Creative Ways to Celebrate Mother’s Day

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As Mother’s Day approaches, I often daydream about ways to celebrate with my kids, and to make it more meaningful for us as a family. Not only to create special memories together with the special women in our family but also to find ways to rekindle the memories of grandmothers who are no longer with us but are still a very special part of our lives.

Of course I relish the time alone that my family so graciously offers on Mother’s Day, but I have also been longing to find some meaningful activities that we can do together. Some activities develop into traditions and I enjoy keeping those as part of our day, but I enjoy finding new and creative ways to celebrate.

The first idea that comes to mind is a family hike. For me, there is nothing better than spending time outdoors with the family on a beautiful spring day. I remember a recent trip where we discovered a story trail along a hiking path: a children’s story that is spread out across a trail that unfolds page by page. I envision either having my kids write their own story and make it part of a trail or writing one for them that they can discover on their own. A similar idea is a scavenger hunt where family memories and photos are discovered with clues for the next one with a surprise gift at the end.

Last year we visited my mother on Mother’s Day and she had a great idea as to how to teach about the cultures represented in our family. Each day we were there, we planned one meal each day that had a fun theme or location. For example, one night were in Italy: we played Italian music, prepared Italian food together, and talked about and shared pictures of our Italian ancestors. It was fun for all of us to bring out old pictures and bring them to life in a new way. And this was done through our shared memories and quality time together. Another fun idea would be a themed picnic, or tea party over Mother’s Day weekend. Hand print tiles or stepping stones were a great gift I received one year, and would also be fun to do together.

Photo books and scrapbooks are always great crafts to share with children but another simple idea is to create a memory box. Kids can write their favorite memories with their mom (or grandmother or other female relative), include photos, and put them in a decorated memory box as a keepsake.

If you want to take this a step further, you can create a time capsule. My daughter came home from school one day asking what this was, and I thought it was a great idea of something to create with them. I researched different ways to do this but wanted to keep it fairly simple. For supplies you will need a large sturdy box (you can do one for each child or combine), colored cardstock paper, scrapbook paper, envelopes, duct tape, label tags, string, pen or pencil, scissors, glue stick, and any small memorabilia including photos that represents your child today.

I think that having kids write a letter to mom (a few short sentences or longer depending on age, and/or draw a picture) and have mom write letters to each of the children would be a great way to preserve precious memories. Children can also write letters to themselves so that their more grown-up self can later discover these special childhood memories. It can be as simple as a list of favorite foods, activities, family vacations, best friends, and so on.

These are some ideas of ways to spend quality time together with your family on Mother’s Day or during the busy spring season.

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