How to Celebrate Mother's Day

Mother's Day has its roots in ancient Greek festivals honoring Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. The modern American holiday officially began in 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May a day to honor all the mothers of mere mortals like us.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Champagne
• Gift Bows
• Gift Bags
• Flowers
• Airline Tickets
• Mother's Day Greeting Cards
• Silk Flowers In Vases
• Wrapping Paper
• Party Food
• Tissue paper
• Party Drinks
• Breakfast Tray
• Gift Ribbons

1. Deliver the classic Mother's Day treat: breakfast in bed on an old-fashioned wicker tray table. Cook her favorite morning fare, mix her an eye-opening mimosa, and tuck her favorite flowers into a small crystal vase. If the tray has slots on the sides, fill them with small presents (or big presents in small packages).
2. Take your mother on a trip with Mother's Day sandwiched in the middle. Make it as simple as a long weekend at the beach or as elaborate as a multiweek tour of English gardens.
3. Surprise your mother with a visit if she lives far away. (Just be sure to coordinate your plans with a conspirator on your mother's turf; you don't want to travel halfway across the country only to find your mom's taken off for the weekend.)
4. Deliver her present by way of a treasure hunt. Invite her for dinner and give her an elaborately wrapped package. When she opens the "gift" she'll find a clue telling her where to look for another package. Lead her on as long a trail as you think she'll find amusing, with her real present waiting at the end.
5. Honor your mother's memory if she's no longer living. Send a donation to her favorite charity, or spend the day working for her favorite cause. Do things she taught you to love, whether it's playing golf, working in the garden or taking your dog for a long walk.
6. Thank the women who produced your favorite people - send cards, flowers or notes to the mothers of your friends, even if you've never met them.
7. Throw a Mother's Day party for your mother, your friends and their mothers. Consider a festive spring brunch, or go all out and play it for laughs with an evening costume party. Have everyone dress as a famous mother (or the son of a famous mother), play famous-mother trivia games, and show videos of classic TV sitcoms with mothers as central characters ("The Donna Reed Show," "Leave It to Beaver," "Ozzie and Harriet").

Tips & Warnings

• Though many cultures have paid homage to their female parents through the centuries, Mother's Day as we know it was the brainchild of Ana Jarvis of Philadelphia. In 1907, on the second anniversary of her mother's death, she launched a national campaign to declare the second Sunday of May a national holiday devoted to mothers everywhere. She succeeded. By 1911, almost every state in the Union was celebrating Mother's Day. Three years later it became a national holiday.