Each year leading up to Mother’s Day I start scrambling for gift ideas for for my mother. I try to remind myself that it’s not her birthday or Christmas, so I don’t go overboard. But then what am I supposed to do for a woman who doesn’t need anything? What can I buy for a woman who has what she wants? NOTHING. That’s right, nothing. That’s when I finally realized that what any mom really wants on Mother’s Day is quality time with her children. Rather than buy her something she doesn’t need, I’ve started taking my mom on a Mother’s Day Picnic.

The first time I did this for my mom it was years and years ago, and then I forgot about doing it. Why you may wonder? Honestly I’m not so sure, but I think it’s because my brother and I found other ways to spend quality time with our mom on Mother’s Day. But then I got married, which left my husband and I in predicament…

We both wanted to celebrate Mother’s Day with each of our moms. So what’s a grown child to do? Coordinate one giant Mother’s Day Picnic! We invited all the moms (my mom, my mother-in-law, AND my sister-in-law’s mother-in-law) for a beautiful picnic on Mother’s Day. We all had the opportunity to spend Mother’s Day with our own mothers. But to top it off we also had the chance to spend time with the mother’s we gained by marriage and are so delighted to call our other mom.

Then came time for me to celebrate Mother’s Day as a mother myself. How do I prepare to celebrate the mothers in my life and allow my family to celebrate my own motherhood? More picnics! It’s an easy thing to prepare, and we all get the quality time we want most. It’s simple, yet thoughtful. It’s quality over quantity. It’s a Mother’s Day well spent.

How will you celebrate Mother’s Day this year? Anyone picnicking?