As Mother’s Day approaches, it’s time to start planning all of the ways you’re going to spoil her. The best ideas are the ones that are personalized to her tastes and interests. Our ideas are meant to act as a starting point that you can easily modify - pick a few and plan the best day ever.
Let Her Sleep In
Moms are often the first ones to wake up and the last ones to go to bed. They handle middle-of-the-night child duties and rarely get to take a nap. Let mom catch up on some well-earned sleep.
Older kids should be able to make themselves a bowl of cereal and quietly play until mom wakes up. Dad should be up early to take care of the needs of younger children. Dad may even want to plan an early-morning activity outside the home so there’s no chance of waking her up. Breakfast in bed to follow can be a nice touch!
Take Over Household Chores
Everyday chores like the cooking, dishes, and cleaning can sometimes mean that mom feels left out of the fun. On Mother’s Day, she shouldn’t have to lift a finger.
Dad can make dinner while she plays a game with the kids. The kids can do the dishes while she reads a book. If you really want to spoil her, take over these chores on a more regular basis. There's plenty of cleaning habits you can easily do every day. She’ll feel less stressed and it can create a happier life in the home.
Plan an Activity that She Would Like
When it comes to family outings, moms often decide to go along with something the kids will like. She spends time at the playground when she’d rather take a hike. She goes to Disney on Ice instead of the ballet. She takes the kids to the science museum even though she’d prefer the art gallery.
On Mother’s Day, make a plan to do something she really enjoys. If she loves working in the garden, you could take a trip to the nursery, pick out some plants, and then spend the afternoon helping her get the garden ready. If she’s a big sports fan, take her out to a game.
Consider what fun family-friendly spring activities happening in Edmonton. But the key is to play into her true interests.
Make a Donation in Her Honour
Budgeting for a family often means there’s not much money left over for charity. If you’ve been having a hard time coming up with a present for mom because it seems like she already has it all, consider making a donation to her favourite charity in her honour.
You should know what your mom will like, but consider something that focuses on helping women, children, or a health issue that’s touched your family personally.
Recreate Family Photos
You’ve probably seen some of the viral images where grown children recreate their old family photos. Maybe it’s time for you to do your own take on the theme.
Look through some of your own photos for a favourite, then purchase some clothes that recreate the look.
Tackle Her To-Do List
Whether it’s written down in a notebook or floating around in her head, mom probably has a long list of things that she’s like to get down around the house.
There might be a few deep cleaning tasks, fix-it tasks, or other administrative tasks like researching car insurance. She puts these things off because there are only so many hours in the day, but Mother’s Day could be the perfect time to get some of them done.
Ask her to prioritize the list for you and complete as many items as you can.
Do All the Planning and Prep Work
You’d be surprised by how much behind-the-scenes work mom does to participate in a family outing. For instance, for a simple picnic lunch at the park, mom probably:
- Plans a menu that includes foods that won’t spoil and will please everyone’s picky palates.
- Makes that food.
- Gets the picnic basket out of storage.
- Packs a few fun toys.
- Remembers to pack extra clothes for kids who might get cold, wet, or dirty.
- Loads everything into the car.
- Runs back inside to grab the picnic blanket she almost forgot.
During the picnic, she’s probably careful that bugs aren’t getting on the food and that the wind doesn’t blow away napkins or wrappers. Once you get back home, she cleans everything up. It’s a fun day for the family, but it’s hardly relaxing for mom.
No matter what type of activity you’re planning to do with your mom, make sure you’re actually doing all of this extra planning and prep work. Otherwise, you’re just giving her more work on a day that’s supposed to be all about her.
Your mom deserves to have the best Mother’s Day ever. If you’re not sure what she really wants, feel free to ask. When you do that, you can be certain you won’t get it wrong.
