Your Mom Wants a Present From the Museum Gift Shop

If you get these very cool earrings for your mom, you are basically forcing her into a conversation with a stranger. Someone will inevitably say, “I love those earrings, where did you get them?” Only buy these if you know that your mom is the kind of person to say, delighted, “My kid got them for me for Mother’s Day! They’re from MoMA!” In ten minutes she will know this person’s entire life story and they’ll have plans to get coffee next week.

I imagine the mom who would love this is some kind of early education teacher. An elementary-school art teacher, perhaps. If your mom is often described as “warm” and “bubbly,” I think she would love this cute albeit kind of corny bracelet from the San Francisco MoMA. If your mom is a partner at a law firm, I would avoid this one.

Is your mom not really into jewelry? Does your mom have a ton of crap she’s always carrying around? Well then she’ll probably love this bag. It comes in a lot of colors and can hold all of the granola bars, crumpled receipts, and tissues (fresh or used) anyone could ever need. Her peers might not know what it means, but you can tell her that she’s stunting on them by carrying an Issey Miyake bag. Plus it’s made from recycled polyester? Sustainability queen!

These Sonia Boyajian earrings, from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, are stunning. They are also over $300, which is kind of extreme for Mother’s Day. But, they are very beautiful and have been marked down by 50 percent. Perhaps you are very rich and want to show gratitude to your mom for raising someone who went on to become very rich. These would be a nice way to show that.

When I tell you that the best place to do your mom shopping is in the museum gift shop, this is what I mean. Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has these lovely, embroidered glasses cases. Why? I don’t know, but they’d make a perfect gift for your bespectacled mother.

At $4, this Mary Frank pin from the Whitney is an economical gift that your mom will be excited to put on the tote bag she brings to the farmers’ market. If you want to get her really amped up, you can tell her that all the artist’s proceeds are donated to Planned Parenthood.

I don’t know if the heart-shaped jewelry lovers are really out there or if they’re a myth made up by Pandora. If they’re real, this is the heart necklace you should be getting your mom. From the Mass MoCA, this one is delicate and sweet. They said that no one could make a heart necklace that wasn’t tacky, but this one proves them wrong.

I know that some of you have moms who love their pooches as much as they love you. This is the perfect way for you to show that you are not jealous of a dog and in fact you’re totally chill with your mom’s second favorite.

If your mom knows who Ellsworth Kelly is, well, she’s probably chic and cool. As such, she probably loves wearing a scarf, as all chic and cool women do. Let’s combine those interests in this lovely Ellsworth Kelly scarf from MoMA. It’s colorful without looking clownish, playful without being childish, and most importantly if you split it with your sibling you’re only paying $62.50.

These funky socks, from SFMOMA, are an example of something I would buy for my mom if she were cool with things disappearing from her closet. If that is not the case with your mother, I would suggest buying two pairs.