The celebration of motherhood and moms can be documented as far back to the days of ancient Greece and Rome where festivals took place to honor Cybele and Rhea—mother goddesses who took on the matron semblance in an otherwise masculine dominant time. Known in Rome as Kubeleyan Mater, or “Mountain Mother”, members of the Roman state formed a cult around an oracle dedicated to Cebele’s honor guarded by a hoard of eunuchs. Rhea, known as “the mother of the gods” among the Greeks was identified as Cybele by the Romans, as many of the gods and goddesses interchangeable between the two.
Fast forward to the 21st century: you may not have the means to honor your mother by having a marble likeness of her build in the back yard guarded by eunuchs, but you can go the extra mile in giving mom a special gift that she will treasure near to her heart.
Write Mom a Poem
Most mothers have two things in common: they are sentimental, and they love their kids. Now put those two things together, and writing her a poem makes perfect sense. Since it is Mother’s Day, you will want to express your love and gratitude for her as YOUR mother. Make it personal. One way to do this is to think of three times in your life where she was there for you that really stood out. These memories can be from your childhood, or adult years.
Next you will want to pick a style. Now, you and your mom may not have a PhD in literature and chances are she wouldn’t even know the style of the poem you give her. However, by selecting one and sticking to its structure, you can give it an extra special touch. Try looking up the following and see if you want to tackle the challenge:
- Sonnets
- Ballad Poems
- Blank Verse
- Acrostic
- Canzone
- Couplet
- Quatrain
- Free Verse
- Villanelle
- Sestina Study some examples of these poems and play around with them. You don’t want to drive yourself crazy, so choose the one that comes the easiest. Once you have found your poem style, go buy a sheet of vellum or some high-end paper and carefully hand write the poem. You may want to practice on a standard sheet of paper before you go for the real thing. Giving your mom a poem will remind her of the days you used to give her drawings to hang on the refrigerator, and should pull her heart’s strings.
- Your photos
- Cardstock
- Patterned paper
- Scissors
- Journaling pen
- Adhesives
- Artifacts
- Embellishments Before you just delve right in you will want to determine the page subjects and create a layout. For example, if your theme is ‘Mom Kept the Bad Dreams Away’, one page could be dedicated to your fear over that movie from the 1980s, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and how Mom looked in the closet to make sure Freddy Kruger wasn’t hiding in there. Another page could be on the hot cocoa she made you to calm your nerves, and another page on the stories she read to you to help replace the bad thoughts with good ones.
- Send her out for a spa day
- Cook her dinner
- Send her on a cruise
- Hire a house cleaner for the day
- Enroll her in an interesting class
- Have a tree planted in her name
- Take her to a show
- Get her a puppy or a kitten
- Buy some cool gift for her
Make Mom a Book of Memories
As you can see, the sentimental trend continues with the notion of making a book of memories (and hey, you can write a poem and include it). You can make the scrapbook entirely about the memories of you with your mother, or the entire family.
Before you purchase your book and supplies, think of a theme. This would be a specific theme that highlights your mom or your relationship with her. For example, it could be based around her various ways of how she comforted you as a child, or about a trip you took together. By first establishing your theme you can then have a better idea as to what kind of scrapbook to buy, and materials.
Once you choose a scrapbook, you will need some additional items like:
The next thing to do it create the layout. You will want to make each one different. You can go online and print free scrapbooking layouts. Make sure you have full ink cartridges in your printer before you begin or you risk ruining your paper if the ink levels are low. You can get cheap prices on ink cartridges for any printer at high-quality remanufactured inkjet companies like 1ink.com, and they offer free, fast shipping. Buying a combo pack is ideal because you save the most money and you have backups. For example, if you have an Epson WorkForce printer, you could buy the replacement 9 pack of Epson 252XL ink cartridges and save about 60 percent off the brand name cartridges from office supply stores.
As you make your scrap book, think about color combinations, multiple textures, and placement.
Some Last-Minute Take Aways
If you are someone with no time to commit to such projects, or you don’t enjoy creative work, here are some ideas any mom would love:
Don’t Show Love Through Clichés
Regardless of the rout you take, try to avoid the stereotypical, cliché gifts like an apron, random cooking utensils, or toiletries. Also, don’t be lazy and let Hallmark express your feelings for your mom; make your own card, and honor mom through your originality.