It’s that time of year again. Spring is in the air, flowers are blooming, daylight savings time and warmer weather are making us more social again and Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Yikes!
Don’t worry! We are here to offer a few spectacular suggestions for Mother’s Day that fulfill the qualifications of The Local Artisan Guide. Your mother will appreciate a gift that she knows was created with artisans using unique skills and ideas. What better way to show your mother you are really thinking of her and honoring her for Mother’s Day? We have ten suggestions that range in price points and categories, from beautiful objects, accessories, delicacies and one amazing experience. The links are available in the captions.
After doing some extensive travel the past year to multiple climates we started to appreciate the flexibility of lightweight knits such as alpaca to keep you warm and stylish when the temperature suddenly drops 20 degrees when the sun goes down. One of our favorite finds is this poncho from Yanawara, an ethical knitwear brand designed in New York and handcrafted by their artisan ateliers in El Alto, Bolivia. We love this poncho especially because it comes in a multitude of colors, is easy to fold and carry and can be worn in a variety of ways whilst looking quite luxurious. It is handwoven 100% from the finest alpaca. It is lightweight yet warm and it features a fluid design that moves gracefully with you. One size fits all and it can even be unisex. The alpaca wool is sustainably sourced from local communities in the Highlands of Bolivia through a process that involves a mutual breeding, this means with care and respect for the animals and the environment. Sisa means “woman who decides” in Aymara, a symbol of strength and self-determination and what better way describes the job of being a mom! Yanawara also carries a beautiful ethical home section.
Flamingo Estate is a luxury brand located in the hills of Los Angeles that specializes in creating products the slow way. That means growing and sourcing their materials, working with local farmers, harvesting their own goods and creating products using ancient practices with skilled artisans. We came upon Flamingo Estate at a friend’s home who was in love with their candles and we knew immediately Flamingo Estate was going to be in The Local Artisan Guide’s Mother’s Day Gift Guide. We picked Prinsesstårta, a scent inspired from the Principessa Cake from Sant Ambroeus (my not so guilty pleasure). It was a brilliant idea to create a scent from this famous cake that was much loved by Swedish princesses as when you slice it the aroma of lemons, almond marzipan and vanilla cream bring a smile to your face. This candle uses Heliotrope flowers to replicate the almond marzipan, along with a combination of cinnamon, lemon peel and musky Amber for the base. The Prinsesståra candle uses a vegetable wax and is hand poured in Los Angeles into beautiful recyclable glass containers. Even the packaging is made using materials from responsibly managed forests, including some recycled paper products. What sold us also was their statement that was perfect for Mother's Day, “Prinsesstårta Candle is a tribute to the mothers in our family: complex, strong, comforting, and sweet. And you can have as much as you want and you’ll never get fat.” A bonus is that Flamingo Estate donates a percentage of their profits to fund organizations in Los Angeles caring for animals and restoring their habitats, starting with The Lange Foundation and Farm Animal Refuge. A win/win!
The Local Artisan Guide was so happy when Enarai first reached out to us. The brand produces the product we travel the world to highlight. Enarai (the phonetic spelling of 'N.R.I.', a legal status which stands for Non-Resident Indian) was founded by Kanika Issar who is also the designer. She works with Indian artisans who have been skilled at the ancient craft of creating dokras. A dokra is an ancient Indian tribal metal craft that uses a lost-wax castingtechnique to create non-ferrous metal objects like brass and bronze. Enarai connects an ancient 4,500 year old tradition of craftsmanship to a modern and global audience. The dokra metal handles on the Enarai handbags are literally pieces of art. The dokras are objects that depict daily scenes from tribal culture such as dancers, musicians, ornaments, animals, birds and jewelry. We are featuring the Dari Noir bucket handbag which is made from soft vegetable tanned Indian cow leather that is made with a non-toxic, natural, slow and artisanal treatment process. The handbag comeswith an adjustable & detachable strap and is H:18cm, D:12cm. This style belongs to a one-time, limited-edition series and was created by Mr. Praphulo, a 6th generation tribal artisan. If you want to see how the dokra is made just click here. This is the perfect gift for the discerning mother who has a collector’s aesthetic and values history and artisanship. She will be the envy of all her friends and you will be promoted to favorite child.
Lana Dai is a ceramic artist who has evolved from a career as a Product Designer to the more visual and aesthetic art of porcelain. Her focus has been creating and replicating flower forms in which she creates in porcelain a variety of delicate flowers with their various petal shapes and sizes. Dai designs vases, dishes, objects and even ceramic lighting fixtures. We love the Porcelain Flower Bowls which we highlighted as a Mother’s Day Gift. Her collection includes a variety of flower types and colors. Dai can reproduce the porcelain bowls on her site or custom create what colors and forms you think your mother would love. For artwork purchases or commission inquiries, please email lanadai@gmail.com. Prices are available upon request. This is the gift that your mother will love as it is a piece of art made by a local artisan just for her.
ILENIA CORTI JEWELRY - MESSAGE HOLDER WITH HEDGEHOG
Ilenia Corti is an Italian jewelry designer who comes from a family of jewelry designers based in Valenza, Italy, a city known for gold. With her love of nature, Ilenia became inspired early on to create her own brand and work on creating magical landscapes with her jewelry designs which include nature, forest creatures and insects, all the while using different colored gems and enamel. The jewelry is rich in detail and depicts a microcosms of glimmering beauty. Her designs have attracted collaborations with luxury brands that included an 8-year partnership with Valentino Garavani, leading the men’s and women’s jewelry categories, a collaboration with Maison Margiela, a partnership with Virgil Abloh for Off-White, and many others. Our recommendation for a Mother’s Day gift is her “Message Holder with Hedgehog” This unique piece is a message holder pendant. Crafted in gold-plated silver, it features a refined cylindrical shape designed to hold small messages or cherished thoughts. The design is enhanced by a delicate hand-painted enamelled hedgehog, a symbol of protection and sweetness, like your mum (well most mums). The pendant comes with a brass chain. This handmade piece will show your mother you are thinking out of the box when thinking of her for Mother’s Day. You can even add a sweet message inside letting her know exactly what you think of her. Also for such an exquisite piece of jewelry it is quite an affordable gift.
Jacques Torres, fondly known as Mr. Chocolate, is a world renowned, award winning chocolatier and the first artisan chocolatier in New York City to start from cocoa beans and make his own chocolate. Jacques prides himself on specializing in fresh, handcrafted chocolates using premium ingredients free of preservatives and artificial flavors. The beautiful designs make for lovely and delicious gifts and for Mother’s Day we picked this “I LOVE MOM” 12 piece collection of bonbons to show mom how loved and appreciated she is. The selection includes their most popular selection of eight assorted signature bonbons and four creamy Belgian milk chocolate or 60% Belgian dark chocolate with a touch of white chocolate on top to create letter bonbons that are filled with a smooth soft center of either all milk or dark chocolate. This is the perfect gift for the foodie mom and even better is that it is quite affordable. It’s a way to show your mom she can have an artisanal gift even if you are on budget.
NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN - MOTHER’S DAY BOUQUET WITH STORE BOUGHT BLOOMS CLASS
Sending or giving mom a bouquet of flowers is a time honored tradition however you may feel it is not a very original gift. But what if your mother received a spectacular bouquet of flowers and it was created by YOU? We found this class in creating Mother’s Day floral arrangement at the New York Botanical Garden however these are classes are usually available at any public botanical gardens or your local florist. What is unique for this class is that you'll learn how to compose your own unique bouquet using simple design principles and a lush variety of economical, store-bought blooms. Although the class is $155 ($139 for members of NYBG), you will learn a useful skill that will save you money in the future by creating bouquets for your mother, friends and even yourself. You can dazzle your mom and she doesn’t even have to know that you created a floral masterpiece from flowers you found at Trader Joes or your local deli. Your mom will not only appreciate this gift but be proud of your new found skills.
Let’s not be beauty gatekeepers! If your mom is like my mom, she loves keeping herself as youthful and healthy as possible. That includes a beauty routine and products that are way more effective than the beauty brands your mom grew up with (heck, what I grew with!). That brings us to cêpoLAB, a Korean beauty brand at the forefront of ethical, eco-friendly beauty. cêpoLAB is the world's only beauty brand for skin strength, featuring the patented ingredient CLEPS® as its core component. We highly recommend BIOGENIC ESSENCE 90%, as what living skin truly needs is not just simple ingredients, but the power to recover on its own. There are only five ingredients in Biogenic Essence 90% which minimizes the use of artificial colors or fragrances. Your mother will greatly appreciate a gift that helps her recover the essence of the youth of her skin.
ASSOULINE - “MOTHER AND CHILD” BY CLAIBORNE SWANSON FRANK
If your mother is an avid reader as my stepmother is, a book is always a gift that will be appreciated and loved. For Mother’s Day we recommend “Mother and Child” by Clairborne Swanson Frank, a coffee table book from the world renowned book publisher Assouline that combines the beauty of mother and child photography and thoughtful commentary on motherhood from iconic well known families. In her latest body of work the artist set out to explore what modern motherhood means in the 21st century as she delicately tasks each mother to look within themselves and express what being a mother truly means to them. “Mother and Child” embarks on this profound journey that reminds us all of the power of motherhood and the great gift of love. It is a gift that expresses to your mother how you are grateful and acknowledge the strong bond shared between the two of you. It’s one of those rare coffee table books that you actually want to pick up and read and she will cherish it.
This is an aspirational, Big Momma of our gift guide recommendations. Remember when your parents sent you to summer camp as a kid (if you were lucky enough). Now you can return the favor and send your mom to camp. Camp Château that is! Camp Château is a women only camp located in a French château where for a week you get to curate your own adventures and select activities, experiences, and connections that most interest you and bring you joy. It’s an all-inclusive sleep-away camp (you will be sharing your room just like in camp but way nicer) that provides inclusive spaces for women, where they can rest, rejuvenate, and have fun. There is an array of activities you get to chose from. Think yoga, flower arrangement, cooking classes, sightseeing, wellness, art, wine tasting, crafting and so much more. Or you can also relax and just be in an amazing setting. The camp has proved so successful the founders (all women) decided to add another château to the program. There aren’t that many spaces left for 2026 so book ASAP. If you are a daughter this can be a mother/daughter trip, or she can go with her friends or go alone and make new friends. Either way we guarantee your mother will be thrilled to go (I want to go!!). If you are loving this gift recommendation but either cannot afford it or your mother is not that mobile there is actually “Pocket Château”, which provides an online camp community for $22 a month. It can be accessed on the internet or mobile web. It includes weekly electives, live events, community chat, community posts and more. As amazing as gifts can be the memories of an experience at Camp Château will last a lifetime.
Motherhood is the hardest job on earth, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. So let your mother know before it’s too late how much she means to you and how much you love her with a gift that shows that you really thought of her.
In the last few years we have noticed that Galentine’s Day is getting almost as much celebration, marketing and promotion as Valentine’s Day itself. It’s really not surprising as women make approximately 70-85% of consumer purchases in the United States. With those numbers, a day celebrating single or divorced women (50-52% of U.S. women) would be quite advantageous.
We decided to dedicate this blog to ideas for Galentine’s Day celebrations with you and your besties that incorporate experiences, smaller local brands and creating new skills. All will generate moments to bond with your friends and make memories to celebrate Gal-Dom.
UPCYCLE JEWELRY PARTY
Do you have an engagement ring or wedding band that you no longer have any use of? Did you inherit a piece of jewelry that is not to your taste or you may deem too old fashion? Do you have any piece in your jewelry collection that you feel can be updated and glammed up? Well we recommend having an “Upcycle Jewelry Party”.
This requires inviting a local jewelry designer of your choice to a gathering at your home or event place of your choice. You can even host an after hours event at a jewelry boutique with the owner.
Recently I saw the collection of jewelry designer Yael Sonia at one of my favorite jewelry and objects boutique Atelier d’Emotion located in SoHo Village, NYC. The boutique is owned by Alice Sundbom and it was at one of her trunk shows when I told her I had jewelry that did not fit my taste. She recommend that a jewelry designer upcycle and redesign the piece. We thought this would make a great event for Galentine’s Day and all the women who had jewelry pieces or stones that needed a fresh new start. Also if you provide the gem stones, the price of the piece goes considerably down.
Yael Sonia’s pieces are perfect for upcycling stones from rings or necklaces for a fresh out of the box design. A piece that can be translated for your gemstones is her “Spinning Ring”. The ring has an unorthodox design in that there is a circle concave with a 6.5mm white diamond pavé ball inside rolling around in motion. This ring can be recreated to have your stone of similar size and weight roll around. It’s actually a fun ring to own as you can see from the short video below.
Another ring style from Sonia is the “Meteor Brilliant Ring” where a smooth cabochon sits at the center of planetary rings made of 18k gold and diamond pavé. Your stone can replace the stone in this design that can vary in size according to the stone.
If you have any pearl earrings or pearl rings that you feel are quite basic, Yael Sonia has a selection of rings that can breathe in new life to your pearl and transform it into a contemporary piece of art.
Yael Sonia “Tahitian Pearl surrounded by Pave Diamonds”
Have a discussion with your favorite local jewelry designer and see their capabilities and ideas for recreating jewelry pieces and gems that you would love to reinvent and how this can be the perfect Galentine’s Day event.
HAVE A CUSTOM FRAGRANCE MADE FOR YOU
A fun and creative experience to share with your friends is to invite a perfumer over to create a special scent made just for you. This can be done with your local perfumer or you can go to olfactorynyc.com in New York City where you can either go in-store where everyone leaves with their very own custom perfume – bottled fresh on-site! Olfactory provides your party wine and light refreshments (maximum capacity of 25). Olfactory also has On-Site mobile Scent Stations to make it easy to create this unforgettable experience at your home in NYC. If you are not near New York City Olfactory also offers Virtual Guided Instructions, where their scentologists guide you over Zoom in the comfort of your own home where you will be sent supplies ahead of the event. Olfactory is also located in Boston, DC, Miami, Atlanta and Dallas.
Together with your friends you can mix notes with their key 9 fragrances to find your perfect scent.
Your scentologist will help guide you in creating your scent.
You get to choose a name for your perfume, which will be stamped on your unique label, then select a custom label color.
TAKE A DESSERT CLASS TOGETHER
How about you and your friends make your own Galentine’s Day dessert with a dessert class?
You can attend a local cooking school that offers dessert making classes and create your own classic Valentine’s Day dessert. You can also hire a dessert chef to come to your home to teach you and your friends how to make a variety of desserts such as macarons, tiramisu or even Galentine’s Day cookies.
A great choice for dessert classes is CocuSocial where classes vary from $55 to $75 per person depending on the dessert you chose. You will learn step-by-step how to achieve the perfect dessert with your friends, all levels are welcomed and in two hours you will learn a new delicious skill that you and others will appreciate.
You have clothes you love but have not worn in ages or don’t fit you anymore. Dieting to fit into clothes you wore in your 20’s is not an option anymore. You can go on Poshmark and have your clothes ignored as it is a full time job to promote your closets there. You can go to a consignment shop and get insulted at the price they are willing to give you only to turn around and offer it at a ridiculous price. You can donate them but you love them so much and want to make sure they go to a good home where they will be loved and treasured (akin to rehoming your pet). Well may I recommend a clothes swapping party!
Swap parties are reminisce of bartering.
Invite your friends to come over and to bring pieces that they too are not using anymore but love just as much as you love your pieces and see if there are any pieces you all can swap. It’s a great way to recycle your clothes and I bet there are pieces in your wardrobe they have been eyeing for ages and vice-versa. Shoes, accessories and handbags are also great to swap especially the accessories and handbags since there is no issue with sizes. Even jewelry pieces you don’t wear or treasure can be a great addition to swap parties. Add some wine and pizza and you have not only a great evening but a great new wardrobe. Make sure everyone understands to bring worthwhile pieces not that t-shirt that has been at the bottom of your draw for ages. One other added bonus, if you ever want to borrow a piece you swapped out hopefully your friend is generous to lend it out to you.
Clothing Swap parties are a guaranteed sustainable way to celebrate Galentine’s Day.
FLOWER ARRANGING CLASS
What is a way to guarantee you will not feel sad about not receiving a floral bouquet on Valentines Day? Learn how to make a bouquet on Galentine’s Day!
Creating your own bouquet on Galentine’s Day is not only a way to walk home with some lovely flowers but it will also help you learn a skill that will always come in handy and be much appreciated especially if you love to entertain or want to give great hostess or birthday gifts.
You can Google your local florists to find classes for you and your friends to attend. In New York City, PlantShed is offering a special Galentine’s Day floral arranging class that includes “a selection of fresh seasonal plants or flowers, a demonstration, tips and tricks from our talented PlantShed floral designers or plant specialists, and all the materials you will need to build and safely transport your stunning creation.” They will also provide a beverage from their cafe and give you a 20% discount for in-store shopping.
Grocery stores like Trader Joes and Wholefoods offer flowers at affordable prices and here is your chance to pick from their selection and create beautiful bouquets for yourself to come home to everyday or give as gifts.
What’s a more productive and heartfelt way to spend Galentine’s Day than to do a volunteer project together!
Volunteering at City Harvest.
Here is a way to bond by making the world better (as women usually do). This can be volunteering for political or social campaigns, protesting (something we seem to be doing more and more these days), helping with food insecurity for organizations such as City Harvest or fundraise for them. There is an organization in New York City called New York Cares that gives you opportunities to do a wide variety of volunteer projects that fit in with your schedule. You can Google to see what organizations near by you have opportunities to volunteer in a cause you feel passionate about.
Rachel Dratch helping promote New York Cares Coat Drive.
Go on a group protest with your friends for Galentine’s Day (and copious amounts of hot chocolate after).
HOST A VISION BOARD PARTY
One of the most fun and creative ways you can spend time together with your friends for Galentine’s Day is to host a vision board party. As someone that has been hosting vision board parties for over 18 years now, it is the modern day version of the old timey quilting bees.
Helping each other make goals is a beautiful way to spend Galentine’s Day together.
Ask your friends come bringing magazines of subject matters they enjoy or are passionate about (and a bottle of wine) and you provide lots of scissors, paste sticks, large pieces of paper or pasteboards, pizza and snacks. You then flip through the magazines and tear out images that resonate to you. You start arranging your board lining it up with images that reflect the lifestyle you desire and want goals to attain (i.e. love life, career, health, travel, family, home, etc.)
Vision Board parties are a very bonding experience.
While you are creating your board you are having a nice catch up with your friends and sharing your goals in life. When done, just give a little show-and-tell and get important feed back from your friends and let them know what you think of their board to give encouragement. Get back together six months later to review your boards and you will be amazed at how much you have accomplished. Then set new goals. If you want any advice on Vision Boards email us at info@thelocalartisanguide.com and we will send you a PDF on the subject.
SPA DAY (OR evening)
Is there nothing a women loves more than a spa day (or evening) with her friends? You can gather a group of your friends to attend a spa together and do spa treatments or take a sauna or steam for rest and relaxation. Or you can host a spa evening at your home and have your friends bring a variety of beauty treatment for all to try. These can be clean products and home made beauty treatments using organic products.
The old cucumber on the eye trick never fails (and is inexpensive).
Have each friend be in charge of a beauty treatment. One can supply under eye masks, while the other gives a honey facial, while another does a manicure and another a pedicure. There are lots of clean, holistic products to use, we love and recommend products from The Alchemists Kitchen, especially their Turmeric Honey Face Mask.
Make sure you have a nice charcuterie board, a healthy mocktail and lots of candles going for this fun, relaxing evening where you can share some juicy gossip, talk about how crazy Ryan Murphy’s latest shows are and let your friends give you some advice on your love life and dating in the wild.
HAVE A POT LUCK DINNER
If there is one thing women love doing is getting together and having a good meal. Why not curate an elegant evening with a gourmet potluck? It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive (unless that’s what you gals want). Cooking for the ones you love is one of the best and more creative ways to show someone you care about them.
Set up a beautiful tablescape to show your friends how special they are to you.
Arrange what everyone will bring. Have a friend put together a colorful charcuterie board, another one make an amazing salad, another friend make some vegetarian or gluten free dishes (there is definitely going to be the gluten free girlfriend attending), another tackle a meat or fish dish, maybe someone bakes a sourdough loaf (my friend are still sourdough crazy from lockdown) and another make an amazing dessert (they took that macaron class). One can even be in charge of being a mixologist for the evening and creating yummy cocktails and mocktails for the crowd. Set a beautiful table, you can go to Global Table to make sure you have beautiful glassware for those amazing drinks. Make a floral arrangement (remember you learned in your class), have all your friends dress up for the evening (with that swap party you have new clothes to wear). Screen a romantic movie after dinner with a strong female lead and have an evening you will always remember with the women in your life that are your support group.
A toast to a special evening with your Galentines friends.
HAVE AN EVENING TO PLAN A FUTURE GIRLS TRIP WITH YOUR FRIENDS AT A CHâTEAU
Or just an Airbnb in the next town. What more bonding moment to celebrate your Galentine’s besties than with a trip to create memories together without the hassles that come with a hen weekend, destination wedding or milestone birthday? It’s just you and the gals having an adventure together in a different locale.
A dancing and bonding moment at Camp Château.
Get together on Galentine’s Day at your favorite watering hole and start planning a trip together! We were only half joking when we recommended to plan a trip to a chateau. At Camp Château in France they offer two châteaux to chose from to have the ultimate posh camp experience with your female friends. It’s an all inclusive, six day/five night experience where you get to curate your own activities by choosing what they have to offer. Some of the activities they offer are; hiking, foraging, flower pressing, candlemaking, watercolors, perfume making, wine tasting, cooking classes, exploring markets, visiting a vineyard, music concerts, swimming, board games, silent disco and so much more!! You sleep together in fancy bunk beds (remember this is bonding trip) but you will still feel like a princess. You can do an activity alone or with your friends. There is a waiting list so sign up fast for this once in a lifetime Galentine experience.
A trip with the special women in your life will always be a trip worth taking.
That said finding time to get away together doesn’t need to be so extravagant. Maybe you have availability to a weekend home or chip in together for an airbnb or vrbo? You can create your own version of a Camp Château by everyone in the group finding fun activities to do together and explore.
It is said one of the reasons women live longer than men is because they share a community, their lives, their feelings , their hopes and dreams with each other which translates to a healthy body and mind. Maybe that is the real reason Galentine’s Day is growing to be so popular. Women are just officially acknowledging a love and companionship like no other. Happy Galentine’s Day!
