As many states relax their social distancing rules just in time for Mother’s Day, our state is still under Safer At Home orders. It makes celebrating Mom a little trickier. This year there will be no brunch at her favorite restaurant followed by gifts and dessert at home (our typical tradition). So, we started frantically thinking of the best way to show our Moms our appreciation. As a Mom myself, it struck me that a combination of homemade things with store-bought things would be the perfect balance for the Moms in our lives.
Obviously, we are giving our Mom’s a Luminara candle (in white because that’s perfect for springtime). But we hate just giving someone a candle. We tracked down these beautifully turned wood pillar risers at Target. I happened to find most of these things at Target, and don’t tell Mom, but a few of them were on clearance. It’s the thought, right? In any case, setting a table with a single Pillar isn’t our style. We ARE in the candle business. So, I found these pretty coasters to use as a tray for another pillar. And we had simple glass votive holders at home which I repurposed for this as well. Viola!
Next, I used my questionable baking skills to bake a lemon cake with a layer of raspberry preserves and covered it in cream cheese frosting. All of these items were bought at our local supermarket (in this case, Alberton’s). I found some food coloring and piping tips to make an attempt at cake decorating (you can poke fun at this part all you want. Again, it’s the thought that counts). I mixed icing that would match this super inexpensive, yet spring-appropriate bouquet I made from store-bought flowers (also from Albertson’s). You can’t even tell that the largest part of this bouquet is ….. drumroll please….. kale! It’s kale! If you strip the long stems of kale down and leave the ends of the leaves, you get this look here. The cake stand is also from Target.
Finally, if you’re anything like me, Coronavirus lockdown has meant a lot of wine drinking. My favorite spring wine this year is Susie Selby’s Rose. It’s not a delicate, wilting flower of a wine. As fruity as it is tangy. As light as it is full-bodied. I found the insulated “wine tumbler” (Probably meant for coffee, but we know what these are really used for) at Target – also on clearance. The color was perfect and it fits about a third of a bottle of wine (no judging), keeping it at the perfect temperature for hours.
I’m packing all of this up and driving it over to our Mom’s house this weekend with a card our kids made. We will leave it on the porch to ensure social distancing and call Mom once we are safely back in the car so we can watch her come out to find it. We won’t be able to share hugs and kisses on Mother’s Day this year, but we can still celebrate our awesome Mom’s and Grandma’s with a little bit of planning and some baking.
And listen…. If all of this is overwhelming and you are running short on time…. Our website also sells these nifty digital gift cards. Not everyone wants to bake a cake or find a kale bouquet right now. And that is perfectly ok too. Snag a gift card on the Flicker and Glow site and show your Mom or Grandma you’re thinking of her. We can get back to brunches and traditional presents next year when the world is back to normal again.
Happy Mother’s Day from our Family to Yours!