Easy Mother's Day Gifts

By Hugh Upsher

Gifts are one thing, but there are more meaningful ways to show your appreciation this Mother's Day. Breakfast in bed or a bouquet of flowers are a nice treat, but why not try something that has a little bit more significance, something that will undoubtedly bring far more joy and satisfaction to your mom’s life. One day is not enough to celebrate her hand in sculpting your best and absolute worst human qualities. Here are a bunch of unconventional gifts you can test out.

The gift of a friendship on Facebook

What a time to be alive. It has never been easier for moms to stalk you, your friends or even your love interest online. I’ve lost count of the amount of phone calls I’ve received from my mom that start with “Who is this person you’re with in that new photo?” Moms have no shame when it comes to this practice, so you may as well give into the inevitable, even if it means they (heart) every single status you ever make. We’ll just need to collectively pray that moms don’t find out what SnapChat is anytime soon. 

The gift of regular visits and phone calls

Instead of only calling your mom when you desperately need something or when you have 17 missed calls from her, make an effort to speak to your mother on a regular basis. Moms love keeping tabs on their kids, and opening up to a regular interaction pattern that doesn’t involve you asking for money or them lecturing you will be best for both parties. Visits are also a great source of free food, so make it a win-win situation and just show up now and then.

The gift of being a functional human

Whether you know it or not, parents see you as a product they have developed. To know that their little project is fully functional in polite society is a great source of pride for them. Your approach to confirming this notion will obviously depend on your age. It could be anything from “I’ve started washing my own clothes” to “I finally got my pension fund set up at work”. Other boasts could include “I haven’t asked to borrow any money from you since January” and “I finally brought back the 17 Tupperware’s I have slowly been siphoning out your kitchen over the last few years”.

If you don’t currently have any solid evidence of your maturity on hand, simply talking about doing mature things in future could also work. The promise of getting your shit together is powerful stuff to moms, as long as it doesn’t turn into a "Boy who cried applying to business school" situation.

To some, these may not seem like the toughest asks (give yourselves a pat on the back), but being a good son or daughter doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Either way, moms are great, and deserve hugs and arbitrary acts of kindness throughout the year.