Mother’s Day

When I say ‘Mother’s Day’ what immediately do you think of?

For me Mother’s Day conjures up images of bright yellow daffodils just waiting to burst open in the sun. And then as I think a little more, the daffodils are lying on a tray accompanied by a mug of warm brownish liquid disguised as tea, and a thick slice of burnt toast that is hosting a lump of strawberry jam in the middle. I quietly chuckle, and a huge smile appears on my face.  The memories of breakfast in bed made by my young children is now in my mind.

Crumbs between the sheets, sticky jam residue on the pillow and drops of tea staining the duvet cover are really not important on this day. Their joyful faces when breakfast is served, and the smoke alarm has finally stopped beeping, their small hands eager to thrust the home-made card and art project – that dad has been supervising – into my face is truly unforgettable.

Mother’s Day is a celebration which honours the mother of the family

It is the maternal love, the comfort and the bond we celebrate. This sharing could be with your birth mum, adoptive mum, aunts or anyone who has a maternal influence. Mum is just a word, it’s the selfless actions that give it meaning. These mothering figures relentlessly run around caring for us, so I wanted to create a special Mother’s Day gift that really shows the love.

As my new business has begun to develop and build, I have realised that what makes me really happy (aside from Turkish Delight chocolate bars, crisps and gin) is supporting other mums in business. We keep the home fire burning, cooking, cleaning, chores and tasks of being a mum whilst trying to make a financial difference to our lives with our own individual businesses, more often than not set up on the kitchen table.

I have learnt that a gift, whether it’s a ‘Thank You for Coming to My Party’ gift, or a Mother’s Day gift can be so much more than just an object or product bought from a store with the hope the recipient likes it. Now it’s time for you to be honest, how many gifts have you been showered with that have ended up recycled (given to someone else as a thoughtful present) or left outside a charity shop door thinking “That was a waste of someone’s money? I would have preferred a large chocolate bar!”

Months of sourcing the right items for my Mother’s Day gift bags, at the right price has not been an easy feat, no matter how much I love shopping. However, I am overjoyed with my handpicked final items so let’s introduce them. Drum roll please…

A mini cotton drawstring bag. This bag is here to stay! It can be used time and time again. Nail varnishes, hair clips, loose change for the car, jewellery pouch for holiday and list goes on. Of course, it needs to be crystal clear this is Mum’s bag, so Mum is printed onto the front. The bag can be washed even with the transfer, so the sticky jam incident is not a problem. Now onto the gifts inside.

Mother’s Day Gifts

Decision-making is not always easy for me. After procrastinating for far too long, I finally arrived at the decision to choose 4 items because I just adored them all.  I bought a sample of each item as I needed to be confident of the quality and appearance before offering these for sale. To be perfectly honest, I think it was more of a well-done gift to myself for finally making a decision!

• A pop elastic hair tie attached to a Mother’s Day themed card. I first owned a pop elastic just before Christmas when I was sent a complimentary one with an order for some superhero ties for a party bag order. Pop it on your wrist and it is always there for those moments when you need to get your hair out of the way, or in my case, begrudgingly handing it to my daughter who has often forgotten her hair band for her taekwondo lesson. Super soft and very kind to the hair.
• A friendship style cord bracelet with a silver star charm backed onto thick paper displaying the quote ‘Mums are like stars, you don’t always see them, but you know they are always there’. Too cute.
• A deliciously scented bath bomb. Any mum that enjoys a soak in the bath, this is pure bliss and a reason for ‘Mum Time’.  It smells heavenly and leaves skin so moisturised. Yes, I know this because I most certainly have sampled this gorgeous home-made treat.
• 2 heart shaped shampoo bars. Easy to use and cleanse hair thoroughly without leaving any nasty residue from bottled shampoos. Yes again, I have sampled this too and can vouch how amazingly brilliant they are.

So, there are my handpicked Mother’s Day gifts. The final addition to this bag is the mini Happy Mother’s Day tag that the child can write or scribble their name on.

 

The Power of Mum(s)

Rather than heading to a shop, either physically or online, I connected with other mums in business who could offer these products for me.

• The pop elastics and the bracelets are both hand tied by 2 different mums.
• The bath bomb and the shampoo bars are again handmade by 2 different mums in business. All ingredients are natural but what I really love is the fact that we don’t have lots of plastic packaging polluting our seas and harming the wildlife. These shampoo bars are a great introduction to moving away from plastic bottles from a supermarket and taking a little responsibility for our environment. A huge bonus is that they last so much longer and are so much better for your hair.

Emma’s Top Tip Alert

Using handmade natural shampoo bars can reduce the fading of coloured hair (brownie points if mums have coloured hair), can eliminate itching or dandruff due to no salt being added (lots of salt is added to many commercial shampoo to thicken it) and can help prevent or reduce hair loss. Mums love this stuff!

• The Mum transfer is designed and made by yet another mum, tags and backing pop elastic card by another, and then there’s me who irons the transfers on and gets to sample everything. Thumbs up!

7 different mums in business will be supported by the sale of these bags. Showing awareness for our environment and surrounding which is a valuable lesson that we can teach our children. Surely these factors alone are a great reason to buy and promote these? But on top of that, mums will truly adore these little forever bags of joy.