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According to the US National Retail Federation, Mothers Day is a gold mine for florists. Last year one third of adults bought flowers for mom, and they spent $2.3 billion. Convert that to Canadian dollars and you’re looking at close to $3 billion. Have you ever thought that maybe mom might like something different for a change? This year, why not shake things up on Mother’s Day, skip the flowers and show her how much you appreciate everything she’s done with a gift that will last longer than three or four days?

House of Marley Liberate Bluetooth Speaker

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Who doesn’t love music? House of Marley has a reputation for packing great sound in a small package and the Liberate Bluetooth Speaker is perfect for a Mother’s Day gift. It’s compact, packs four drivers in its enclosure, goes for eight hours on a charge and it stands out from the crowd thanks to bamboo trim and its stylish (and ecologically friendly) REWIND cloth cover.

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Muse Brain-Sensing Headband

Let’s face it, motherhood can be stressful. Kids can be a lot of fun, but they can also be a lot of work and much of that stress naturally tends to land in mom’s court. The Muse Brain-Sensing Headband is cutting edge technology, based on EEG tech used by hospitals and medical researchers. What does the Muse do? It helps mom to meditate, guiding her to a calm, restful and focused state, combating the stress that tends to come with motherhood. Mom could also fib a little and tell the kids that the Muse helps her to read their thoughts—that should help to buy a little more quiet time …

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Narrative Clip Active Camera

In many families, mom is the one who takes the pictures. Vacations, school plays, special occasions and those cute moments—you can count on mom.

The Narrative Clip Active Camera is a great way to make life a lot easier on the designated photographer. Instead of fumbling for a camera, mom clips this tiny camera on (or wears it on a chain) and it automatically snaps two 5MP photos every minute. If there’s something spectacular going on, a quick double-tap will manually snap a shot. The battery is good for two days and the internal storage holds 4,000 photos. Mom can enjoy the moment instead of worrying about capturing it, then upload the photos later to a PC or share them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using Narrative’s iOS/Android app.

Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker

Being a mother means being active. All the time. How about a fitness tracker so mom can capture all those steps taken and stairs climbed and put a number to them? With the new Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker, she can accurately track all of her activity, in a wearable that’s both sleek and stylish. She can also record her sleep patterns and use the information to improve on that always valuable commodity.

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If mom’s into fitness, the Fitbit Alta has the sensors and information display she needs for activities like running. It even helps her to keep her hands free, by displaying notifications from her smartphone. The Fitbit Alta is water resistant, comfortable to wear and runs for five days on a charge, making it the ultimate in low-maintenance wearables.

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Motorola Moto 360 Women’s Smartwatch With Heart Rate Monitor

Is mom interested in a smartwatch, but doesn’t want to deal with the bulk? Let’s face it not all smartwatch makers cater to the needs of women, who tend to have more slender wrists than men. Some smartwatches are so comically large, they can look like computer strapped to a woman’s wrist.

Motorola gets that there should be more than one choice and it released the Moto 360 Women’s Smartwatch to meet the needs of those looking for sleek style as well as high the cool factor.  It has a round watch face, so it doesn’t look so obviously high tech. And it offers all the functionality of the original, but in a case that’s been streamlined for smaller wrists. Mom can enjoy notifications, check the weather, issue voice commands (works with OK Google, not necessarily the kids) and track her fitness activity—including heart rate—on this one, elegant device. Oh, and it tells the time, too.

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Kobo Glo HD eBook Reader

Being a mom and loving to read often means snatching a few minutes here and there with her favourite book. If you’re shopping for a mom who loves to read, consider giving her the Kobo Glo HD eBook Reader. With the Kobo Glo, she can carry her “books” with her everywhere—her entire library, not just a single book—and instantly pick up where she left off. The Kobo Glo has a 6-inch display with adjustable fonts, so reading is a pleasure and it’s so thin and lightweight it can easily be slipped in a purse or coat pocket. It lasts for months on a battery charge and has a Wi-Fi connection to Kobo’s eBookstore with over 4 million titles so she can buy a new book on a whim. And with built-in side lighting, mom can read at night without having to turn on the lights.

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Go For the Gold

Finally, I have a collection of bigger ticket items that would make any mother’s day. The common theme to these—besides being extremely powerful, multi-purpose devices—is their elegant look, including some very snazzy gold cases.

First up is Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The best display on a tablet period, four speakers, able to use a Smart Keyboard to transform into a laptop-like device and with the power to run productivity apps and games. The iPad Pro is available in a conservative Space Grey, or you could go all out and up the storage to 128GB and choose the new Rose Gold finish.

Speaking of Rose Gold, if mom could use a new laptop, how about Apple’s newly refreshed MacBook in Rose Gold? Its new 6th generation Intel Core M CPU means no fan needed, the 12-inch display is a high resolution Retina panel and the MacBook is just 13.1mm thick and 0.92 kg.

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If Mac isn’t her thing, the HP Spectre X360 is a stunner and it’s a fully convertible Windows laptop, meaning she can use it in laptop mode, or flip the display around to a tablet mode. It’s thin, light and clad in Ash Silver aluminum with copper accents, offering premium looks and performance. I reviewed one of these earlier this year and the HP Spectre is the kind of laptop that gets a lot of admiring looks. I bet your mom would love to have one too.

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Mom may not have bought one for herself, but I’ll bet there’s a high tech gift she would love to receive. And every time she uses it, you can be sure she’ll remember receiving it—because that’s a big part of what makes a mom so special.

Brad Moon
Editor Computing solutions
I’m a long-time electronics and gadget geek who’s been fortunate enough to enjoy a career that lets me indulge this interest. I have been writing about technology for several decades for a wide range of outlets including Wired, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, MSN, About.com, Kiplinger, and GeekDad. I’m in my 10th year as a senior contributor for Forbes with a focus on reviewing music-related tech, Apple gear, battery power stations and other consumer electronics. My day job is with the Malware Research Center at AI-native cybersecurity pioneer CrowdStrike.