Christmas is fast approaching and so today I have my most favourite ideas for you to delight the most important ladies in your life, your mummies love you and will spoil you to within an inch of your life, without asking for even one thing in return but fear not, I have 10 of the best ideas which will make your mummies (or mammies if you are a northern sort).

1.  This framed family custom pixel cross stitch portrait from Scarlet Pyjamas is the perfect way to get a family portrait even if you're not all together, I adore this one of my family, even though I'm a photographer I've never yet managed to get a photo of us all together for various reasons so this one with us all and of course miss Holly Bobbins is just divine, would you believe they're only £26 which I think is astounding value and it's guaranteed to make mum smile a lot!

In this next section all of the beauty products below can be bought from the wonderful company 25o.co.uk and the best bit, use the code Mcp15 and you'll get a massive 15% off your whole order

2.  How about some rain care body mist, this stuff smells divine and just like the rain it's so hydrating, you want your mummy to smell nice now don't you?  It's available for only £15.30 and I'm wearing it right now!

3.  I love gifts which you can hang on the tree and so this Spongelle Body Buffer is perfect for that, you could even maybe hide this at the back of the tree and then just when mum thinks you've not got her anything you can craftily produce this and it's only £7.99 so dads, maybe this is one the kids can get for mum with their pocket money.

4.  If mum is a little retro just like me she's going to love this Vintage Kellogg's bath milk, it's only £6.99 and who doesn't love a citrus scented bath?

5.  Anyone who knows me will tell you I am the biggest candle addict and I'm saving this Golightme candle for a special occasion, it's only £12 and burning it is going to add just that little extra hygge to your life!

6.  Christmas means the party season is upon us and there's nothing more annoying than having a set of gel nails applied and then being so busy that you never have the time to have them removed again, well now you can with your own professional gel nail removing kit, I use Gel nails all the time but come January I'm going to give my nails a little rest and this will be what I'll be using to get my nails back to basics!  It's available for only £13.50 and that's way cheaper than the price of a decent manicure even around these parts, this kit is my go to life saver!

7.  Another time saver here with the original make up eraser, this amazing cloth erases your makeup with just water, now I don't know about you but if I've just had a party night out, the last thing I want to do before bed is a full on beauty routine, yes I know I should but sometimes i'm just too tired, at least with this I can erase all traces in one easy go and then follow it up with some amazing moisturiser. It's available for just £16.99 and is a total face saver!

8.  If your mum is a crafty sort then I can't speak highly enough about the Embellish Box subscription and It's over to Amy for some words about her monthly paper cutting subscription box, Amy says "If you love papercutting then an EmbellishBox is perfect for you. Each box follows a theme, giving you at least three printed templates to cut yourself, a self-assembly house to collect and gifts related to the theme. It's a collection of beautiful things, and the only way to be the first to have the new months templates. There will never be a repeat box. During the month, the templates in the box will be exclusive to EmbellishBox members. At the end of the month the templates will go up for sale in the Etsy shop - the cost of the box, including all of the extra items, will ALWAYS be less than the cost of the templates individually" A monthly subscription costs from just £19 and you can buy your Embellish Box with the code MANDY15 to get a massive 15% off that, just visit EmbellishBox.co.uk

9.  As I mentioned above I'm going to have to give my nails a rest for a while in January and I have the perfect product to replace my Gel nails, I adore Jamberry wraps, not only do they come in adult and child sizes they're so easy to apply and they last for up to 2 weeks, I saw a friend who'd been wearing hers for 10 days yesterday and they still looked nail perfect!  The sheets work out at only £15 per sheet and that's way more than you'll need for one manicure so you'll be saving money too and that's something we totally approve of!

9. I love Elizabeth Ardens 8 hour cream, it's her original product and one of her best, you can use it on your eyebrows, you can use it as a face mask, you can use it on your hard skin, it's the most versatile of all of her products and mums everywhere love the Elizabeth Arden brand and at only £26 mums will be delighted to find this in their Christmas stockings

10. Finally if you live in the North East of England and you want to make mums Christmas why not buy her a voucher for a photo shoot, these vouchers are for a £75 session which means you can have the photo shoot at home or on location and you'll then get an online gallery for 30 days with 15% off for the first 7 days your gallery is live and I'll even give you a complimentary 12x8 print upon placing an order, they're valid until December 2017 and if you click to buy it now you'll only pay £35, that's a better than half priced gift certificate for Mandy Charlton Photography  just click the buy now button to purchase yours but hurry there's only a limited supply, upon payment I'll email you a voucher back so you can print and gift it to mum or granny or auntie...

8 Great Ways to Show Mum You Love Her

Mum's, they're amazing, it's the hardest job in the world for no pay and sometimes you actually hold your head in your hands and wonder "Why on earth did I actually sign up for this?"  Conversely of course you have those days where everything seems to fall into place, your parenting day is a good one, your children are thriving, excelling and generally being well balanced and wonderful and you feel on top of the world.

For almost 20 years now I've been a mum, I don't actually feel old enough to achieved that!  I'm proud I have 3 reasonably well balanced young adults who've made mostly excellent life paths so far, you never know what's around the corner of course but I cross my fingers and toes that they're wise and wonderful enough to go on to great things.  I adore my kids, they make me smile every day and even my nearly 20 year old who works for me reminded me that I needed to pay him early this week so he could send off for my Mothers Day present.

Now it may be that you are reading this having a panic about what to do for Mothers Day, I'll actually be going to Nethermined 2 with Looby as we have press passes, a thanks for being their official photographer for the original Nethermined Event, it's not my ultimate Mothers Day but I know Looby at least will have the time of her little life and it's already been put out there that we should go out for dinner on a different day.  Well at least I suppose I get to have a lie in.

If you are still struggling with ideas, here's 8 great presents to show mum you love her

1. On Saturday as always I have my Mothers Day Sessions, these are really an amazing way to tell mum you love her, there's still an available session at 1pm in Jesmond Dene, this year they're a 45 minute session and they're just £45 and include a 7x5, 9x6, online gallery for 30 days and 15% off if you place an order in the first week your gallery is live. Just email me and we can set that up.  Don't worry though if it's a little short notice because what you could do is purchase a gift certificate and give that to mum on Mothers Day, she gets to open something on the day and then you can take the photo shoot at any time you want in the next year or so.
2. Why not take mum for a favourite day out? If I had my choice I would be spending the day in Seahouses, walking along the beach with lunch at the Bamburgh Castle Inn
3. If you don't have any money at all but you still want to show mum you care you can get a mention in the Chronicle if you are local to Newcastle or the North East of England.
4. Why not get mum an experience to remember, a hot air balloon flight at dawn is something I have always wanted to do, Virgin Experience Days is your best website for that one.
5. Another creative way to show mum you care would be to collate all of your best photos, the ones that make you smile and make mum a slideshow, you could take it into her on a tray with the breakfast you've just prepared and play it on an iPad, honestly, a slideshow of cuteness with twinkly music is always guaranteed to reduce me to tears and I'm sure most mums are exactly the same.
6. Draw a picture, create some art, stick things to other things, mums like me adore handcrafted gifts, they're made full of heart and warmth and love.
7. I think I speak for most mums when I say that the best way to spend Mothers Day is with the whole family, all together in one place, I love busy family days so why not just take time out of your busy lives and go be with your mum wherever she is.
8. There's always a chance that you don't have a mum so why not use the opportunity to just send someone a card who means the world to you, maybe a special mentor or friend, your friends mum who treats you like one of the family?  It's always lovely to feel loved.

So that's my quick last minute run down of things you can do to show your mum just why she's so special.

Mandy Charlton

Newcastle Photographer

07918121838