10 Meaningful Gift Ideas Your Child’s Birth Mother Will Love

The holidays are a great time to remember your child’s birth mother with a special gift. While it is easy for adoptive parents to get swept up in ensuring their child’s happiness this season, we must consider what birth parents may go through during the holidays.
 
This season can be incredibly challenging for birth mothers and fathers. While everyone else is joyous this time of year, birth parents can often feel flooded with sadness and stress. The grief that they work through during this time is unique because even as they’re happy their child is thriving with their adoptive parents, they still may feel a sense of loss and emptiness for not being able to spend the holidays with their child.
 
Of course, the gift you give your child’s birth mother will vary, depending on the relationship that you take the time to form with her, as well as what her desires and preferences are. When birth mothers fill out adoption paperwork with Lifetime, they share with us what their favorites are and what they like to do. When you’re officially matched with a birth mother, your Adoption Coordinator will tell you about her hobbies and favorites. Referring to that info is a good place to start.
 
Having a relationship with your child’s birth parents is a year-round practice, but it’s vital to let them know you are thinking of them during the holidays. Even though there is no possible way for you to say thank you enough for the precious gift she’s given you, you can take the opportunity to bless her during the holidays by giving her a special, meaningful present. A present may even help relieve her loneliness and sadness.
 
With Christmas right around the corner, we decided that now would be a perfect time to share gift ideas and suggestions for birth mothers. Here are 10 Christmas gift ideas to spark your creativity and show her your gratitude:
 

Table of Contents

• Handmade Christmas ornament
• Flowers
• Adoption bracelet
• Gifts for her other kids
• Photo ornament
• Framed handprint and photo
• Gift card
• Photo book
• Charm bracelet
• Frame with recorded message

1. Handmade Christmas ornament

A Christmas ornament that your child made by hand will make a special, meaningful gift for their birth mother. Consider making a salt dough ornament, which can last for years. Depending upon your child’s age, they can help you mix the dough and shape them.
 
After the ornament has dried, your child can paint it and add embellishments. You can choose a Christmas theme or let your child choose a theme. Suggestions for the ornament shape include:

• Heart
• Star
• Letter of the alphabet
• Stocking shape
• Snowflake
• Mitten
• Gingerbread man

If you don’t want to make salt ornaments, you could buy an ornament and write the year and your child’s name with a colored marker. Then, start a tradition of giving your child’s birth mother an ornament every year as a Christmas gift.
 

2. Flowers

Christmas bouquets are a lovely gift for birth mothers. Have the flowers sent to her before the holiday so she can enjoy them. Some florists add unique little gifts to the Christmas bouquets, such as a coffee mug, cookies, or a beautiful vase. You could ask your child to help you pick out the bouquet they want to send, so the gift has special meaning to her.
 

3. Adoption bracelet

Adoptive mother, adoption expert, and Founder of Lifetime Mardie Caldwell envisioned and created these gorgeous adoption bracelets. The adoption symbol charm of a triangle intertwined with a heart signifies both the love involved in adoption and the adoption triad. The three points of the triangle represent the child (at the top), the birth family, and the adoptive parents.
 
Adoption Prayer Bracelets are gorgeous, one-of-a-kind jewelry to signify and declare your love for adoption. The bracelets are available in various colors, materials, and styles. Some styles include handmade glass beads and natural gem beads, while others are made of natural materials like wood or stone. This simple, precious gift honors all who travel the miraculous path of adoption.
 
This bracelet would make a wonderful Christmas gift for your child’s birth mother. All proceeds go to the Lifetime Adoption Foundation to aid in their mission to help birth mothers with their future educational goals.
 

4. Gifts for her other kids

If your child’s birth mother has other children, you may consider remembering them at Christmas too. When you send her gift, you could include a gift for her other children, such as:

• Board games
• Books
• Legos
• A doll or action figure

5. Photo ornament

One adoptive family shared with us about the perfect Christmas gift they found for their child’s birth mother. They took their child to get his picture taken with Santa, then had Shutterfly print it onto a personalized Christmas ornament. The photo captured their son’s beaming smile as he sat on Santa’s lap, creating a keepsake that beautifully commemorated this special milestone in his life.
 
This simple yet meaningful gesture allowed the birth mother to feel included in the child’s holiday celebrations and to see how much he’d grown over the past year. The adoptive parents chose an ornament style that would coordinate with any tree decorating theme, ensuring it would fit seamlessly into her own Christmas traditions. They packaged it carefully with a heartfelt note expressing their gratitude and warm wishes for the season.
 
By mailing the ornament in early December, they ensured it would arrive in plenty of time for the birth mother to display it on her Christmas tree throughout the holidays. Each time she looked at her tree, she could see her child’s joyful face and know that she remained an important part of his story. The ornament became more than just a decoration—it was a tangible reminder of the open adoption relationship they all shared and the love that connected them across households.
 
This type of photo ornament can showcase any favorite picture from the year: a birthday celebration, a first day of school photo, a candid moment from a family outing, or any image that captures the child’s personality and growth. It’s a gift that honors the birth mother’s enduring connection to the child while creating a cherished keepsake she can treasure for years to come.
 

6. Framed handprint and photo

Birth mothers love any Christmas gift that reminds them of their child and helps them feel connected during the holiday season. Many birth mothers have shared that one of their favorite Christmas gifts was a double framed picture with a photo of their child on one side and their child’s handprint in plaster on the other side. This thoughtful keepsake captures both the child’s appearance and a tangible imprint of their tiny hand, creating a multidimensional memento that birth mothers can display year-round.
 
Handprint kits are readily available at craft stores or online, and the process of creating them can even be a special activity that adoptive parents do with their child, explaining that they’re making something special for someone who loves them very much. This turns gift-giving into an opportunity for age-appropriate conversations about adoption and the important people in the child’s life.
 

7. Gift card

Everyone loves to be pampered once in a while, so why not give your child’s birth mother a gift card to her favorite store, restaurant, hair salon, or movie theater for Christmas? There’s no need to spend a ton on gift cards, as even a small amount can help her enjoy a day out.
 

8. Photo book

Another Christmas gift idea for your child’s birth mother is a photo book filled with pictures of your child throughout the year. For example, if they play sports, it could be pictures of them playing on their team, in their uniform, or maybe a team photo.
 
Be sure to date the book and ask your child to write a little note on the inside cover. If your child isn’t old enough to write, you might put their handprint on the inside of the cover of the photo book. Your child’s birth mother will love looking at the photos and sharing them with extended family members.
 

9. Charm bracelet

Why not give your child’s birth mother a charm bracelet for Christmas with a charm that holds special meaning to her? Then, you can add to it every year with a different charm.
 
Choose charms that would be especially meaningful to her, such as her favorite hobbies, colors, or animals, then buy a charm every Christmas to add to her bracelet. There are also lovely charms made just for birth mothers, including ones depicting the adoption symbol.
 

10. Frame with recorded message

A sweet Christmas gift you can give to your child’s birth mother is a recordable picture frame. These frames hold a five-by-seven-inch photo with the ability for your child to record up to a 20-second audio message.
 
These messages last even if the batteries are removed from the frame. Your child’s message could be singing a song, saying the ABC’s or reciting a poem they’ve learned. Many birth mothers say it’s one of their most treasured Christmas gifts.
 
Have you ever sent your child’s birth mother a Christmas gift that isn’t on our list? Share your ideas by leaving a comment below!

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on December 13, 2021, and has since been updated.