Hi guys! My mom’s birthday is coming up, and her 25th wedding anniversary is two days after that. So, I really want to get her something nice. She is not a materialistic kind of person, so that cancels out makeup and jewelry. She is more of a housewife kind. She is always in the kitchen and treats her kitchen tools nicely. Over the past few years, I have gotten her top of the line kitchen stuff, but now I am out of ideas. 
All of my brothers and I are going to fix up the yard and clean the house for a surprise, but I have no idea what to buy her. When I ask her, she says that being together is all that counts. Any advice would be great on what to get her. Thanks.
A few ideas:
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Nice knives.. they’re a pleasure to work with. If possible, arrange for her to try a few different brands + designs before making the final selection. The gift is both the selection process and the final purchase. From your note, you may already have this covered.
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Some of my favorite cookbooks:
a. Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
(a classic vegetarian reference)
b. World of the East Vegetarian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey
(truly awesome recipes for those who like spicy food, e.g. Thai, Indian)
c. The complete book of 400 Soups by Anne Sheasby
(many easy + delicious recipes from around the world)
trill
A framed family photo collage, or large photo would make a nice anniversary gift.
A really nice showpiece for the table, such as a vase or a large bowl.
This sounds completely lame but hear me out. Parents have absolutely everything they need. One thing older people might not have yet is an electric pencil sharpener. They used to be really expensive and older people just got used to manual pencil sharpeners but now they’re super cheap. Get good pencils to go with it.
Well, here’s a point of view from a MOM who’s been married almost 38 years-
For the birthday-
NO cooking stuff- no appliances, etc.- no gifts that involve her doing work. 
The best gifts are home made.It could be literally anything, it will mean more to her than anything you could buy. I really like the idea of y’all cleaning up the yard and house. That’s a great one! 
She will love it.
If you feel must spend money then here’s a thought-
A nice gift I got from one of my daughters one year was a trip to a spa for a facial and massage. This is especially nice if it’s something your mom would never do for herself.(that’s one reason I liked it). But- and this is most important- this one is good only if you can swing it financially and she knows it. We mom’s don’t want a gift if it makes us worry that one of our younguns did without to buy it.
I like the photo idea. For my parent’s 50th anniversary, we put together an album of old photos of them, from their courting days to the present. They absolutely LOVED it. It is still one of my mom’s most prized keepsakes. We even had a silly photo of them made after they came back from their honeymoon transferred to the anniversary cake.
You could do a shadow box and combine pictures and small mementos to go with the theme of the pictures.
One year for mother’s day, I found a picture of her holding me when I was a baby, and a couple more of her “mothering” her grandchildren- copied them in black and white and put them in a black frame with a mat with cutouts for three pictures. It now hangs over her bed.
I’m telling you- you can’t go wrong with pictures. 
my older son bought me a purse last year for Christmas. No biggy, right?
First - I am not one of those that have a purse for every outfit or match shoes, etc. I am NOT fashionable at all. A purse holds a wallet and keys and maybe my cell phone if I can’t hook it on me.
But Nate took the time to actually go and buy one he thought I would like. Color, material, size, compartments. He took the time to package it up and send it to me (he was still in Norfolk at the time). Every time he sees me use it now (he’s home) he comments on it.
It wasn’t the idea that it was a purse. It was the idea that my 21 year old son thought out a gift so well, knew me well enough to know what I would like, etc. It could have been a book, or anything else - it was the point that he took the time to find something especially for me.
these are always handy.
Thanks for the ideas guys, I still have a little more time to think about it before it comes. 
I recommend getting her a new toaster, the new kind that are completely self-cleaning. Just like a modern oven, you simply close the top of the toaster and turn the control dial to self-cleaning. My wife still has one of the old types, and somehow she manages to burn almost every piece of toast that she toasts, and the messy burnt pieces fall to the bottom of the toaster, where they must be manually removed. With the deluxe toaster you never have worry about toaster cleaning again. Of course, it does get a little hot in the self-cleaning process, so you have to make sure that you don’t leave anything that might self-ignite near the toaster while it is in the self-cleaning cycle. These safety precautions are well-covered in the first twenty five pages of the operation manual, so don’t worry about that. Like I said, I think that it would make a wonderful gift, since I would like to have one myself.
So, what did you get her?
I am buying her a nice vase from the Grovewood Galleries(she collects weird vases). I am also pitching in for some wood and I am going to help build a deck off of her back porch that she has always wanted.
She’ll write everybody about the porch with unsharpened pencils. Nice choice.
Such a shame, too. Tsk.
I’d throw in a Pilot Varsity fountain pen, if I were you. It’s good writing for just a couple of bucks. Old people really like them.