Tiny gifts for mom

The failure mode here is well known and worth naming: a small ornament with a nice message on it, given every year, arriving on a shelf that already holds nine of them. Everything on this page is chosen against that. Hand creams and balms run out. Candle tins burn for six evenings and are gone. A fine chain is worn rather than displayed. A keyring leaves the house every morning. All four are small presents that leave nothing behind to dust.

If the message is the point, and with this present it usually is, put it on the card and let the object be a plain good one. A blank chain with a written card outlives an engraved plaque with a printed verse, because the card can be kept in a drawer and the plaque has to stand somewhere. The one exception is the pocket token, which is small enough to live in a bag rather than on a shelf, and that is exactly why it works.