Getting Mom the Perfect Gift
This Mother’s Day make sure she knows just how special she is.
I could go another rant on how special mom’s are, how much they’ve done and continue to do for their children. However, I’ll stop myself, because I already posted one of those last week! (http://junopower.com/blogs/news/13843381-doing-the-impossible). The purpose of this post is to help you figure out how to best express your appreciation to her on her special day.
Mom’s are superheroes. In turn for their awesomeness, let’s make sure they feel the love from us. So, how do you ensure you get her the right gift? Here are my three main classifications for a good Mother’s Day gift and why.
#1: Make it personal.
When we were little, my sisters and I would go all out for Mother’s day – well, within our means. We would make our own cards out of paper, drawing what we considered magnificent works of art along with an eloquently written love letter. We were pretty much little Shakespeare’s, in our own eyes, that is. “You are the bestest mom in the whole entire world.” <--See what I mean.
It doesn’t end there. We would then, like scavengers, search the house for what we considered a top notch gift, and wrap it. Once I took my favorite Pocahontas toy and wrapped it up for her. I considered this a big sacrifice on my part.
When we think back we always have a good laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. We would literally take toys my mom bought us and give them back to her as gifts! (Of course, my dad bought her something nice too from all of us.)
I’m getting to the point, I swear! As we got older, we just started getting expensive gifts for my mom and would slap on your generic Hallmark card on top with our signatures. Of course she appreciated the gifts. We were putting our hard-earned dollars into getting her something nice! But one time, we were having breakfast for Mother’s Day and after she opened her gift and gave us all kisses – she talked about those letters we used to write to her and our “beautiful” artworks.
Sidenote: Some of these pictures were stick figures of Mom vacuuming or washing dishes. *Insert facepalm* Something like this...
When she talked about that though, I realized we were missing a very important piece to our gifts in the recent years, and that was a heartfelt way of letting her know just how much she is loved and why. Now I am sure most mom’s know that their kids love them very much, but sometimes we all need a reminder, or just to be told.
Write her a long card/letter. Relate a favorite memory, tell her something that makes her know that you indeed notice everything she does for you. Let her know how important she is to you. That’s my mom’s favorite part of any gift, anyway.
#2: Get her a gift she would want, but never get for herself.
For my mom, that is usually anything to do with pampering. The crazy thing is, she LOVES massages and mani/pedis, etc. But she never treats herself. We love getting her little spa packages because she truly enjoys them, but never get them herself.
If you don’t want to take the pampering route, get her something hip. Enough of the mom jeans! Remember mom used to be a human once too? And probably just as much of a fashionista as me. Get her something cute and modern – trust me, it’ll become her new favorite accessory.
We started getting my mom cute clutches and infinity scarves when that started getting popular, and boy did she love it.
Another option is the tech route. There are so many awesome new gadgets out there, figure out what she needs. Maybe a new e-reader, tablet, iPod, etc. Don’t forget to pair it with a Junopower external battery. She will be the hippest mom in her group of friends.
Technology is in!
And last but not least…
#3: The gift of your time.
Now I know we all get busy. We live in a fast-pace society where work runs our lives. We try to squeeze in workouts, social events and hobbies into that busy schedule. Before you know it, so much time passes and it feels like weeks have passed at lightning speed. It is an adjustment for moms at first. Remember, your mom gave up a lot to be a mom. She spent every day with her little one(s), 24/7 dedicating her undivided attention to you. All of a sudden, we grow up and don’t have that kind of time. Regardless of if you’re someone who goes to see the parents once or twice a week or if you’re someone who only makes it once a month, nothing compares to the days when it was everyday, all day, 7 days a week.
For Mother’s day, give your mom that undivided attention she gave you. After all, the best thing you can give her is a good memory. Those are the things that last.
Ruza Radich
Author