Mother’s Day- More doing, less buying

For Mother’s Day I’m working on taking the focus off of consumption and putting it on strengthening our connections. Instead of buying flowers or a gift, pick an activity or two from the lists below. All of the activities listed can be done for your mother by yourself, or with your children for your mother, or, best of all, print this and post it on the bathroom mirror for your husband!

5 Things you can do with your mother for Mother’s Day

1. Sit out in the yard, visit and drink iced tea, lemonade, or wine.
2. Play a game as a family. Apples to Apples, Go Fish, charades, Trivial Pursuit, and dominoes are all good family games.
3. Take a hike at a local natural area.
4. Call her. Skip email, texting and Facebook. Call your mother!
5. Talk about and record your memories of your mother and her mother together. If you’re looking for ideas, I touched on a few ways to preserve memories last year in the post My Little Red Sanyo.

5 Things you can do for your mother for Mother’s Day

1. Make a personalized Mother’s Day card. Go wild with or without your kids using craft supplies, recyclables and scraps you have around the house. I especially love this simple card I found on Pinterest.
2. Take something off her To-Do list– vacuuming, raking, cleaning the garage…What a gift!
3. Make her a home cooked meal (and clean up afterwards!).
4. Bake her something she loves, but wouldn’t take the time to bake for herself.
5. Show her why you love her. When my brother and I were in college, we (and my dad) wrote a f aux newscast script all about just how important she was to us.  We filmed it in our kitchen and “out in the field” interviewing friends who also felt she made a big impact in their lives. The “This just in!” moments were hilarious. It wasn’t good film-work, but it was an unforgettable gift.  It could be something elaborate like our newscast or something simple like an acrostic poem.

I could go on and on with stuff to make. I haven’t even gotten into crafts, but I’m trying to stay away from things. For more ideas Mother’s Day ideas, check out my For Moms Pinterest board.

What are you doing or making for your mother this year? Mothers, what are your favorite gifts? Time spent together, something homemade,  a day off? Let us know!