What Do You Want for Mother’s Day?
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Over at Corporette today, we’re sharing some reader recommendations for gifts for Mother’s Day (and asking for more suggestions), and our question today for CorporetteMoms readers is the opposite: What do you want for Mother’s Day? We haven’t talked about our ideal Mother’s Day presents in a few years, so we thought it’d be fun to discuss it today. What would you like to receive for Mother’s Day? What have been your favorite gifts in the past? Most useful and practical? Most touching? Most surprising? And while yes, it’s the thought that counts, what gifts have you received before that you were not a fan of?
Also, what are your thoughts about these takes on Mother’s Day gifts, below?
Mother’s Day is Sunday and if you haven’t yet purchased an expensive candle or bath salts or bought the ingredients for brunch, relax. There’s a perfect gift you can give that won’t cost anything, doesn’t need any time to arrive, and will keep giving all year long. It has the added benefit of making you seem woke AF. It might even make you woke AF.
It’s also simple: make an effort to understand and address the emotional labor gap between men and women in families in the US, then propose some solutions to the gap in your own home. Do this the Saturday before Mother’s Day, preferably over her beverage of choice, and then give her Sunday to herself.
— “This Mother’s Day, Give Moms the Gift of Emotional Labor,” Quartzy, 2018
[M]any of those well-meaning attempts to make Mom feel special on this Hallmark holiday — like going out to brunch or planning family portraits — really just create the mother of all headaches. After all, who’s the one often stuck cleaning up that breakfast in bed? Or the parent likely getting the kids dressed and ready for that family outing? The special lady of the day, of course, who may just want to spend Sunday wearing yoga pants in bed with a book.
—”Honestly, Your Mom Probably Doesn’t Want That Mother’s Day Gift You Bought Her,” MarketWatch, 2018
These are some of the things Corporette readers have recommended in general as great gifts:
Here are some things CorporetteMoms readers shared in the comments on that old post where we asked, “What is your ideal present?”
- A massage
- A pedicure
- Sleep
- A handmade card from your child
- Some kind of acknowledgement from your spouse
- Your kids’ Mother’s Day projects from school
- A day planned by your husband (not you)
- Brunch with your spouse
- A picnic lunch in the park
Your turn, readers: What do you want for Mother’s Day, whether it’s an object or an experience or just a nice gesture? If you commented back in 2015, has your ideal gift changed? What are you getting for the mothers in your life this year?
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / nerudol.
I want my husband to get up with my daughter in the morning and I just want a new hanging flower planter. I’ve found having high expectations for any holiday leads me to disappointment. My first mother’s day we did go out for a nice brunch, which was good. But my in-laws are in town so I think we’ll do a big breakfast at home.
I just asked to have dinner made for me. I don’t want to plan it, shop for it, cook it, or clean up after it. Doesn’t even have to be fancy. :)
Flowers and maybe a card from the 5 yr old. This is a low key holiday for us, and frankly I’m not sure I’ll even get flowers.
However, we do have dinner reservations for Sunday — not planned for mother’s day, just when our sitter was free — and I plan to submit my venmo receipt to Kraft, which apparently may reimburse us for the cost! (goog le “kraft mother’s day”)
I just want an entire day alone.
I think I’m getting one of those cute things from daycare where they ask you things about your mom. Clue: last night my 4 year asked me, “You’re 13, right mama?” um…no. “Oh I have to go make a secret in the basement. How do you spell 38?” And I’m thrilled:)
Breakfast in bed, the chance to sleep in, and a leisurely day where my husband does most of the childcare. I expect to get it too! Hopefully we will have nice weather.
Also hoping my own mother will not guilt trip for not doing anything elaborate for her- I am sending a joint card from me and the kiddos, but really want this to be a day for me to relax since I am the current hands-on mother!
My Mothers Day and birthdays started going better once I told my husband exactly what kind of day I wanted (aka NOT going out for a meal with two unruly toddlers). For my birthday it was “I want to sit in a chair in the yard and drink a beer while the kids play around me but I don’t have to do any actual childcare” (so basically be a 1950s dad on a weekend). My wish was granted and it was amazing. I am thinking of something similar for mothers day, though perhaps with “wine on the couch” instead given the weather.
My birthday is often on/very close to MD (this year its Saturday), so it’s kind of a weird holiday for me. I usually get birthday flowers/meal out and then MD is kind of a letdown after that. We don’t do brunch, since we avoid restaurants on the popular eating out holidays. When my DD is older, I hope to take mother-daughter getaways with her to celebrate both days (DH can’t take off work this time of year).
The mother’s day collection from Jenni’s Splendid Ice Cream! My husband got me this last year, and I loved it.
I think mother’s day is a weird holiday on all fronts, and it’s just a setup for disappointment and failure on all sides. I try to ignore it for the most part.
I’m divorced and was dating a man with a daughter for several years. On the Thursday before last Mother’s Day I told him this: “I don’t know if you would think of it, but I really hate Mother’s Day. It makes me terribly sad because it’s a day when spouses tell their wives that the are good mothers. Nobody does that for me and my kids are too little to do it on their own. It would mean a lot to me if you could facilitate something with them Sunday morning.” I woke up Sunday morning and attempted to rouse him. When he proved unwakeable, I made breakfast for my kids and his daughter. At around 11AM when he padded downstairs, I burst into tears and said “what did you think I meant when I said that?!?!?” His response: “I guess what you said didn’t move me.” I remind myself of this whenever regret breaking up with him.