12 best Mother’s Day hamper baskets and gift boxes to spoil her with

Mother’s Day falls on Sunday 14 March this year, but with lockdown still ongoing and social restrictions still in place, the best many of us might manage is a walk in the park or cup of tea on a bench. Lots of us won’t see our mums or mother figures at all this Mother’s Day, though, and so we’re going to have to do things a little differently this year.

Despite such strange times, there’s no reason you can’t still spoil your mum in March. While you might not be able to take her for that afternoon tea, or treat her to breakfast in bed, you can have all those lovely experiences delivered to her home instead.

And while you might prefer to take her shopping on the high street or to your local market, sending a gift box of goodies – whether it’s luxury bath bombs or fancy skincare products – will surely brighten her day.

Read more: 13 best letterbox flowers for all occasions to deliver at any time

For this Mother’s Day, to help you treat your mum to the best possible gift with whatever budget you’ve got, we’ve sought out the best hampers and gift boxes to order online and have delivered right to her door.

We’ve tested nearly 20 hampers, ranging from delicious food parcels to indulgent cocktail boxes, plus skincare and pampering packages, and a few off-piste options – and we’ve dutifully tested them all to find the absolute best.

Not only have we picked the boxes with the best products that offer great value for money, but we’ve also considered how they’re packaged and presented, and how the different products inside complement one another to create an experience as well as a lovely gift.

Our writer even sought her own mum’s seal of approval for some of these packages, so we can confidently say these are the best hampers and gift boxes for Mother’s Day.

You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Read More

John Lewis x Ixia has launched a range of dried flowers and we’re obsessed

Want to buy the jewellery candles everyone on TikTok is obsessed with? Here’s where to shop them

Panzer’s Deli breakfast hamper

Best for: Luxurious breakfast in bed

Everything about the Panzer’s breakfast hamper is divine. It’s packaged in a sophisticated dark green cardboard box tied with ribbon, while its contents are top-notch – as you’d expect from the north London deli. Mum will get smoked salmon, incredibly rich cream cheese, a pair of soft bagels and an enormous lemon to add a little zest. There’s freshly-squeezed orange juice in a glass bottle, too, and the best granola we’ve ever tasted. It’s delivered with freezer packs and insulation to keep it cool along the way, and is easily stored in the fridge overnight so do order it for delivery the day before.

You can add on champagne to make it extra special, too, and nationwide delivery is available. While you might not be there to serve it, at least you can provide your mum with a luxurious breakfast in bed that she can construct herself.

Buy now £24.00, Panzers.co.uk

Darts Farm G&T cream tea hamper

Best for: Afternoon tea at home

Swap that expensive afternoon tea in a hotel garden for the lockdown-friendly home version from Darts Farm, a vast farm shop based in Devon which is now shipping cream teas around the country. Inside the recyclable Darts branded cardboard box you’ll find four plain scones from a Devonshire bakery, a mammoth pot of Rodda’s clotted cream, a box of English breakfast teabags and a jar of delectably sweet strawberry jam. Plus, keeping it local, the cream tea set comes with a couple of 50ml bottles of Salcombe Gin and South Devon Luscombe Tonic waters to make it an extra indulgent affair.

Our scones were a little dense – it was a serious task just finishing one, let alone all four – but they were perfect for spreading lashings of cream and jam (in whatever order you like!). The real joy of having this at home? You don’t have to be embarrassed by asking a waiter for more cream. The box was neatly packaged and had freezer packs and compostable wool insulation to keep it cool, so it can even be left on the doorstep if mum’s out when it’s delivered.

Buy now £35.00, Dartsfarm.co.uk

Rare Birds book club mother’s day bundle

Best for: Book addicts

If your mum is a big reader, she’ll no doubt appreciate this collection of novels from the Rare Birds Book Club. Usually a subscription service, they’re offering a one-off box for Mother’s Day this year with three female-authored titles. Each of the novels has themes exploring motherhood, and it includesThe Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, and The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal.

It comes tightly packed in its own branded box, and each book is wrapped in a lovely branded tissue paper. There’s a little card inside too, which can be personalised for your mum to add that loving touch. Plus, by buying this gift box you’re supporting a small British business – Rare Birds Book Club is an independent bookstore in Edinburgh run by a small team of passionate readers.

Buy now £33.00, Notonthehighstreet.com

Lush Mother’s Day gift box

Best for: Mums in need of me-time

You’ll be able to smell this gift box before you even open it, as Lush has packed it with gloriously scented bath bombs and all manner of pampering products. For your £50 you’ll get a couple of bath bombs, a jasmine cream bubble bar, silky body lotion, rose jam shower gel, pink vanilla shower scrub and a bar of soap, and the whole thing is wrapped in a rather lovely piece of fabric you can reuse as a headscarf or gift wrap.

It’s all very eco-friendly, too. The box is recyclable, the fabric wrap is made from recycled plastic, and all the lovely products are protected by their “eco pops” – biodegradable corn starch shapes Lush developed to ensure it could protect and pack the products sustainably. All the products are cruelty-free and vegetarian, too, so this is the ultimate ethical Mother’s Day gift.

Buy now £50.00, Lush.com

Bristol Film Festival’s film night companion

Best for: Mums who love movies

We loved this rather unusual gift box from Bristol Film Festival. While it’s not the most attractively packaged, it offers an alternative to the straightforward food and drink hampers. You get to pick your own movie and choose sweet or savoury snacks, then you’ll be sent a box with a DVD, a bottle of wine, and a pack of quiz questions for an entertaining night in. We chose Four Weddings and a Funeral – a classic – and received some incredibly moreish Mr Filberts olives, Italian baked cheese and a packet of Applewood smoked nuts, which all went together perfectly.

The best thing about this gift box is that even if you can’t meet up for a movie night, you can share the experience by watching along at home yourself (we chose Four Weddings because it’s also on Amazon Prime Video), then have a go at the quiz questions via video call afterwards. It’s a lovely little pick-me-up experience during what has already been a challenging year.

Buy now £29.99, Bristolfilmfestival.com

Letterbox cheese showstopper trio

Best for: Cheese lovers

This is a simple but highly effective concept: high quality cheese that fits through your letterbox. Butler’s Farmhouse Cheese is a family-owned and run dairy in Preston, Lancashire, where they use traditional skills to make a variety of British cheeses with the milk from their own cows. Its showstopper trio set is just that – three absolutely excellent cheeses, including a pongy blue, a piquant hard cheese and a creamy brie-like round cheese.

Inside the box, which neatly slides through your letterbox for a most convenient delivery, you’ll also get a pair of sourdough crispbreads and a jar of Tracklements sticky fig relish, which beautifully offsets the richness of the dairy. Our package arrived a little soggy thanks to the freezer packs inside, but it didn’t take away from the brilliant concept (or the supremely tasty cheese).

Buy now £11.50, Letterbox.butlerscheeses.co.uk

Lovingly Artisan breakfast in bed box

Best for: A light breakfast in bed

Perfect for those on a bit of a budget wanting to show mum a little love this Mother’s Day, the Lovingly Artisan bakery’s breakfast in bed box is a solid choice. It comes with a sourdough loaf and a gorgeous jam, and a pair of cloud-like saffron buns, which were absolutely delicious toasted as a post-breakfast treat.

We enjoyed our sourdough and jam for a good few days after this arrived and it was still pretty fresh, and the cherry and Prosecco jam is still gracing our morning toast now. Ultimately, this is a lovely, simple breakfast with a couple of treats to keep you going.

Buy now £11.00, Lovinglyartisan.com

Citrus and Spice: Gewurtztraminer and truffles gift set

Best for: Fine wine enthusiasts

This wine and truffle set doesn’t come in a fancy box or case, but these high quality products speak for themselves. If your mum is a wine connoisseur, she’ll love this chocolate pairing. The golden Gewurtztraminer comes from South Tyrol in Italy and will transport you to the mountainous province with just one sip. It’s a sweet wine, with notes of honey and candied orange, and it pairs perfectly with the zesty artisanal chocolates.

The chocolates are made by Iain Burnett in the Scottish Highlands and come neatly packed in rows in a luxurious red box. Expect truffles with tangy lime and lemongrass, caramel and lime and chilli filling – all utterly velvety and completely moreish.

Buy now £61.39, Independent.wine

Freyaluna’s uplift and go discovery kit

Best for: An affordable pampering day

Taking mum to a spa is out of the question this Mother’s Day, but this little pamper kit is a pretty good alternative – and it’s significantly cheaper. Inside the mustard silky zip pouch (handy for future travels) you’ll find orange and ylang ylang bath salts, bergamot balm, orange and neroli skin mist and a neroli and ylang ylang body oil that leaves the skin feeling almost buttery (and smells divine). Each item is individually wrapped in pretty tissue paper, and the bag comes in a slim box for protection in the post.

We reckon this is a steal at £20. While the products are small – probably only enough for a few uses each, except the bath salts which will likely only fill one tub – they come together to create a luxurious experience which is laid out in a leaflet offering step-by-step instructions on how to use the kit and in what order. It’s not quite the spa day you’d have imagined, but mum will still feel relaxed and come away smelling spa fresh.

Buy now £20.00, Freyaluna.co.uk

Sussex Eggspress all the love gift box

Best for: Brilliant British treats

We’re suckers for a good pun, but fortunately there’s a lot more to Sussex Eggspress than its clever name. The small business, started by Georgina Burrows in her own kitchen when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, delivers the best Sussex produce to its customers. Now, they’re making up gorgeous hampers as gifts, and this box has a veritable feast of treats inside.

Pink macarons, hand-decorated heart-shaped truffles, velvety chocolate bars and pillow-soft marshmallows flavoured with raspberry and rose – all of which are made in Sussex – will get your mum’s sweet tooth going, while a beautifully scented candle will fill her home with the unusual but deeply pleasant smell of black pomegranate. The sleek black gift box comes packed with sprigs of lavender thrown in, and a fake rose to top it off.

Buy now £65.00, Sussexeggspress.co.uk

Legges of Bromyard grazing box

Best for: A full cheese board

Everyone loves to graze, and this box really delivers on nibbles. Legges of Bromyard is a Herefordshire-based butcher and deli founded by a farmer’s son, and celebrating British produce and sustainability are at the heart of the company’s ethos. That’s why everything in this box is produced on our own fertile ground. There’s a stupendously smoky tray of salmon from Droitwich, Somerset based Mr Filberts olives and nuts, a jar of chutney (ours was a rather unusual runner bean concoction), and British-made biscuits to go with the four fabulous cheeses.

The Hereford Hop is the highlight – a potent hard cheese – while there’s also a lovely brie from Herefordshire, a red cheese and a tangy blue. This haul of snacks comes in its own Legges of Bromyard hessian bag, packed with freezer packs and insulation to keep it cool until it can be refrigerated.

Buy now £35.00, Leggesofbromyard.com

Coffee & Kin chocolate gift box

Best for: Sweet-toothed mums

A socially-distant cuppa with mum on Mother’s Day might well be an option, and what better way to do it than with coffee and chocolate? Coffee & Kin’s gift box is a lovely way to show your appreciation, with its speciality-grade coffee – which comes as beans, pods or ground – and a selection of handmade, artisanal chocolate bars.

We couldn’t get enough of the chocolate in our Coffee & Kin box. We had a milk chocolate peppermint bar, a Himalayan salt bar and a sublime, silky smooth hazelnut bar made by Studio 28 in Newcastle – and we could have devoured it all in one go, frankly. Our coffee was a Brazilian red catuai with melon and almond flavours, and it paired beautifully with the chocolate. Each box comes with a leaflet that explains where the produce comes from and who has made it.

Buy now £28.00, Coffeeandkin.co.uk

The verdict: Mother’s day hampers

The Panzer’s Deli breakfast box really won us over with its fancy packaging and really rather moreish granola. The bagels were deliciously dense and cream cheese was rich, and the fresh orange juice was a really lovely touch. It felt like a very special breakfast. The Darts Farm cream tea box was a close second, though. The gin miniatures and tonics from Devon rounded off our cream tea perfectly and made the whole thing feel like a proper celebration – despite the strange times.

Bored of your go-to? We found the best natural wine subscription boxes