like $450 - what a steal!  FI is the commissioning officer, and this best man was the first salute to FI when he commissioned as he's prior enlisted and hadn't finished school yet to accept his own commission.  He gave the most amazingly touching speech, and gave FI such a very thoughtful personal gift.  It's a gold watch, so I think it'll go really well with his various uniforms.  I really hope he likes it!  Anyway, just an example!

SamiJoeB

A swift kick in the a$$ is what I should have given my MIL.

We gave both the mom's a pearl earring and necklace set. H got them in Japan so they were cheaper than in the US.  We did our own thing for the dads.  H is really close to his Dad, but less so with his Mom, and I'm a Daddy's Girl, but really I'm pretty close with both my parents..

mob2689

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_mother-law-gift?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:13Discussion:72309cb4-626b-4613-9a67-ac7c99b14f01Post:53b9924b-5315-403c-8617-515a54e4c246">Re: Mother in law gift??</a>:
[QUOTE]ack mob don't say that O.o No kids for us for a good 5 years. lol.
Posted by firsttimersluck[/QUOTE]

Smart!! DD says the same. Enjoy married life! When I had my first I was like HUH? what did we do before baby!? I know we had fun but still  it was too short! :)

firsttimersluck

Yeah I KNOW Fi doesn't want to have a baby at our next duty station.. and he said maybe not even the one after that... and I was like.. uh.. that means you want to wait 7-8 years. I mean... I'm fine with that because I'm still so young, but he's gonna be an old man hehehe
We love to travel and backpack too much for a baby right now... I think it's good to have a "selfish couple period" for a couple-few years after getting married to settle in Of course we're all different, but I know that's what we definitely want. His mom will have to wait hehe

kara811

We took both sets of parents out to a nice dinner together as part of our gifts to them. For the moms, I took them with the rest of my girls to have our manis/pedis done the day before the wedding and we also got them personalized snow globes. We gave my dad a cool flask(he's a big drinker) and FIL a cool personalized knife(he likes to collect them). We gave these gifts along with the WPs at the RD. 

I am also in the process of making them parent albums, although I'm not sure yet when I will be done with those.