Moms Don't Want Stuff This Mother's Day
An entirely unscientific ABC News poll of mothers shows that they would prefer some nice time with with their families to tangible gifts. I thought this was always the case, but apparently it's an indicator of the recession or something.
Still, many of the women interviewed wished for less stress and more financial security as ideal gifts. You can't buy that at Macy's, either.
Mary Beth Niedermier, of Sylvania, Ohio, is married to an information technology manager for a Chrysler supplier. They were told last week that production would stop this week."My Mother's Day wish is that I am able to keep everything normal for my family. I wish I could get my mortgage paid, health insurance paid, some bills paid and that my two daughters don't understand how much our family is going to have to sacrifice to make everything work."
What Moms Really Want for Mother's Day [ABC News]
(Photo: jonathanb1989)
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I think the problem becomes when you have a mother and a mother in law, and both want brunch, and don't live near each other. So what do you do? One gets a gift and the other one gets brunch?
I really feel sorry for the people who are having a lot of financial difficulty, and holidays seem to remind them of when things were better. Christmas this year might be the worst of all.
My wife doesn't want time with the family as much as she wants time AWAY from it. Relaxing in a spa, away from the constant demands of a preschooler and infant.
My mom started cutting back on her magazine subscriptions because money was getting tight. Seriously, her 10 subscriptions (no, she doesn't read for free on the intertubes) is the only vice she has, and it really serves as her "me time" to sit in her living room chair and pore through Redbook. When she told me she was cutting back, I could hear the pain in her voice, so I did what any daughter would do -- I told her I'd subscribe her to at least one favorite magazine for Mother's Day. Of course, I wish I could be there more often to just hang out with her (I live six states away), but good lord. With both of her parents dying within a year of each other, the woman deserves some relaxation. If that comes via Cosmo quizzes and articles about planning the perfect party, so be it. :)
@u2acro: Reading for free on the interwebs is overrated. Those National Geographic pictures look better when you're sharing the magazine with a hyper 4 yr old on a subway...can't do that with the interwebs.
My mother doesn't want anything for Mother's Day. She really does want the ability to lord over me the fact that I didn't get her anything for the next 5 Thanksgivings.
I call shenanigans on this poll.
My wife told me she didn't want anything for Mother's Day. I told her that was fine with me.
@pecan 3.14159265: Or if you have one normal and one psycho and you have to keep rewarding the psycho because it's easier than putting up with the resulting upset.
Lucky for me, ours both live far away and get cards. :)
@u2acro: My sister-in-law is nuts about her magazines, too. Gossip rags, specifically. I don't see the point in reading about the gossip a week after it's happened, but it's her way to relax at the end of a week of teaching (she collects all her magazines over the course of the week and reads them all on Friday night), so I don't question it.
Husband and I renew two of her subscriptions for Christmas every year, and from the way she reacts to this, you'd think we saved the world!
I'm still waiting for Hallmark to create a holiday for the recession, which morbidly lands on a Tuesday every year.
Their biggest selling card will be the kitten on the clothes line saying "Hang in There".
Probably quite true.
That said, if you forget the card, you're toast.
My mom doesn't want anything for mothers day, so I have to respect that. She really doesn't want anything. Considering all the frivolous stuff that is out there as the "typical" mother's day gifts I can see why. People spend hundreds on flowers and they just die anyways. She just doesn't like those things. If she wants something its usually something practical like an inexpensive shirt or another piece of clothing she will actually use.
@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): My mom and mom in law both got the exact same gift, right down the the wrapping. I figure if I have one good idea I might as well use it twice and being that they are 1500 miles apart I think we'll get away with it
@u2acro: I don't understand some magazines myself, but if it makes her happy, you're doing your due diligence as a daughter. The only one I subscribe to is a cooking magazine, and the content never gets old.
@pecan 3.14159265: You send the hubby to his mom's, and you go to yours. And don't forget the potted plant! It's never been a problem for me.
@u2acro: That's pretty funny. We do the same thing with my father-in-law, except it's Guns & Ammo instead of Redbok. :)
@Outrun1986: My mom's the same way, so I usually get her gift cards to restaurants that she visits regularly with my step-dad. They don't take up space, she'll use them up before any expiration dates or fees gets charged and I know she'll like it.
I want a goddamn circus sideshow production for Mother's Day with elephants and streamers and funnel cake.
But I'd totally settle for being allowed to sleep until 8:30.
Funny. My mom usually says she doesn't want anything.... just well behaved kids that are nice to each other.
This year? She says she doesn't care about that, she wants a gift. Something material :)
My husband has a bad habit of buying me expensive electronics for holidays, so to head him off at the pass this year, I cashed in Mother's Day, my birthday, and Christmas a few weeks ago to order a little something that I've been wanting. Not so much a recession-issue, but an issue of not needing another gaming system in the house collecting dust...or the bill that goes along with it.
Hi, actual mom here. Who do you think wants to be quoted in the national media as saying "Jesus, I get plenty of time with my family, what I really want is five minutes in the bathroom without somebody pounding on the door and yelling 'MOOOOOOOMMMMM'. Oh, and an iPod would be nice"? The last person who could say that without getting death threats was Erma Bombeck.
@Applekid: This. I ordered flowers, emailed my brother to tell him I ordered flowers (from both of us, which is totally his birthday present this year) and then 3 hours later my dad called to remind me to order flowers.
@mythago: amen!!!! My son is 22 and still can't understand that if the bathroom door is closed that means wait quietly till it opens. All i want for mother's day is a long bubblebath without anyone trying to hold a conversation from a floor and a closed door away
@unobservant: I think my mother would prefer to have my husband and my mother in law would prefer me
@pecan 3.14159265: Applekid was saying that by not getting a gift for mother's day mom can bring it up at thanksgiving for years
@yagisencho: My mother's the same way about flowers since she's a florist. This week is one of a few out of the year that are very stressful, and the last thing she wants to look at when she gets home is more flowers. :)
Wait. You have to buy a gift for your mother-in-law as well? Crap.
my mom likes "services" more than flowers, clothes, jewelry, etc. last year i painted some chairs for her and did some gardening, this year i'm painting a table and doing more gardening. she hates doing that stuff but is obsessed with the house looking nice, and she really appreciates it.
@CowboyRob: Well no, but if your spouse is buying a gift for his/her mom, then money is spent for two gifts.
Another actual Mom here and here's my vote. A day without spending time with my family. It's not much of a holiday if as mythago said "you can't get five minutes in the bathroom"
Wanna win superdad points? Tell the wife you're taking the kids somewhere for the day and that she has the house to herself. She'll figure out what to do from there, I promise :)
Okay, that'll work with me. She can get something for her mom, I'll get something for mine.
(I just got married last year so I'm only learning the rules of gift-buying this year.)
uh yeah... NO. Mom here. I would love time OFF of my "job". Mothers day is just another day. I still have to wait on everybody and take care of the kids.
I'd like a day to myself. A new vacuum would be nice too.
@pecan 3.14159265: Are you serious? There are moms who actually want to go to brunch for Mother's Day?
@Spaceman Bill Leah: Don't sell yourself short! Hold out until 10:00, with nobody stomping around and yelling "Is Mom up yet?" until 9:30.
My mom and I are going up to NH in June for a reunion, so I'm taking her to an indoor sky-diving place in Nashua as a belated Mom's Day gift. It's perfect because she loves to think of herself as a thrill-seeker but she would never ever go jumping out a plane. Plus, indoor skydiving is way less expensive.
@unobservant: I stopped giving my mom potted plants years ago. Between me, my dad, and pretty much every other relative, we have a room that you can't see out the window from (not joking) filled with cacti (she loves them) and other plants. It takes her 45 minutes to water them...
@MarleneMops: LOL...then she should of said something!
My wife and mother are good. Thank god no presents this year.
@CowboyRob: The best rules I have found for gift buying are....buy it if you want to buy it. Dont buy something cuz "you have to". That completely defeats the purpose of buying a gift.
@EdnaLegume: THIS. I would love for everyone else to go to brunch and the park and the movies and just let me sleep until noon.
A delicious baked good would be a plus.
I will be taking your scientific advice and using my mother's day gift fund to buy a PSP for myself. Thank you Consumerist!