This year, instead of the usual flowers or cards, make Mother’s Day special by making your mother or grandmother a special gift: a Mother’s Day birthstone necklace. A birthstone necklace can be made in a variety of ways, from adding a birthstone pendant or birthstone charms to a simple gold or silver chain necklace, to a more elaborate custom design of your own choosing.

Often, birthstone necklaces are created by simply buying a gold or silver chain and adding either a pendant with birthstones for each of her children or grandchildren or by adding individual charms or beads for each child or grandchild. If you are creating a mother’s birthstone necklace with a pendant or charms, it is best to start with a simple chain, such a box chain or a cable chain.

Birthstone pendants come in a variety of sizes and shapes that can be customized with the birthstones of each of your mother’s children. Be careful when selecting a pendant to make sure that the style you choose can contain the number of stones you need. For example, the beautiful solid Sterling silver personalized mother’s heart pendant shown at the right, available from Amazon.com can be customized with up to 5 birthstones. If your mother has more 5 children or grandchildren, you will need to select another style, or perhaps choose to go with individual beads or charms.

One drawback to a customized pendant is that it is impractical to add birthstones if new children or grandchildren are added to the family. It is a fine choice if the number of children or grandchildren memorialized on the necklace is a fixed number, but if the family is still growing, then individual charms or beads may be a better choice.

Your choice of individual birthstone charms is just as vast as your choice of pendants. Some charms are simple birthstones on a mount. They come in a variety of shapes: round, square, teardrop and more. Others may be more fanciful such as the boy and girl birthstone charms available from Target.com pictured here. Some birthstone charms also have room for engraving the name of the child whose birth month is represented by the charm.

If you have more time or are more artistic minded, you can create your own patterns with birthstone beads, available from a variety of sources. For example, Chamilia offers birthstone beads for every month, made with fine Swarovski crystals, such as the sparkling September birthstone bead below.

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As we honor mothers this month, show her that you care and surprise her with this special gift – a mother’s birthstone necklace.