Give Moms the Choice to Chill on Mother’s Day

Stores can click with moms' easier spirit, lifted by laid-back ideas for Mothers' Day week.

Mothers’ Day is transforming in many households from emotional, food-based events like big family dinners to times of peaceful indulgence for moms – away from family demands, attention-seeking kids and insatiably curious puppies.

It may be the bigger roles women fill as breadwinners, caregivers, chief purchasing agents and social directors of their households that makes them feel they’re in pressure cookers all year-round.

This one day, what they want more than anything else is…silence.

So, let the ones who want to…unplug.

Retailers can still please the millions who relish classic chocolates, flowers, greeting cards and get-togethers on this day. National Retail Federation data says, “Americans will spend an average of $172.63 on mom this year, up nearly $10 from $162.94 last year and the highest amount in the survey’s 12-year history. Total spending is expected to reach $21.2 billion.”

Yet The Lempert Report also urges retailers and households to give other moms the choice to chill. To press the recharge button for 24 hours of solace. And snap back with vigor into their multiple roles soon after.

The solution for families is to step back - give her a day to herself – a spa treat, a yoga session, a massage to her favorite music, some laps in a pool, a glass of her favorite wine to wind down further. 

Food retailers can be part of this scene too. A few ideas:

• A While Mom Is Away food delivery service – assemble, package and deliver prepared foods for the rest of the family for the day
• A Happy Mommy gift basket delivery service – a bottle of wine, some new specialty food treats she can tell her friends about later, sunscreen, a choice of best selling books, a pair of fun flip flops, a cushy towel, some fresh, local veggies and dip, cool bottled waters - for moms who want space, but not too far away
• A Back to Reality assembly of products at the front of the store, offered with special incentives for prepared foods purchases, during the three days after Mothers’ Day. Figure moms purchased ahead of their getaway day if they had one, and now need more family staples for the rest of the school and work week ahead.  
• Kick off a Get Ready for Summer planning blog on the retail website, pegging Mothers’ Day as the unofficial beginning to the freer, easier spirit of the season.