Accessory Doll Gift Gras Jester Mardi Blog

Every mother looks forward to the proud day her daughter happily walks down the aisle and has the wedding of her dreams. Mothers also have plenty to do before the big event arrives, and there’s simply no better way to thank her for all she’s done now and throughout your entire life than by presenting her with the absolute perfect gift chosen just for her.

Finding the best gift for your mother doesn’t have to put a burden on your budget as there are a variety of special presents to be had in a wide range of prices.

Gift Baskets

Gift baskets, either premade or homemade, can make for a wonderful mother of the bride gift as it can be tailored to her unique interests and be as elaborate or as simple as you like. Some ideas to consider include food themed gift baskets filled with all of her favorite treats, or coffee, tea or wine baskets, or those filled with beauty or spa items such as lotions, creams, perfumes, and bath beads or salts.

Certificates and coupons to her favorite restaurant, movie theater, spa, or perhaps tickets to an upcoming event you know she would love can also be added to gift baskets along with ribbons or bows in the wedding colors.

Personalized Keepsakes

Personalized keepsakes, regardless of the size or type, are the kind of gifts that are cherished for years to come as they will always serve as a special reminder of a joyous day or event.

Embroidered blankets with touching words about what your mother really means to you either in the form of a prewritten poem or one you’ve crafted yourself serve two purposes as they can be proudly displayed and also be used to keep mom warm and cozy long after the wedding day has passed.

Delicately feminine lace handkerchiefs are perfect for the traditional mother as are antique looking shadowbox frames for displaying photos or figurines. Mother and daughter figurines can be found in so many different types including those made from fine bone china or porcelain and with a number of designs to choose from.

Musical jewelry boxes that play sentimental songs will always be appreciated, or perhaps a lovely keepsake box that includes a few small treasures you’ve kept from your childhood. You might even want to write a small poem or a few words of love to include inside the box for an added surprise.

Jewelry, either reflecting her current mother of the bride status or a pretty necklace that simply says “Mother,” is another idea that may be perfect for your own mom.

Some other personalized gifts to consider include beautiful stationery, photo albums or frames, and a frame for holding the wedding invitation and photo of the happy couple always makes for a unique mother of the bride gift. Vases of all shapes and sizes can be personalized or filled with mom’s most favorite flowers.

Whatever you choose to present your mother with on or just before your wedding day, take the time to make sure it is something that will reflect how much you really love and appreciate her now and forever.

         In the midst of "embracing life" today, rather than waiting for death, I measured out 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats to put in the bread I was making, and I emptied the container. Without batting an eyelash I said to my husband and 25 year old, gathered near, "Anyone need to make a doll cradle?"  
          When we were kids, Mom had a way of turning an oats container on its side, retaining the ends and sides, and cutting a rectangle roof out of the box, leaving behind the shell of a cradle.  Sometimes we'd paint them, or cover them with paper, and we'd use scraps of fabric to make a mattress, pillow and blankets.  It would be just the right size for one of our small dolls...and it would really rock.
           We used to think they were the coolest things, so we couldn't wait to finish a box of oatmeal for another cradle, and it didn't happen often, because no one really loved oatmeal.  It was such a big deal, though, that to this day, it's the first thing that comes to mind when I empty an oats container.
          Mom was crafting long before Martha was even born.  We just didn't know that's what it was called in those days.  We simply "made things."  And the reason was because Mom's favorite saying was "You can make it for half as much."
          It wasn't that Mom was cheap, but she was frugal, trying to spread the money across the needs of five children.  If I saw a dress I loved, she'd say, "You can make it for half as much," and then she dragged us to the fabric store.  If I fell in love with a sweater, Mom would buy yarn and "knit it for half as much."
          We made our own games, our own doll clothes and doll furniture.  We knit hats and scarves and mittens.  We made our own Christmas cards and gift tags and wrapping paper.  We saved empty paper towel rolls and orange juice cans and tuna cans and candle stubs and pine cones.  We made beads out of rolled up magazines.  We fried marbles till they shattered and set them for jewelry. We carved linoleum for block printing.  We saved magazines to cut up for collages.  I'm not sure if we ever really saved any money, but we certainly learned how to hoard all kinds of stuff that we "might be able to use someday."
          I'll never forget the time I went to the fabric store recently and by the time I'd bought fabric, notions and a pattern, I'd spent about twice as much as I might have if I'd shopped for a dress at a discount store.  But it's become a part of me to try and make it first.
         And that was only one of the things I learned from Mom. If I got a run in my stocking in the morning and didn't have a replacement, Mom would say, "Go ahead and wear it, everyone will think the run just happened."
          Mom taught me the difference between the words "done" and "finished", and was forever correcting us when we opted for the wrong word.  Mom taught me never to speak of one's mother as "she" by always by saying either "Mom" or "my mother," out of respect.  Mom instructed us about which words in a sentence should be stressed.  Never say "So DID I."  It's correct to say "So did I."  
         In the face of the universe, none of these things ranks up there in the pantheon of important life lessons.  But they do have a special value.
         Not long ago, I found a run in my stocking on my way out the door, and under my breath, I whispered, "They'll think it just happened...."   When my daughter told me she was "done" with a task, I responded, "Finished!"  When we were considering the price of wedding cakes last fall, my sister and I looked at each other and wondered if we should make it for half as much.
           With each repetition of one of my mother's phrases, no matter how silly or unrealistic they may be, I've discovered how eternity works.  None of us really knows what happens on the other side of this life.  We've got no guarantees, only theories and hope and faith.  So letting go of one we love is risky business.
          But every time I find myself repeating one of my mother's pieces of sage advice, I can hear her voice in my head....and once she's gone, that's how I'll know she lives.  Her phrasing is so familiar, the lilt of her voice so distinctive, that it is louder than my own voice sometimes.
          I know, without a doubt, that she will be around forever, each time my stockings run, each time a task is "finished", each time I'm debating whether to buy something or make it and save the big bucks.  So facing her impending death is made easier by knowing that she will live on in some way.
         Heaven may be beyond our grasp, but oatmeal is within reach on every grocery shelf.  Eternity may be a pretty simple concept after all.  All the ordinary objects that fill our life with Mom are transformed by memory into extraordinary reminders of her that will last for all our days.  So while we still wait for the next step, I catalog all that she says and does, and the lessons that she teaches.  And that makes life on both sides of glory pretty glorious.


Blessings,
My Mother's Daughter