Getting The Most Miles And Points For Mother S Day Gifts

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Mother’s Day falls on May 11 this year (less than two weeks away), and if you still haven’t purchased a present for Mom, don’t worry. The TPG list we put together last year has great gift ideas for the traveling mom in your life, along with several ways you can maximize the points you earn on purchases.Get your mom a gift through a shopping portal to earn points.As usual, one of the best ways to earn points through Mother’s Day purchases is through shopping portals. Many vendors like FTD.com that sell flowers and gifts for mom will contract with shopping portals to offer a lot of bonus points per dollar spent on purchases - and many offer Mother’s Day-specific bonuses that are higher than usual. Below is a roundup of the major portals.Air Canada: Aeroplan EStoreAlaska: Mileage Plan ShoppingAmerican: AAdvantageEshopping.comAmtrak: Amtrak Guest RewardsBarclaycard: Barclaycard Rewards BoostBritish Airways: BA Miles EstoreChase: Ultimate Rewards ShoppingChoice Rewards: Choice Privileges MallDelta: Skymilesshopping.comDiscover: ShopDiscoverFrontier: Early Returns MallHawaiian Airlines: Hawaiian Airlines eMarketHilton HHonors: Hilton HHonors Shop to Earn MallIHG Rewards Shopping: Rewards Club OffersMarriott Rewards: Shop My WayMastercard: Mastercard MarketplaceSouthwest: Rapid Rewards ShoppingUnited: Mileageplusshopping.comUS Airways: Dividend Miles Shopping MallVirgin Atlantic: ShopsAwayVisa: Visa Offers (these are discounts not points-earning)Use EV Reward to compare where you can get the most points or miles.Before shopping, I always check EVReward first because it generally has an accurate picture of the bonuses being offered, but it’s not always complete, so if you find that a merchant is offering bonuses through one or several shopping portals but not the credit card, airline or hotel one you’re looking to accrue points in, it’s still worth double checking your preferred portal first before buying through another.Here I’ve listed bonuses at three major flower/gift distributors, and further down some individual portals and bonuses on some vendors that would also have some great gift ideas for mom, like jewelry, flowers and more.Bonuses By MerchantFTD.comThese tulips are $55 at FTD.com. This means you could earn 1925 Delta Skymiles for purchasing this at 35 miles per dollar.FTD.com is a flowers and gifts vendor with a variety of choices in a lot of different price ranges. It also has some of the best offers out there for shopping portals, up to the 35 miles per dollar range. Note: always price check, especially with local vendors that may be cheaper. In general, flowers can be a waste (depending on how you look at it), but if you’re going with a major retailer you can bank tons of miles and points.American Airlines: 30 miles per dollarDelta SkyMiles: 35 skymiles per dollarHilton HHonors: 7 points per dollar plus 3,000 bonus points per purchaseMarriott Rewards: 15 points per dollarUltimate Rewards: 10 points per dollarUnited Airlines: 30 miles per dollarDelta has the the highest absolute bonus, however I value my American Airlines miles more, so in this case I would probably choose AA at 30 points per dollar.Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.ProFlowersGet 15 Ultimate Reward points per dollar spent on anything at ProFlowers, even these chocolate covered strawberries.ProFlowers.com is a vendor that offers flowers, chocolate, perfume and other gifts. They have a grand selection of chocolate covered strawberries which any mother would love.American Airlines: 9.0 miles per dollarBarclay Card Rewards Boost: 10 points per dollarHawaiian Airlines: 6.0 miles per dollarMarriott Rewards: 14.0 points per dollarUltimate Rewards: 15.0 points per dollarIf I were to purchase from ProFlowers, I would clearly choose the Ultimate Rewards points option. Not only can you transfer them to British Airways, Korean Air, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic and United, as well as Hyatt, IHG Rewards, Marriott/Ritz-Carlton and Amtrak, but you can also use Ultimate Rewards’ Pay With Points to pay for travel outright at a rate of 1.25 cents per point if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Ink Bold or Ink plus, so you’re getting at least an 18.75% return on your spending.GiftBaskets.comA lavender gift basket from GiftBaskets.com.GiftBaskets.com is a distributor that offers gift baskets for any occasion. Mother’s Day options include gift baskets with tea, body products, chocolate, cookies, soaps and more.American Airlines: 4.0 miles per dollarAmtrak: 7.0 points per dollarDelta SkyMiles: 3.0 skymiles per dollarHawaiian Airlines: 9.5 miles per dollarHilton HHonors: 7.0 points per dollarSouthwest: 4.0 points per dollarHawaiian is the winner here, but American and Southwest are also good options. Check out our series on maximizing Hawaiian miles, like this one on their numerous partners.1-800-FLOWERSEarn 25 Amtrak reward points per dollar spent at 1-800 Flowers.com.1-800 FLOWERS.com is one of the most popular online flower services, but they offer other gift options as well.American Airlines: 8.0 miles per dollarAmtrak: 25 points per dollarBarclaycard Rewards Boost: 9 points per dollarMarriott Rewards: 14.0 points per dollarSouthwest: 30 points per dollar (Promo Code RR51)This is a great opportunity for Amtrak Rewards members to maximize, as this is a huge amount of points per dollar spent. Check out this post on maximizing Amtrak redemptions.Bonuses By Shopping PortalIf you would rather accrue a certain kind of mile or point for your purchases, it’s a good idea to check through your preferred airline or hotel or credit card’s shopping portal directly for special Mother’s Day deals since many of them offer special bonuses specifically geared to the holiday - and there are bound to be more as May 11 approaches.American AirlinesShop at the American shopping portal for Mother’s Day.American’s AAdvantage eShopping special Mother’s Day offers are:1-800 Flowers: 8 miles per dollarElizabeth Arden: 6 miles per dollarFTD.com: 30 miles per dollarProFlowers: 9 miles per dollarShari’s Berries: 9 miles per dollarTeleflora: 9 miles per dollarBarclaycard Rewards BoostBarclaycard Rewards Boost shopping portal.The Barclaycard Rewards Boost portal offers some deals for Mother’s Day shopping:1-800 Flowers: 9 points per dollarCherry Moon Farms: 10 points per dollarMy Jewelry Box: 6 points per dollarProFlowers: 10 points per dollarRed Envelope: 6 points per dollarShari’s Berries: 10 points per dollarTeleflora: 10 points per dollarDeltaSkymiles Shopping Mother’s Day Offers.Delta’s Skymiles shopping has a few Mother’s Day specials, with FTD as the clear winner:Elizabeth Arden: 4 miles per dollarFTD.com : 35 miles per dollarHarry & David: 4 miles per dollarPerfumania: 3 miles per dollarSouthwestSouthwest Rapid Rewards shopping portal.Southwest’s Rapid Rewards shopping Mother’s Day offers include:Cherry Moon Farms: 7 points per dollarDavid Yurman: 4 points per dollarMacys: 10 points per dollarPersonal Creations: 6 points per dollarRed Envelope: 8 points per dollarSpa Week: 4 points per dollarShari’s Berries: 7 points per dollarUnitedUnited has some Mother’s Day shopping offers.United MileagePlus Shopping has Mother’s Day offers available:Elizabeth Arden: 4 miles per dollarFTD.com: 30 miles per dollarNeiman Marcus: 3 miles per dollarPerfumania: 3 miles per dollarZagat Wine: 4 miles per dollarUS AirwaysUS Airways’ Dividend Miles Storefront is offering the following Mother’s Day bonuses:JC Penney: 4 miles per dollarRed Envelope: 3 miles per dollarULTA Beauty: 2 miles per dollarMacys: 2 miles per dollarUltimate RewardsUltimate Rewards has some Mother’s Day specials as well:Teleflora: 10 points per dollarElizabeth Arden: 7 points per dollarThe Body Shop: 6 points per dollarHarry & David: 7 points per dollarHSN.com: 5 points per dollarNordstrom.com: 6 points per dollarThe best advice is to simply do your research ahead of time. Check out the shopping portal of your choice to find what specials are advertised, or if you already have a particular merchant in mind, search for them on EVRewards to see where you can get the best spending bonus before making your purchase.Finally, make sure to check the expiration date of each deal. Some expire on the May 9 or even earlier, and some expire on May 11. Shop early to avoid missing out on the best deals.Happy Mother’s Day![card card-name=‘Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®’ card-id=‘22089567’ type=‘javascript’ bullet-id=‘1’]