Mother's Day Gift Ideas

All of those pairs of earrings I bought for my mother are sitting in the back of her jewelry box while that expensive dress I purchased for her on the Mother's Day after I secured my first real job hangs in the back of her closet in the original plastic. But that poem I wrote for her when I was ten...she has hung it proudly over her dressing table in her bedroom. That crooked vase I sculpted for her in the 9th grade has always sat in the middle of the dining room table. These are the items mothers appreciate...those lopsided mugs, those handwritten cards you colored and glittered, that pencil box you made in shop class that doesn't quite close shut. They were made with love, not bought.

If you are crafty, or even if you aren't, think of something your mother loves and make it for her. Perhaps your mother loves candles around her house. Go to the library and buy a book on making candles or go to a local crafts store and buy a candle making kit. If your mother loves to cook, buy a plain white apron and embroider her name on it or make like you are in elementary school again and buy fabric paints and decorate it with sweet messages to her. Maybe you can put together a basket of her favorite food items and coffees. In the basket you can put a large coffee mug that you have painted yourself at a local pottery store. If you are into scrapbooking, raid her old albums and make her a scrapbook of Mother's Days past, leaving space for Mother's Days to come.

Maybe you'd like to go with the element of surprise and you live close by her house? Wake up extra early and make some homemade muffins or stop at the local bagel shop and pick up some bagels and cream cheese and maybe a carafe of coffee. Drive to her home and surprise her with a breakfast delivery and just sit with her and have some breakfast and conversation. You can also surprise her by talking with your Dad and getting his "permission" to whisk her away for the day. Make sure to get her when she least expects it, like when she's out running an errand or when she's having lunch with your Father. Get her and have a whole fun day planned. You can take her to a spa and treat her to a manicure and pedicure or out shopping to one of her favorite malls.

If your Mother isn't exactly fond of surprises, schedule a fun event you can share together. Maybe you can go to a cooking class together or just go to your own kitchen and plan a whole meal to prepare side by side. If she loves the theater, buy some tickets for you and her to go see a play or opera together. If you want to make a whole weekend out of it, plan a mini weekend vacation and take her to a favorite town close-by and go hiking or antique shopping or to the beach.