Mother's Day is kind of a big deal for mothers. It's the one day every year when we get recognized for all the effort we put in as mothers every other day of the year. It can be an incredibly wonderful day for us. But how do you celebrate Mother's Day when you are practicing social distancing? Brunch at your favorite restaurant is out of the question. Some moms like to spend the entire day at home alone just relaxing, but being home alone when no one else in the family can go anywhere else is also out of the question. Does that mean that we should just skip Mother's Day this year? Heck no! Instead, we get creative and find other ways to make Mother's Day special amid social distancing.
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If you are drawing a blank, don't worry. You know we've got your back! Ideas and suggestions are our jam of choice. The ideas we have to share with you are things you can do for a mother who is at home with you or a mother who is practicing social distancing away from you. We know that there are a lot of us in the so-called sandwich generation that live with both our mothers and our children, but there are also many of us who don't live with our mothers and still want to acknowledge them on Mother's Day. Now, as for what your kids can do to celebrate you this Mother's Day. Maybe you just let them take a look at these ideas, too. Or you could go through them together and hint at what you would like for Mother's Day. Or straight up just tell them, "This is what I want!" There is nothing wrong with a mother knowing what she wants and asking for it. Nope, nothing wrong with that at all.
Make a modern-day “mixtape” for her.
Mixtapes used to be so awesome to make and get because they took so much time and effort to put together. Nowadays, you can make a playlist rather quickly, but it still takes thought and effort to create a playlist designed for one person in particular. To create one for your mother, include songs that your mom used to play when you were younger that you now consider part of the soundtrack of your childhood. Put them on a playlist along with songs that remind you of your mother or your relationship with her. Sprinkle in some tunes that she maybe isn’t familiar with, but you think she will like.
Gather video messages and edit them together.
Send out a call for video messages from other family members and friends. Edit all those messages together and send them to your mother. If possible, have her watch them, while you are watching her watch them. Watching her reactions will give you all the feels, for sure.
Do a drive-by drop-off of a thoughtful gift.
If your mother is not in your home, but close by enough that you can drive over to her place. Drop off a thoughtful gift that has been cleaned and sanitized so as to prevent the spread of any germs and drop it off on her doorstep. Don't worry about fancy wrapping, keep it simple to deal with this year. Once you have dropped it off, you can call and let her know to put on some gloves and go pick up.
Decorate her door or better yet, her window.
If you want to take the drop-off gift idea up a notch, you could go all out and decorate her door or one of her windows. If you decide to do this, you should warn her so that she doesn’t open the door while you’re decorating it or call the police because she sees someone at her window. You could do something as simple as putting a wreath up and if you are worried about spreading germs, bring some disinfectant that you can spray on the wreath before you leave. The nice thing about decorating a window is that she can see it through the window without much effort.
Serenade her in person or virtually.
Can you sing or play an instrument? You could use those talents to serenade your mother either in person or virtually. If you do it in person, you could do it from a safe distance as she enjoys from a window or door. If that’s not an option, you can send your serenade as a video or do it while you video conference.
Send her an e-gift.
You can send her an eBook, an electronic gift certificate, a class, or even a subscription to a digital service. We live in an era that makes it very easy to find a way to electronically gift others with something thoughtful.
Throw her a surprise virtual party.
So, what you can do to make sure that the guest of honor shows up to this surprise party is make sure that you schedule a video conference with her. Then, without telling her, invite other people to join. If you get other people to join before she does, those that are there can yell, “SURPRISE!” when she gets on.
Give her an at-home spa day.
This is a gift that works whether your mother is at home with you or elsewhere. Pamper her with a nice spa-style day at home. Gift her with a brand-new luxurious robe and bath products that she can use to relax the day away. If she is at home with you, you can even deck out the bathroom with flowers and candles before you hand it off to her for her spa time.
Write her a letter and read it to her.
Sure, you could just tell your mom how you feel about her, but if you write her a letter telling her how you feel about her and then read it to her, it’s a totally different experience. For one, people don’t tend to interrupt letters, the way that they interrupt someone who is just talking. Also, when you write your thoughts down, you don’t leave anything out when it’s time to share them.
Make her a video collage of photos or an actual photo book.
Put together a video collage of photos for her. Photos of her. Photos of you with her. Photos of her with other family members. If you want extra credit, you can turn that video collage into an actual hard copy photo book that she can keep and pull out whenever she wants to.
Make a list of all the times she was right.
Mothers get accused of butting in, of nagging, of always having an opinion. How often do mothers get to hear that they were right? Not often enough. How about you make a list of all the times your mother was right and you should have listened to her? Things like, “You were right when you said my boyfriend in high school was a loser.” The only problem with this gift is that it might take forever because she’s been right so many times.
Pick up the phone and call her!
Sometimes it’s the simplest gift that is the best. If your mother is not into technology or has a hard time figuring it out, just give her the gift of a phone call. Call her up and talk to her. Tell her you appreciate her and love her. Let her stay on the phone and chat with you for as long or as little as she likes.
