Top 5 Mother’s Day Gifts During a Pandemic

Mother’s Day will be different this year.  Even if we live near Mom or Grandma, visiting may not be wise, or even an option. We need to be a little creative this year.  Plus, the pandemic has caused us all to hold our loved ones a little more dear and cherish our families that much more.  We know how quickly life can change, and that tomorrow is not guaranteed. We need to make each day, and especially Mother’s Day, count. So as a mom, I offer my suggestions for the top 5 Mother’ Day gifts during a pandemic.

When mothers get to the awesome age (55+), we don’t need much.  We’re starting to think about down-sizing, getting rid of stuff we don’t need.  What’s most important to us are our loved ones – our family, our friends and our pets.  So keep this in mind when planning for Mother’s Day.

5. Flowers

Flowers, the tried and true Mother’s Day staple.  A beautiful bouquet to show Mom you love her.  Only this year, the local florist may not be open.  And if they are, they may not be offering delivery.  And how do you sanitize flowers?  

This year, try a different spin on this classic.  If you have kids, have them draw pictures of their favorite flowers for Grandma (and Mom).  Then make a video of the kids showing off their pictures and telling Grandma/Mom why they picked those flowers for her and wishing her a Happy Mother’s Day.  If your kids are teenagers, they know, probably better than you, how to find pictures of flowers online. They can make their own video slideshow of flowers while narrating a special Mother’s Day message. 

Either send the videos directly to Grandma / Mom, or upload to YouTube and send her the link.  Not only will Mom love this, she can send the link to all her friends to brag about the great videos her kids and grandkids made for her.  And the videos will last for years, unlike real flowers.  

4. Movies

A Movie.  Or a year’s worth.  Instead of taking Mom out to the movies this year, give her a subscription to a streaming service – Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or even Disney +.  Since we’re all spending more time at home now, gifting Mom an additional entertainment option can be a big blessing for her.  Instead of one movie, she can choose from a whole library of them to watch on her schedule.  Netflix is the best known.  Amazon Prime has a whole cart full of other benefits. But don’t discount Disney + because you think it’s just for kids. In addition to all the classic Disney movies, it also includes all the Marvel and Star Wars movies.  As someone who has all of the above services, I watch Disney + more than all the others combined.  

You know which one is best for your mom, or you can just ask her which one she prefers. Just be sure Mom knows how to access the service on her television (and iPad, phone or other tablet). Let her pick the login and password, or set it up on the phone with her.  Seriously, we gave my dad a subscription to Netflix one Christmas.  He only watched it when one of the kids or grandkids was there because he didn’t know how to get to Netflix on his smart TV. We’ve got him good to go now.

3. Food

Taking Mom out to a restaurant is probably not going to happen this Mother’s Day.  Even if the restaurants have opened by you, it’s still risky, especially for those over 60.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t treat Mom to a special meal.  If you live near Mom, you can order online for pick-up, and leave at Mom’s door with a nice note.  You can make it extra special by incorporating this with the “drive-by” below.  

If you live further away, you can order a nice meal online and have it delivered.  With dining room service restricted, many restaurants have stepped up their delivery game.  Call her favorite local restaurant and see what they offer, or go with a dependable chain restaurant that you know she enjoys.  Also, many restaurants now have family bundles, where you can order a meal for a group of people.  If Mom lives outside the restaurant’s delivery area, you can always try Grub Hub, Door Dash or Uber Eats. 

One last note, if you are sending food, be sure to coordinate with Dad and other siblings.  Mom does not need 5 meals from different restaurants arriving at the same time.  Perhaps you split it up so that one sibling sends a nice meal on Saturday, and the other sends one on Mother’s Day itself.  Or one can send dinner and the other sends dessert.  If you want to take it one step further, depending on your family, order the same food for your family, call Mom during dinner so that you all can have dinner together.  This will work great for some families. My mom would have loved it.  My ex mother-in-law would be appalled.  You know your family and what works for them.

2. “Me” Time

I know I said these ideas were for moms of a certain age.  But this suggestion is specifically for younger moms, especially those with kids under 10.  Dads, this is directed straight at you. Even during normal times, moms never stop. They work, take care of the kids, cook, clean, help with homework, etc.  But during a pandemic, it’s even worse.  Moms are on duty 24/7.  There’s no break when they go to the office or kids go to school.  Moms are burnt out. They need a break.

You want to give Mom something really special this Mother’s Day??  Then gather up the kids and take them out of the house.  Give Mom a chance to breathe, put her feet up and relax.  Give her a chance to do what she wants, or to do nothing at all. 

Yes, there’s not really any place you can take the kids right now. Parks and playgrounds are closed. But there might be a green area nearby where you can let them run around and burn off energy, while still maintaining a safe distance from others.  Or you can simply drive them around in the car for a few hours.  Take them on a tour of their hometown. Show them downtown, where your office is, or maybe even where you grew up, if it’s in the area. The younger ones might even fall asleep while you are driving. Even better, do the “drive-by” below, and make 2 moms happy at the same time. The point is to give Mom some much needed time off.  Then pick up dinner on your way home.  It doesn’t have to be fancy.  It just needs to be something she didn’t have to cook.  

1. You

Yes you.  As I said earlier, what moms really want is time with their family and friends. This pandemic has made us realize how precious our time with our loved ones is.  And we’ve learned not to take anything, or anyone, for granted. Give Mom the gift of you, of your time.  

If you live with Mom, give her your undivided attention – no screens, no phones, no distractions.  Cards are nice. Being with you is nicer. Talk to her.  Be with her. Help her with something she wants to do, be it cleaning out the basement, working in the garden, or just chatting over a cup of tea.  Cook dinner or pick up her favorite take-out.  Now is the time to show her how much you appreciate all that she does.

If you live near Mom, you may still want to keep a social distance, especially if you have kids.  There’s nothing Mom would love more than to hug you and the grandkids, but this is not the time.  Instead, do a drive-by.  Decorate the car, have the kids make signs and drive to Mom’s house.  (Be sure to let her know you are coming.)  You stay in the car and she can stand in the yard, close enough to hear but a good 6 feet away. 

Have the kids wave the signs and sing songs.  They can wish Grandma a Happy Mother’s Day and tell her how much they love her.  If you brought her a physical gift or dinner, you can leave it in front of the house and Mom can pick it up after you go back to the car.  To make it even more special, have someone in the car video the whole thing, and afterwards send Mom the video. 

If Mom lives in an apartment, this can be a little trickier.  But Mom can come to the window and you can stand outside and wave the signs and sing.  There’s some senior apartments not far from my house.  All of the apartments have balconies.  On weekends we frequently see the grandparents out on the balcony and the kids and grandkids down below, and they visit this way.  It’s not ideal, but it works. And right now, it’s the “it works” is the best we’ve got.

If you live far from Mom, try a video visit.  Depending on Mom’s electronic devices and technical savvy, use the method that works best for her.  If she has an iPhone or iPad, Facetime is the easiest way to connect.  Otherwise, she can use her computer to Zoom, Skype or Google+ to video chat.   It doesn’t have to be perfect.  The important thing is that she can see you, and any grandkids, and hear your voices.  This past Easter, all of us kids, grandkids and great-grandkids did a group Facetime with my dad and stepmom.  I’m not sure what they were doing, but all we could see was the top of their heads. They said they could see all of us okay, so we did the group chat with the tops of Grandpa and Grandma’s heads.  It wasn’t perfect, but we all got to be together, and that’s what matters.  

So there you have it . My top 5 Mother’s Day gifts during a pandemic. Choose the one that works best for you, or combine the best aspects of each to make the day special for the Mothers in your life. Whatever you choose to do, I wish you and your family a Mother’s Day full of love, happiness and health.