Your mum. It’s always a complicated relationship and often hard to show her how you feel. But put down the posh gin/hang gliding lesson/embroidered cushion for a second, here’s how to nab instant golden child status this year.

Generic presents won’t cut it

Not for the woman who carried you around for nine months and then (insert whatever your mum likes moaning about from your childhood). But there’s one thing we know she wants. Your kids. Not for good – good grief, no. But neatly arranged and smiling in a Photo Book? That’s a guaranteed mum-pleaser.

Give her scroll thumb a break

Some grandmothers run their own tech companies, we know this. But often it’s tricky to catch up with technology that you didn’t grow up with. And even if she’s a smartphone fiend, physical photos are just more exciting.

What would you save in a fire?

Photo albums are the classic answer to this question, but if all your photos are backed up in the cloud – has your answer changed?

It’s great that flames and floods can’t destroy our memories in the same way. But a hard drive of thousands of files, although safer, feels less special. Edit the best ones into a Photo Book and give your mum a future heirloom. And you can include those old photos too (you know, the ones worth braving the smoke for). Just scan them in or take a photo of them.

The good bits

Whether she’s a childcare provider who saves you hundreds in nursery fees, or a daytrip your kids love because she spoils them rotten, she gets (and deserves) their best bits. So package up that last trip you all went on, those amazing brownies she made, their brownie-smeared faces, the cuddle you managed to snap before they clocked you and stuck their tongues out – the shots you don’t normally print out but just quickly click through. Let her relive them.

A mini time machine

Very expensive bath oil is lovely but she’s got loads of stuff and time with your kids is what she really wants. Show her that there are plenty of adventures to come next year (if you can bribe the kids into signing something sweet on the cover, even better).

Unless you’re still living at home, you’ll never be able to spend enough time with her to avoid the classic ‘just ringing up so you know I’m not dead’ line. Give her something to relive the good times and the kids’ smiles – and she might at least laugh while she’s saying it.