Be a Helper this Mother’s Day!

Mother's Day is a time we get to celebrate mom front and center and make her life easier for a whole 24 hours. Let’s help her out, lighten her load and make her feel extra special. Here are easy ideas as a demoed in an ABC Good Morning Washington segment that the children can implement the days leading up to May 13th and the day of with little expense, little time…but with a whole lot of love!

LOVE HER

Make a gratitude wall where she’s sure to see it first thing in the morning to tell her just how much you care! Have the child/ren each draw a picture of her and place those up on the wall using non-damaging tape. Then using construction paper hearts or Post-Its cut into the shape of hearts, have them each write what they most love about mom and sign their name in pretty metallic pens and put those up too in a pretty arrangement:

“Mom gives the best hugs.”

“Mom is a good cooker.” - my son wrote this, age 5!

“My mom knows just what to say.”

“Mom loves me, always.”

“Mom is the BEST!”

SERVE HER

Mothers should not step foot in the kitchen on their special day. Instead, help the kids serve up an easy, delicious lunch including Well Yes! soups with nutritious ingredients, a clean label and tasty veggies and proteins that we know she’ll love, like Chicken Noodle Soup with White Beans, Mediterranean Style Wedding Soup or vegetarian Sweet Potato Corn Chowder. Accompany this with a toasted sandwich or pesto pasta and fruit salad for dessert served on a pretty tray with fresh linens and flowers. Always oversee children cooking in the kitchen under the supervision of an adult. #sponsored

$2.69, Well Yes! Soup, grocers nationwide, wellyesfoods.com

ORGANIZE HER

This can be done in advance of the day, but find a corner of mom’s life that she’s been meaning to organize and help her out. For young children, it might be helping her straighten out a magazine pile. For older kids, perhaps it is cleaning out the pantry: checking expiration labels and throwing expired things out. For what remains, group like items together and perhaps even lining shelves with a pretty paper for added beauty. Restock goods with things you know she likes, like her favorite nuts, olives, popcorn and spreads and it will be all ready for creating the ultimate snack platter come Mother’s Day: she’ll be so surprised!

PAMPER HER

Set up her bathroom like a spa. Draw a bath with bath salts, spray a relaxing room mist that smells like tropical blooms and set out a scented candle. Play soothing music over waterproof Bluetooth. Roll up towels, fill a small vase with flowers and have the most moisturizing, heavenly smelling soaps and a carafe of juice (and bubbly!) at the ready. Fill the tub and usher her in with her robe on and favorite magazines at hand, and leave her for her bath uninterrupted for an hour, encouraging her to lock the door from the inside!

These are my favorite, all-natural soaps that use botanical ingredients and when possible organic ingredients from the Napa Valley, California, very close to where I grew up. They have adorably catchy names namely after wines like Cabernet Soapignon, Soapignon Blanc, Lather in Lavender, Tuscan Citrus and Pear-secco. My all-time favorite scent for its floral-fruity perfection is White Zinfindel.

$9.95 each, Napa Soap Company Bath Soaps, NapaSoap.com

This new sustainably, handmade Bath Bomb set which debuted in fall 2017, dissolves moisturizers, botanicals and pure essential oils into your bath. “They have been wildly popular and are definitely something moms need,” says owner Sheila Rockwood.

$24, 4-piece Bath Bomb Spring Set, NapaSoap.com

FETE HER

Flowers are a timeless choice and you can cut stems from your garden or source from your local store or florist, but here’s an origami-like twist…these colorful flower bouquets are handmade from PAPER by Paper Honey Bee and last well beyond the day! You select up to five colors for your bouquet of 12 hand-cut and individually crafted fleursthat are created one petal at a time.

Custom Large Paper Flower Bouquet, $68, paperhoneybee.com

Paper Flower Vertical Garden, $78, paperhoneybee.com

Crepe Paper Flower Rose with a vase, $24, paperhoneybee.com

REST HER

Mama works hard, so we’re going to let her sleep. Prep her sofa for the ultimate gift – a midday, afternoon NAP! A striped, fringed throw, a throw pillow with the keywords “Relax” and a few spritzes of heavenly aromatherapy spray containing lavender, vetivert and chamomile to get her mind to relax, and she’s all set! Good luck waking her up!