Between my childhood days in the early 2000s and this digital age of 2017, the nature of Mother’s Day changed. From early morning hugs and hand-made cards, we moved on to lengthy virtual posts and a purple flower on Facebook. What we forgot along the way is that we let ourselves get washed away by the digital wave, but our mothers didn’t. We are the internet generation; we communicate through memes and emoticons. But many of our mothers wouldn’t even know how to operate Google to find out what either of those words mean.
So this Mother’s Day, let’s do something different. Let’s ditch the online PDA and go back a few years. Here are 5 free, simple and old school ideas to make Mother’s Day memorable for the most special woman in your life:
1. Write a Letter
Letter
When was the last time you wrote a letter? Sure, you write a long thoughtful Facebook post on your friends’ birthdays every other month, but an actual, authentic letter? Here’s a good idea. Get hold of some writing paper (vintage is even better. You can make your own with this tutorial) and a fountain pen, and let your thoughts flow. Start from your earliest years, relive cherished memories, and write a heartfelt letter expressing your love for your mother. By the time she reaches the end of it, she’ll be reduced to tears of joy.
2. Cook for Her
Cooking
Your mother has fed you since the day you were born. She’s wracked her brains trying to come up with what to cook for breakfast, dinner or lunch. It’s time to return the favour! How about a breakfast in bed, or a surprise dinner? She knows all your favourite dishes, do you know hers? Dig out her favourite recipes and make something she likes. Ask someone else to help if you feel the need, maybe a sibling or your dad. You can even decorate the house a little while she’s asleep, or send her out with some excuse and do it while she’s gone. She’ll absolutely love the role reversal, but don’t forget to clean up after yourself! If there’s one thing every mother hates, it’s a mess, especially in the kitchen.
3. Create a Playlist
Mixtapes
Ease your mother’s life by saving her from having to surf through a dozen radio channels and trash music to find her favourite song. Sit yourself down and make a list of the songs dearest to her, and create a playlist. Choose songs that are of special significance. What was the song her mother used to play for her? Is there something she listened to the first time she brought you home? How about her wedding song? Do you have something recorded in your own voice, maybe from your first public performance as a child? Put them all in! Nothing can be better than music that tugs at your heartstrings, bringing all the best memories to the front of your mind. To go one step further, you can even create more than one playlist, all with separate themes, catering to different activities or occasions.
4. Photo Essay – With a Twist
Photography
A photo essay is a sequence of photographs with descriptive titles that tell a story. Here’s how you can use this idea as a Mother’s Day gift. Make a photo essay scavenger hunt. Pick up a camera and snap some shots, or find old photos, and print them all out. Recall your favourite mother-child memory through a story, or create something completely new. Put the descriptions at the back of the photographs, and include a hint of the location of the next one. The best part of this gift is that you or your whole family can play it with your mother, and she can later put the photo essay in an album and save it forever.
5. Make Her Proud
Mother
This final one is a little different. It is not an instant ‘gift’, per say, but more of a long-term thing. The thing is, whenever I ask my own mother what she wants for Mother’s Day, she always says things like ‘good grades’ or ‘good behaviour’ or even ‘my biggest gift will be to see you happy’. Words like these always make me thoughtful, make me realize that Mother’s Day isn’t really about all these physical gifts or one-day-long displays of affection that we worry ourselves with so much. Mother’s Day is more than a day, it is a feeling. There is no better gift for a mother than to see her child soar above the clouds and aim for the moon. So if you don’t have a gift for your special woman, don’t fret. Because the biggest gift we can give our mother is not around, but within us. It is in our efforts, dreams, accomplishments and success. It is in our ability to be the best version of ourselves and make our lady proud.
Image Credits: Max Pixel, Pixabay, Tumblr, Pinterest
