Mother's Day Stresses Me Out

Mother's day always makes me want to pull my hair out. First of all, I am pretty much under a binding contract at my place of employment to work our reservation-only Mother's Day lunch, which means I arrive at work at 9 AM so I can wait tables from 11 AM until about 6 or 7 PM when the customers have cleared out-- it doesn't sound like a long time, but in my experience the Mother's Day crowd is THE crotchetiest and most demanding group of diners in the world. Seriously, everyone is a bad mood and God help you if that popover is not poofy enough. God help your soul. Second, there is the fact that I never know what to get my mother. Her birthday is about two weeks after Mother's Day, so I'm always thoroughly at a loss what to get for what occasion. I don't know if the rest of you feel like you're drowning in a sea of gifts you must give under penalty of death, but I figured I'd make a wee post about some of the things I'm considering for Mother's Day/my mom's birthday in hopes to spark some ideas (plus, this I haven't posted in days and won't get another chance til Wednesday, most likely).

1.

handbag cookie jars: $24.90 at neiman marcus

I have not really decided whether these are tacky as hell or really cute yet, but all I know is that my mom makes a lot of animal print choices in her clothing that I would never dream of. She likes things that are "funky." Enough said. I have a feeling she'd think the zebra one was amazing (our kitchen is red, black, and white themed), even though we don't keep cookies and she's currently doing Weight Watchers. The good thing, though? It doesn't come with the cookies, so if your mom doesn't want the junk food to come with it, no problem. Also, if you want to fill it up with treats, you can go all homemade and really impress her. Or buy the break and bake kind-- whatever suits your talents.

2.

sephora brand bubble bath: $10-16 at sephora

I don't think there's a mom alive who doesn't want or deserve a great bubble bath, and what better way to do it with these little bottles? There are tons of scents, like Espresso Chocolate, Vanilla Cupcake, and Apple Pomegranate. They got really good reviews on the site, and are inexpensive enough that I could grab a few bottles and wrap them up all nice. My mom loves Sephora, especially now that we got one at our local mall, so I'd also consider giving her yet another gift certificate to the place. Woman can shop.

3.

handbag bead: $60 at pandora jewelry

She has one of those Pandora bracelets-- you know, those ones you buy the horribly expensive beads for and put together yourself? Normally I wouldn't consider spending this much money, but this little bag is so cute and so her. If you go to the Pandora site they show a lot more beads-- some of them are very expensive, but the simpler ones are only about 30 bucks or so. The problem is, it's a great gift if the lady you're buying for has a Pandora bracelet already. You'll have to shell out a lot more money if you want to get one started for mom.

4.

straw bag: $29.50 at j.crew

I know you love it, mom, but that Mickey Mouse beach tote is about a million years old.


So what about you? Any idea what you're getting your mom for Mother's Day? Lost and confused? Are you getting something swanky? Gonna throw together a card with a macaroni collage on it and call it a day? Comment away!

(I just realized all but one of these items is handbag-related. This says a lot for my mother's personality.)