What Mom's REALLY Want for Mother's Day!

What do flowers, clothing and jewelry all have in common?  May not be what you think.

So hear me now Dads and kids Mother’s Day is SUNDAY and a recent poll suggests that almost half of you forget to honor Mom altogether. So we are here to help because another poll suggests that we’ve been getting it all wrong when it comes to gift ideas too.

Over the years the most popular gifts tend to repeat as flowers, clothing, jewelry, gift cards and accessories. These are nice and all, but not necessarily what Mom wants most.  So what do Moms really want? Survey after survey says mom's greatest wish is for a little R&R, ideally an entire day off from all responsibility.

In one poll, one out of three admitted that they secretly want to be alone on the holiday…that’d be me…Forty-eight percent of moms in another survey named a day at the spa as their number one gift choice…once again me…LOL. 

Simply put, if you want to make the mom in your life feel special then the best gift is affordable even in today’s economy and will keep her healthy: Rest is the real Reward!

Here is how you can pull it off affordably: 

• Make a coupon for her day off so she can choose when she wants to use it.  You might even have the kids make chore coupons for things they will do for Mom on Mother’s day or whenever she wants to redeem them.
• Next make your plans for things to do to keep the kids busy for Mom’s day off (e.g. park, zoo, museum, etc.).  Plan their meals and perhaps take paper and crayons and have an art time for them to make cards for Mom and grandma. 
• If you want to indulge Mom with a spa day there are ways to get more for less.  Groupon has tons of deals where you can get like a $235 spa deal for $79 or $78 deal for $39 so still well under $100 bucks.  And Moms do deserve it! 

Mother’s Day a Tough Time for you?

Now I still get to celebrate my awesome Mom and in fact she will be in town so we get to be together.  But I know for some Mother’s Day is a tough time.  Father’s day is tough for me because I lost my dad in 2008, so I can sort of relate.  Be encouraged, though because where there is grief there was love and that is something to be grateful for. Perhaps celebrate that love by writing a letter of appreciation to your lost loved one.  Now if you know someone grieving, offer to include them in your activities or give them space.   And if you know a single mom, take her kids for her.

Let’s make the most of what ever we have and serving our Moms or others can help us get there.