Notes from a Designer: April 2012

Here it comes again, and you better be ready this year! Remember last year, when you forgot it was Mother's Day until the Saturday night beforehand, and it was too late to order flowers or get a restaurant reservation so you had to go to Walgreen's and buy some drugstore earrings at the last second? Resolve right now that is not going to happen again! This is the woman who gave you life, for Chrissake, doesn't she deserve a little better than a meal at IHop (not that there's anything wrong with IHop....)? So now you know. Don't say I didn't warn ya.
So what do you do now? Start with a card. The cool thing about these Mother's Day cards is that Greeting Card Universe will send them directly to your mom for you. Great idea!

Then add a gift. It can be a mug, a tshirt, a little piece of jewelry, or a cute gym/overnight bag. The gift itself isn't as important as the sentiment behind it (trust me on that, it's trite but TRUE!). The trick is to think about what she likes to do. Does she knit? Is she a foodie? Does she like to dance? Does she have a passion for horseback riding? Whatever she loves, there's a gift out there that will tell her you actually put some thought into your Mother's Day gift. These are from the Smithsonian:
Finally, if you're still stumped, here are some links to great shopping sites on the web so you can peruse at your leisure. Just don't forget to actually BUY her something, in time for shipping. That means ordering by around Cinco de Mayo, because, remember, Mother's Day is on a Sunday and there's no mail delivery on Sundays. I can't stress this enough. But you're grown up, and I don't need to beat you over the head with this. Just don't forget.