Once again, my inbox is flooded with PR emails pitching the "perfect gift for Mom" for Mother's Day. And, once again, I don't want any of them. Last year I asked readers what they really wanted for Mother's Day and the vast majority said: "A day off."
Nearly 42% of readers who answered my survey last year said what they really wanted was a day off while less than 2% said they wanted jewelry or a store bought gift. The second most desired gift was simply a day spent with your family (21%). My own mother would probably most appreciate a phone call or heartfelt card (or, best of all - a visit), but most of the moms I know with young children really want a day to themselves to recharge and reconnect with their pre-mom self.
Remember, the best way to get what you want is to ask for it.
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Other: I'm not a Mom but observe Mother's Day for my own mother.
How is chocolate NOT on this list??
I work outside the home, so the LAST thing on earth I would want is yet another day away from my family! I checked "a day with my family."
I posted a few days ago on a Mother's Day post on this site about what I'm hoping for and giving this year:
my mom and mother in law (late 60s) are pretty traditional and would probably only like the candles and flowers from this list, though my mother in law would think I was crazy to spend so much on candles or flowers (she and I don't see eye to eye about the enjoyment value of luxury goods!)
this year, my mother in law is getting a personalized tervis tumbler (etsy) in her team's colors, and a stepping stone with my daughter's footprints. my mom is getting a handmade purse w/proceeds to charity. last year, the first year they were grandmas, I got them beautiful necklaces (etsy) with their kids' names on one disc and their granddaughter's name on a smaller disc (mixed metals). those were a huge hit.
for me, I think the calendar is neat, and the organic flowers. what I really want is something handmade (I'm spying a watercolor owl from etsy) and yummy homemade food. plus just spending the day with my little family :) [after I cook a big brunch for the grandmas, of course]
There is a women-only 5k run/walk that is held locally every year on Mother's Day, and for the past 3 years my mother and I have been participating in it together. We both have fun, she loves it, and it's neat to see everyone out with their mothers. (Sons and husbands can't run the race, but they make great event volunteers!)
It seems to me to be missing the point of Mother's Day to say of anything out there the one thing you want is to basically not be a mom for a day (a day off, as it were) I can't imagine handing my baby to my husband and taking off for the day. Seems very un-motherly ha!
My husband gave me mine early- a professional photographer took pictures of our son and he gave me all the images from the session. :)
Other: It doesn't let you pick two... Beautiful small arrangement (other than roses) to perk up the house and a nice day with my family that involves a picnic or something we don't do often.
I picked day off...but I would want it not on Mother's Day. Like spend the day with my family on Sunday and have Monday off...is that an option???
@HCL: Sounds like the makings of a great day. Hope you both enjoy yourselves!
As for me....ahhhh, what I would give right now for a grubby lil fist full of blooming weeds to stick in a jelly jar and a bear hug..
I have mixed feelings with mother's day... I was taught to think of it as commercial only stuff, but now that I'm a mom I would like to get a present. I'm really into gardening these days, and something related (that shows attention to what I care) would be nice. But no presents or anything at all would be nice too.
We're giving both grandmas mugs with a photo of the grandchildren printed. I think it's borderline tacky, but I also think they'll like it.
For me, having a day off (which is what I selected) doesn't necessarily mean a day spent without my family... the part of it that got me was being able to spend it however I want - which would be fun times with my family, a small break to get a deserved and much needed mani/pedi, and absolutely no laundry or cleaning of any kind. The best thing I could imagine would be a day where I get to have all the fun parts of being a mom without any of the chores.
For those of you who can't understand those of us who chose "a day off", I'll give my perspective: As a mother who attachment parents (to put a label on it), who sleeps with her baby, and therefore is on call for her children 24/7, I call Mother's Day the one day a year I can take some time off. It's time for me to reflect on my needs and wants; a chance to recharge and have a little fun that's me-centred. Depending on the age of my youngest child, it's a few hours to a full day and night. My husband takes the kids and visits his mother, a great gift for her as well.
Personally, I believe the survey results are skewed. I'd be curious to see how the survey result of this question compares: "What was the most heartwarming Mother's Day gift you have ever received?" Point being, I suspect you won't find near 42% saying it was a day off.
A competent pollster understands it's all in the wording. The same question posed three three ways can net three different results. Polls can be (and often are) maniuplated in this way. Although it's often more relative to the ease with which results can be tallied.
I like upstategirl's idea; a fun day with the family on Mother's Day (hopefully in which I don't have to do any of the cooking or cleanup, but it isn't left for me to take care of another day), and a day to do whatever I want on another day (either the day before or the day after). In lieu of that, the token recognition of flowers or a heartfelt note from my husband (my baby is too young to write or even speak intelligibly).
IDEAL MOTHER'S DAY: A day with my family in "nature" (beach picnic; easy day hike with a waterfall; fun at a local park and a Triple A game? - something...) with a good meal out as a follow up WHILE professional cleaners reverse-ransack our house.
Wow Nomisirk, that was a little hurtful! I work to support my family but I am still available for my baby 24/7 if needed, and she's home with my husband during the day while I work. It's understandable to me how a sah-parent would want a "day off," but that's no need to insinuate that the rest of us aren't "always there" for our kids. I'm sorry if my comment rubbed you the wrong way.
I VOTED jewerly but what i really want is a book. the four love languages? a friend told me about it....the hubs is a man and i am a woMAN and that little wo makes a language barrier that we become lost in translation. ugh!
Other - I don't qualify as a mother, since I can't have kids. I've been an "other mother" to several people from infancy to adulthood, though, and it's nice when I hear from them on Mother's Day.
I am so not normally a jewelry person.. At ALL. But this is my first Mother's Day as a mom, and I'd love something to wear that signifies my daughter and our family (birthstone, thumbprint, etc)
Call me lame, but I really want a bottle of perfume. I don't really know how it started, but I usually go out for a little bit on my own on M-day, and get something nice for myself. I rarely spend any money on something that's just for me, and since I stay-at-home, I rarely get any time that's just for me. So that for a little while and spending the rest of the day at the beach with my family (ice cream included) sounds fantastic! Of course, anything from my hubs or kids is wonderful...but we haven't really gotten into handmade gifts, since my kiddo's are still so little.
I'd like a day with my family plus a small gift or flowers or a card - any basic acknowledgment is fine by me. Last year we went to brunch at a favorite kid-friendly diner. I can't imagine Mother's Day *without* my kids!
How can I check several options ? I'd like a day totally off from chores, I don't want do be cooking that day (so pizza for lunch and family diner at a restaurant); I'd like to spend it with my family, doing something like going to the park, going for a hike or whatever in that style. I'd like to have it easy for a day. Taking a long bubble bath without my boys bath toys but with music, candles and a book would be the dream.
When they are older, I hope school will have them make little homemade presents for me. I know I'll treasure those cardboards and rubber thingies.
As for "reconnecting myself with my pre-mom self"... well, that's what the evenings are for, isn't it ? I'm a stay-at-home mom, so I'm with my kids all the time, but at 8:30 PM, it's parents time. My son goes to bed and is not heard of again till the morning, and my baby daughter plays or sleeps in a quite corner of the living room. This arrangement keeps me sane all year long.
It's my first mother's day and my husband is giving me a cherry tree for our yard. I love the idea of looking at "Mom's tree."
That said-- no tech on the list? How about an ipad 3?
I am a mother of a 20 year old and a 14 year old, and for years all I wanted for Mother's Day was for their father to take them away for 6 hours and leave me to peace and quiet. In the evening they would make AND CLEAN UP AFTER supper. That was my idea of perfection, and other mothers judged me harshly for it. Now, they are more independent and I enjoy spending time together. I still believe that all any mother with kids under the age of 10 wants/needs is a day without them.
I checked other - for mother's day I would like another baby :)
An enormous gift basket filled with all of her favorite things (chocolate, tea, gardening stuff, etc.)
I like a nice day with my family but with the caveat that my husband do a bit more of the dirty work than usual. ;) We both work full time. Weekends are for family!
When I think of a "day off" I don't think of taking a day away from my family. I just want to be the one who sleeps in and gets to play while the hubs cooks and cleans and wipes butts. The perfect day (which is all I want every summer weekend) would be morning coffee and baglels, beach, picnic, ice cream, and a movie or a drink with the man who made motherhood possible to cap off the day.
I don't give much of a hoot about Mothers' Day, so I chose the "don't observe" option. I am forced to buy cards to mail to the 3 moms my husband and I have, but I do not want one from my husband or my daughter (she's only 3 anyway). I think it's rather silly, what we've made of it. A day to honor mothers is nice, like it was originally intended. This greetingcard bullsh*t though... ugh. I feel extorted. I think I'll buy a letterpress machine and start selling greeting cards at my Etsy shop. ;) Clearly there's money to be made.
If I were "forced" to choose a gift, it'd be the day off. But I don't want it as an obligatory MD thing. I just want hubby and child to go away and let me read some blogs in peace. Maybe with a plate of cookies and some Irish coffee?
I really just wish my husband (and teenage daughter) would organize something really nice for the day. Without me hinting around and semi-arranging it in advance. I would love to be given anything that had a certain amount of thought and care put in, but I know I will probably get grocery store flowers (which I don't at all want) a card.
In the end, it's fine I don't actually care that much. But if I could choose the perfect day I would just want my husband put the kind of though into Mother's Day that I try to put into the special days for everyone else in the family.
Luckily he is fabulous in a lot of other ways!
I would like to have a day off and these chocolate and cookies I've found http://www.couponmonarch.com/article/gift-for-mom/
I enjoy spending time with my family and even though I have a REALLY long list of things that I would do if everyone left for the day, I don't want time to myself. I want a clean organized home and to be able to spend the day with my family without thinking about chores or work. I don't want to feel the need to decide between cleaning the floor and playing with my boys. That's what I want for Mother's Day, "free" time with my family.
Wow people have reacted kinda negatively about the whole having a "day off" or day to spend as one wishes. I voted for that because really and truly I love my children, and sure, I'll spend time with them that day BUT it would be nice to go out solo or with friends to shop or get a pedicure or other relaxing treat and just have some fun. So often if I do something like this I feel guilty and this should be ONE day of the year when we can just have a great break from things. Be pampered. Relax. It wouldn't be the whole day but even if it was. So be it.
We are expecting our third child and I fell in love with Daphne's Glamorous Nursery (found on this site) while searching for nursery ideas. There is a beautiful hot air balloon mobile hanging over Daphne's crib that I desperately want for our baby, so that's what I asked for this year for Mother's Day. It seems appropriate to me to get something parenting/baby-related that I really want.