Wanting to compile the Ultimate Mother’s Day Wishlist, I emailed my Mum to ask her what sort of things she'd really like to receive. You know, in an ideal world. No holds barred. “Be imaginative!” I said. “You can be obscure as you would like!” I said.
A got back a long, weirdest list of things after which, ten minutes later, an email that helped me so emotional, I had a little cry…
On the weird list: “a garden plant that you have forever so long as you don’t kill it off, some large boulders to create a sculpture for the Buddhist garden, a McDonald’s breakfast! Good bottle of balsamic, oooh you can get selections! A selection of honey!! New foods to try out! Oooh, Scrabble! A new look? Some Mums would really like a spa session, or simply a cleaner for a few hours. A cooker clean! Windows cleaned, or a chiropodist, a manicure? Someone to decorate a room of your house, concert tickets, a regular membership to a good newspaper!”
And then your email that made me hide in the bathroom for five minutes so that I could regain my composure: “I wasn't old enough to be able to show my Mum I appreciated her before she died. I remember she paid for my sister and me to complete ballet and tap, and for each concert there needed to be costumes made and paid for and fabric bought. One concert my Mum said she didn't have enough for my soldier’s outfit and that i was really sad and disappointed but accepted it. Not much later she told me to go and appear on my bed and she had scraped the money together and it was all laid out!!! I was so into ballet and when my brother went into the army I'd my own room and she decorated one wall having a dark grey wallpaper with pastel drawings of ballerinas. She am into interior design. Her bedroom was covered in ivy running over trellises! Crazy! I like ringing my sister because she always starts happening about Mammy and I start to remember a few things i had long buried when I left home. So Time for you to be together is the uppermost and also the best present – and to have a laugh. Memories.”
So there you go – two methods to Mother’s Day from one person. Food for thought when you’re deciding on a present. After I’d stopped weeping and my Mum had managed to rein in her rampant imagination, we come up with what we hope is a relatively sensible list of ideas, if you’re stuck for Mother’s Day inspiration – but do you can consult the weird list above in the event that tickles your fancy. Because, you know, boulders…
Photo-books: for capturing memories. Since all of our photos are stored on the computer, never to be glanced at again, it’s nice (and relatively easy) to pull them into an album that can sit on the coffee table and be used to bore visitors! The joy of these books is that you just drag and drop the files on your pc and someone else does the rest of it – no faffing with those awful cellophane holders or little adhesive corners.
Skincare: it actually was a skincare trial that started out this whole post – I had asked my Mum to try out the L’Oreal Paris Age Perfect Mother’s Day gift set, including the Age Perfect Cleansing Milk, age Perfect Face, Neck & Décolleté Lotion SPF 15 and also the Age Perfect Re-Hydrating Night Cream.
Mum loves testing things for me, as you’ve probably realised by now, and set about the trial with her usual sense of both military precision and hand-rubbing glee. Whereas I like to mix and match my beauty, Mum is quite the lover of skincare sets and one-brand routines.
She says “seniors often don’t like to throw away cash on trying new things, and have a tendency to stick to the good old items that have worked on them for years. We don’t always check out new things; we should, but we are afraid it might be a waste of money. So skincare is a superb present – and, to make a long story a lot longer, the best beauty gift is a range, having all of the bits that go together like the cleanser and also the day cream and night cream, if you are using it. I think stick to the same logo and give it a good go and do because they tell you in the instructions. Read the instructions! Daughters are more likely to keep up with new products and have much more confidence, so it’s nice to have something chosen for you instead of having to choose it yourself!”
Her verdict on Age Perfect? “I like the simple packaging and no-nonsense descriptions – “anti-sagging” and “anti-age spots”, and I love the aroma, which doesn’t leave me travelling all day smelling like a coconut or perhaps a figgy pudding. The cleanser is gorgeous, leaves my skin soft and dewy and the night cream is so light – it looks like a rich cold cream but actually has the lightest texture. However the Re-Hydrating Face, Neck and Décolleté Lotion? WOW! This goes on beautifully, absorbs quickly and is totally non-greasy. Often with moisturising products there’s that “iced bun effect” whenever your forehead has to glisten along with your cheekbones, but this leaves my skin looking fresh as well as. (Ruth, is this set going to be really expensive?!!!!)”
No, Mother, it is not expensive at all: it’s lb15 at Boots here – the products bought separately are worth over lb30! I know this will appeal to your inner bargain-hunter.
National Trust Subscription – “brilliant days out, so it’s the gift that keeps on giving, but,” my Mum says, “it’s very costly at over lb100 for a couple (here). We've Historic Houses (here) which is a lot cheaper and still lets you into a wide variety of places – you can visit Blenheim Palace every day for free!” (Honestly, you’ve never met anybody who visits castles and historic places more than my parents. They barely have to own a house, they could simply have a tent or a camper van and sleep overnight in the carparks of the country’s finest homes.)
Personalised Perfume – I’d completely forgotten about this until my Mum started raving about this in one of her (seven) Mother’s Day emails, but years back I sent her to achieve the bespoke perfume experience at Floris in Jermyn Street. It’s a costly gift, but really very special – your own unique fragrance, created during a two hour consultation with a Floris perfumer, and a beautifully presented bottle that’s engraved together with your initials. You can find out more info here – it’s lb450.
Candles – Mum and I are united in our passion for candles, but they have to be properly-made, non-headache-inducing ones that appear to be posh and don’t smell of Magic Tree. I love the ones from Mrs Todd (here) – all of the luxury feel and scent of the “usual suspects” but with a far lighter price tag. Almost every person who steps into my house asks what the lovely smell is – currently it’s the Christmassy Citrus & Cinnamon diffuser that’s within the downstairs loo. Yes, it’s still going strong despite the fact that I’ve had it out since October (about 40% used) and yes, it scents almost the whole house from its hiding place on top of the medicine cabinet!
Time – my Mum’s email in my experience really touched a nerve when she said about losing her very own Mum at 27. Time together really is the most important thing, isn’t it? And although trips to the spa as well as for Sunday lunch at a pub are lovely, it truly doesn’t matter what you do together as long as you’re making memories.
*this post continues to be sponsored by L’Oreal.
Stationery shown throughout, all from Ohh Deer.
