“I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.”
– Mitch Albom
The role of mothers in shaping their daughters’ and sons’ lives is unsurpassed. Mothers teach us to love, be strong, be confident, persist, live life to its fullest, and be the best we can be.
Mother’s Day is just around the corner. So, this year give her a gift from your heart and your undivided time to make it a special day she’ll treasure.
Mother’s Day Brunch
Serve your mom a scrumptious breakfast or take her out for Mother’s Day brunch. If you prepare it yourself, the following menu will be sure to please: fruit salad, juice, waffles or pancakes with her favorite blueberry or strawberry topping, Canadian bacon or fresh sausage, omelets or eggs benedict, homemade hash browns, and coffee cake or Danishes. Also, don’t forget the fresh cut flowers for the table centerpiece.
Spring Blooms
What better way to spend a spring day than together in your mother’s garden? Pick up her favorite annuals and perennials: begonias, petunias, violets, morning glories, poppies, marigolds, snapdragons, or mums. Then enjoy a relaxing day together, planting and sprucing up her flower garden and catching up on old times.
Mother/Daughter or Mother/Son Memories
Give your mom a keepsake that’ll be dear to her heart. Purchase Mothers & Daughters: A Record Book About Us to fill out and share with her. Or create your own memory book with a scrapbook or journal. Include photos and memories about special times the two of you have had together; the most important things you remember about your mother from your childhood; how she has inspired you; and the times you look forward to in the future.
The Main Event
Surprise your mother with tickets to an event she’s been dying to see: the ballet, a concert, play or musical, the opera, a favorite sporting event, a comedy show, or dinner theater. Be sure to tell her you have something special planned (but not what), so she’ll be all yours for the day.
Train Excursion
Spring is the perfect time to tour the countryside. Take a train ride with your mom, and enjoy the vivid colors of spring, blue skies, beautiful blossoms, and other scenic sights.
Family Portrait
If your family is like most, you’re well overdue for an updated family portrait. What better time to have it done than on Mother’s Day? Schedule to have your family’s picture taken at a studio, or hire a photographer for a photoshoot in the park. Coordinate with family members in advance on the formality and color scheme, so outfits don’t clash. Inform your mother how to dress for her special day, but keep the specific reason a surprise.
The Power of Poetry
You don’t need to be a poet to write a special verse for your mother. In your poem, share what it was like growing up with her, how she influenced your life, or tell her just what she means to you. Then print it on stationery, and matte and frame it.
A Little Pampering
Mothers spend many years pampering their children, giving bubble baths, washing hair, and caring for them when they’re ill. Give your mother a special treat, a gift certificate for pampering at the spa where she can enjoy a Swedish massage, hair design, a sea spa manicure and pedicure, or a soothing facial.
Weekend Getaway
Put together a weekend package designed especially for your mom. Choose a city that offers excellent shopping, art museums, and cultural centers, or even a quaint historic town with neat shops, cafes, and parks. Leave the dates for the getaway open so she can make the trip at her convenience, or so the two of you can make plans together.
Keep it Simple
Plan a relaxing day together, enjoying the outdoors. Head to a nearby park where you can meander along nature trails reminiscing or take a scenic bike ride.
Especially for Mothers
Buy a book for and about moms.
Consider one of the following:
Mother: A Cradle to Hold Me by Maya Angelou
I Love You, Mom by Amylee Weeks
Why a Daughter Needs a Mom by Gregory E. Lang
Why a Son Needs a Mom by Gregory E. Lang
Mothersongs: Poems For, By, and About Mothers by Sandra M. Gilbert et al.
Mom, I Wrote a Book About You by M.H. Clark
Real Poems for Real Moms: From a Mother in the Trenches to Another by Rachel S. Donahue
Mom, Tell Me Your Story: Keepsake Journal by Susan Branch
You Are One Amazing Lady: Special Thoughts to Share With a Truly Wonderful Woman by Douglas Pagels
Dear Mother: The Hot Mess of Motherhood by Bunmi Laditanw
Check out the full May issue below!
