10 gifts under $101. Wine2. A mixed CD3. Free car wash4. Memory box of photos and sentimental items5. Candles6. Homemade cookies7. Home-cooked meal (Lasagna is cheap and easy.)8. Matinee movie 9. Afternoon at a museum10. An offer to clean the garage or organize old photosCompiled by Alexa Libert
Mother's Day is a beautiful time of year. It is a special day that has been delicately crafted to commemorate the many thankless hours of hard work that our mothers manage to squeeze into each and every day of our lives.
Regrettably, as time has progressed, so have the pressures of finding a suitable Mother's Day present and the frantic search for a proper gift seems to come earlier and earlier every year.
When I was in elementary school we would devote an entire school day to building a memento of our gratitude that was both colorful and appreciative. Unfortunately, I've never been a talented artist and even simple tasks involving arts and crafts-like building a picture frame out of dried pasta, or creating a sculpture with decorative streamers-always looking like a ball of melted G.I. Joes.
Other years my gifts have bordered between the lazy and the ridiculous, like the year I gave my mom a bottle of fart spray from Spencer's, or a handful of flowers still dripping with wet soil that were obviously stolen from our neighbors front yard.
As I grew older my dad forced me to take time in picking a present, urging me to save my money and plan ahead.
When Mother's Day would draw near, we would drive to Pier One Imports, or Michael's craft store and I would purchase the first respectable thing I could find for under $20. As a result, my mom's collection of oddly-shaped lamps, mirrors outlined with small wooden cats and other random knick knacks seemed to grow with every celebration.
After a couple of years, I decided to think practically. I made the decision that I would simply ask my mother what she wanted. Unfortunately, I would immediately become frustrated when she would say something like, "I just want you to be nice to your sister," or "take some time to work in the yard."
Soon Mother's Day became a competition among my sisters and I, and somehow I always managed to lose. One year my sister got my mom a set of solar-powered garden lights that made her so happy that I thought she was going to cry. Another year she gave my mom a beautiful necklace and earrings in a small jewelry box that made my gift, a carefully picked Boz Scaggs CD, look like it belonged in the trash.
Fortunately, I have reached a new level of maturity in life. I now realize that it's not the amount of money we spend on a present, but rather the amount of time and thought that goes into a gift that shows our mothers how much we truly care and appreciate them.
So this year, no matter what I decide to get my mom, no matter how asymmetrical or impractical my present may be, I know she will still smile and endearingly say that she loves it. So happy Mother's Day Mom, hope you like this melted ball of G.I. Joes. t&c;
MIKE WISE IS A SENIOR JOURNALISM MAJOR AND COLUMNIST FOR THE t&c.;
