Celebrating Motherhood
The little things you can doby kat hobza
Daughters face the same dilemma every year- what to get Mom for Mother’s day. Trying to find a gift or gesture for the woman who sacrificed her waist and youth for you seems overwhelming. Is there a card, gift or act that says “Thanks for not getting mad at me when I had the stomach flu and missed the bucket” or “Thanks for understanding when I was in third grade and that brat Tracy got me in trouble and I had to stay after school” or “Thanks for chauffeuring me around like I was Donald Trump and attending to all my private affairs while I did little more than give you attitude and sass.” The answer is yes, yes, and yes!
Appeal to Mom’s creative nature
For the first 18 years of your life, your mother was too busy playing step-n-fetch to indulge her creative urges. Now that you are (hopefully) out of the house, encourage Mom in what she likes to do. Has she taken up quilting? Buy a gift certificate to a finer fabric store. Does she want to do more traveling? Subscribe to a travel magazine in her name. Is she releasing her inner photographer? Pick up a few unique picture frames. This type of gift won’t make up for the time you rammed her car into the garage door, but she’ll still appreciate it.
Drop Mom a line
Once Mother’s Day has come and gone, continue to send Mom random “I love you” or “I’m thinking of you” cards throughout the year. We are a society riddled with electronic correspondence, much of which your mother may not be familiar with. Mom knows you’re busy…the thought that you would take time out of your hectic schedule to brighten her day will mean the world to her. She’ll fan the cards out on the kitchen counter and be the envy of all her friends, whose ungrateful grown children send text-messages and e-mails.
Mommy weekend getaway
Last year for Mother’s Day, I rented a hotel in a town 30 minutes from where my Mom lives. I took Mom shopping and bought her a new wardrobe (we went in March so everything was on clearance!). We went to a wine bar, got pedicures, ate Thai food and lounged around the hotel like we were celebrities. It wasn’t anything fancy; we stayed at a chain hotel, shopped the local mall and found the wine, Thai and pedicures downtown. My mother acted like we had flown to Paris, attended a runway fashion show and dined at five star restaurants. Best of all, I was Golden Child for weeks, much to my delight and much to the annoyance of my sisters.
Dinner’s on you!
How many hours has Mom wasted in line at the grocery store? You’ll never be able to give Mom 2,743 hours of her life back, but you can give her a gift that brings the food to her! Order Mommy a gift certificate to places like www.livelob.com and www.omahasteaks.com and cut her loose!
By peeling away the first few layers of the obvious Mother’s Day gift, you can usually come up with something that gets your mom right where she lives. Don’t stress out- remember how easy moms are to please. Think about how excited she got when you brought home all that bad art from Kindergarten. Even if your gift is slightly right or left of a bullseye, Mom is programmed to be delighted.
Kat Hobza is a mother to two teens, and lives in Billings.