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Mix it Up for Mother's Day

Home > Melbourne > Craft | Family | Free | Fun for Children | Mother's Day | Lists
by Kim Bloomberg (subscribe)
I'm a freelance writer living in Melbourne. I love exploring and writing about my adventures!
Published April 18th 2016
Put a smile on Mum's face with something special
The celebration of honouring our mothers and motherhood has roots as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, where they held festivals in honor of maternal goddesses. More recently the celebration of a "Mothering Sunday" dates back to a Christian festival that was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their "mother church".

From the 1850's to the 1870's the constant work by many activists and mothers of the time to work towards better living conditions, reduce the infant mortality rate and care for fallen soldiers from both sides, inspired American abolitionist and suffragette, Julia Ward Howe, to write the "Mother's Day Proclamation". This also promoted a powerful message to ask all mothers to come together and promote world peace, and in 1873 she campaigned for a "Mother's Peace Day".

In 1908, with the efforts of Anna Jarvis the official "Mother's Day" holiday was established to honour the sacrifices mothers made for their children. Anna Jarvis' own mother had worked tirelessly along with many other mothers in Mother's Day work clubs to care for fallen soldiers and work towards world peace. Anna stressed and felt strongly that the intention be to celebrate the best mother you've ever known — your mother — as a son or a daughter. She sought for many years to promote Mother's Day as a personal celebration with your mother and later spoke out about the commercialization of this day.

In honour of your mother, here are some ideas to try that come from the heart and make this special day even more special.

Origami, Kirigami and Pop-up cards and gifts - Free templates to get your started
Pop-up cards and gifts: I use the website Popupology as they have a whole range of free pop-up card templates with full instructions that are very easy to follow. They tend to lean towards towering architectural designs so if this is not your cup of tea you can also try pop-up artist and paper engineer Robert Sabuda's website here. This has a range of printable templates that make wonderful pop-up cards such as unicorns, boats, animals and flowers to name a few.

Kirigami is a variation from origami and translates from Japanese "kiru" = to cut, "kami" = paper. There are loads of free templates available on-line and range from simple to very advanced. Check out here for a simple but dazzling handmade spiral box.

Origami, translated from Japanese "ori" meaning folding, and "kami" meaning paper, is the art of paper folding. Just about anything from animals and fairies to dragons, teapots and boxes, to name a very few, can be made and you can find how to do all of it on YouTube. Handmade paper kaleidicycles, Chinese finger traps, paper boxes and loads more can be found here, with great ideas for the kids and adults alike.

Mother's Day, card, celebration, pop-up card
Pop-up cards you can make at home.


DIY – breakfast in bed with a twist

Bacon & eggs with a twist. "Old faithful" is a wonderful treat served to mum in bed but if you want to jazz things up a bit try some simple but scrumptious recipes by world famous chef Jamie Oliver. He's gone to the next level and come up with a bunch of recipes that will take your Mum's tastebuds to heaven. Try this link which provides four variations on eggs with full recipe provided.

GIANT breakfast cookies, coconut macaroons and brown butter cookies with Martha Stewart. Whoa, mamma! She really came through with these free recipes. Giant breakfast cookies are a real novelty and great for Mum if she is heading somewhere and can eat on the go. They are also a wonderful alternative if she is not a fan of eggs. Coconut macaroons and brown butter cookies look and taste heavenly and are a great treat anytime. These are easy and you probably have most of the ingredients in you cupboard already. Here is the 'How to' to video from Martha Stewart's channel.



Birth Flowers
Giving a specific flower that relates to one's birth month is believed to date as far back as the Romans. It may not be Mum's birthday but if you can still get hold of these flowers for Mothers Day it's another great way to make Mum feel extra special.

Mother's Day, flowers, birth flowers
Birth flowers are a great way to personalize Mother's Day.

Here is the list of flowers for each month:
January – Carnation
February - Violet
March - Daffodil
April – Sweet Pea
May - Lily of the Valley
June - Rose
July - Larkspur
August - Gladiolus
September- Aster/Forget me-not
October - Marigold
November - Chrysanthemum
December – Poinsettia

Lastly, give Mum a hug and tell her you love her and appreciate everything she does. Love you Mum, you're the cat's meow!

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Why? Celebrating Mum
When: Mothers Day 8th of May
Where: At home or all over the world
Cost: FREE
Your Comment
Thanks Kim, the pop up cards are amazing; I can't wait to give them a try.
by Gayle Beveridge-Marien (score: 4|10580) 2616 days ago
The things I learn and have fun doing so. Thanks so much.
by ivypa (score: 0|6) 2615 days ago
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