It’s time to contemplate the age-old question: What does mom really want to do for Mother’s Day?
Odds are you’ve been concentrating on a gift. Something homemade? Something practical? Something pretty? Flowers? Chocolate? Jewelry?
This year, maybe that gift should be an experience. Take your cue from what she likes to do best. And if you’re the mom, maybe you want to provide a few helpful hints.
Melanie Stevens Parkhurst of Vinings says new moms are at a particular disadvantage. After all, Father’s Day comes after Mother’s Day, and new dads have no example to help them make that first Mother’s Day special.
“Left to their own devices, new dads won’t have a clue what to do. You’ve got to set expectations right away,” Parkhurst said.
What Parkhurst wanted for her first Mother’s Day was to get some uninterrupted sleep. She got her wish when the family checked into Buckhead’s St. Regis Atlanta hotel. After a day of enjoying the pool and hotel amenities, her husband took the little one home, and Parkhurst luxuriated in a king-size bed and the evening off. The next morning, the family returned to a rested Parkhurst ready to enjoy a delicious brunch before heading back home.
No matter what you decide to do for Mother’s Day, take lots of pictures and video. Then make a photo book or video collage or go old school and print and frame a few photos to remind you both of the great day you had.
For moms who love flowers
It wouldn’t be Mother’s Day weekend in Atlanta without the Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour. After 29 years, it certainly qualifies as a Mother’s Day tradition. This year, the tour features 11 private gardens from Morningside to Sandy Springs to Decatur. Only one is outside the Perimeter. The tour always offers something for everyone, whether avid gardener or strictly garden voyeur. The gardens range from sun to shade, from flat to steeply terraced, from naturalistic to exceedingly formal. Many gardens this year have an emphasis on kitchen gardens and edible landscapes.
A visit with some friends from “Alice in Wonderland”: One of the gardens offers the chance to meet Alice’s Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit.
Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, Atlanta Botanical Garden. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 11-12. $25 in advance, $30 tour days. Eleven gardens and the garden of the Atlanta Symphony Associates’ Decorators Show House. 404-585-2062, www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.
For moms who want to be pampered
The St. Regis Atlanta in Buckhead offers mom a day befitting the hotel’s “AAA Five Diamond” standing. An extravagant Mother’s Day Brunch will serve up everything from a raw seafood bar to an irresistible array of desserts. With an overnight stay, mom and family can enjoy the 40,000-square-foot pool piazza with its amenities of frozen grapes, cool towels and smoothie samplers. While she’s there, send mom to the Remede spa or challenge her to a game of pool in the Billiards Room.
Kids can make their gift on the spot: Mother’s Day brunch includes a “Build a Bouquet Bar” where children can assemble a fresh-cut flower bouquet to present to mom before or after their meal.
Mother’s Day Brunch, the St. Regis Atlanta. 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. May 12. $95 per adult guest, $45 for those 12 and under. Overnight stays start at $400 per night. 88 W. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta. 404-563-7933, www.stregisatlanta.com.
For moms who love their car
Drag racing Friday night, an Electric Run on Saturday and the Koss Motorsports Drift on Sunday — mom can spend the whole Mother’s Day weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton. Whether mom drives a car, truck, van or motorcycle, she can enter “Friday Night Drags” and maybe walk away with a trophy. There are 18 divisions to enter, including those where mom can compete against dad or her kids.
Special fashion accessories: Saturday night’s 5k run includes fashion-forward items like an LED bracelet, “glow” necklace and “glow” sunglasses.
Events at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton: Friday Night Drags, grandstand opens 6:30 p.m. May 10, $8 for spectators, $20 to race; Electric Run, 8:50 p m. May 11, $65 to enter; Koss Motorsports Drift, gates open at 9 a.m., $10 advance purchase general admission, $28 advance purchase car show competition. 1500 Tara Blvd., Hampton. 770-946-4211, www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.
For moms who love house tours
Roswell has preserved a remarkable collection of antebellum houses known as “A Southern Trilogy.” These homes are open throughout the year for a fee of $8 adults, $6 children, but for Mother’s Day, the houses are open to all for free. The two hours of the open house will provide a chance for a quick look at all three houses and grounds or a more leisurely visit to one or two. The houses are all within a 1-mile radius.
Mom can go shopping, too: It’s the 23rd year for the Colors Festival of Arts, a juried arts show held in Roswell’s historic town square. Entertainment and food also available. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 11-12.
Mother’s Day Open Houses at Barrington Hall, Bulloch Hall and Smith Plantation, Roswell. 1-3 p.m., May 12. Free, suggested donation of food for North Fulton Food Bank. Roswell Visitors Center, 617 Atlanta St., Roswell. 770-640-3253, www.southerntrilogy.com.
For moms who’d like to spend the day outdoors
A relatively flat paved trail that winds along a creek makes a perfect destination for the family with a range of mobility and interests. Alpharetta’s Big Creek Greenway Trail stretches about 8 miles from Mansell Road north to Windward Parkway at Marconi Drive. A concrete path running the length of the trail parallels Big Creek and provides firm footing for biking, running, inline roller blading and even wheelchairs. Visitors pass ponds, meadows and woods. A soft mulch trail circles wetlands near North Point Mall, and there’s a mountain bike trail loop near Webb Bridge Road. Pack a picnic and use the tables at Rock Mill Park, the North Point Mall or Preston Ridge. Eventually Alpharetta’s section will connect with the similarly named trail in Forsyth County.
Always important to know: Restrooms are available at five greenway entry points including the YMCA, Rock Mill Park at Kimball Ridge Road, Haynes Bridge Road and North Point Parkway.
Big Creek Greenway Trail, Alpharetta. Open dawn to dusk. Free. Five entry points: Alpharetta YMCA, Haynes Bridge Road, North Point Parkway, Kimball Bridge Road and Marconi Drive. 678-297-6123, www.alpharetta.ga.us/index.php?p=136.
For moms who love shopping
Give mom a gift certificate and then let her buy whatever she wants. There should be two rules: no buying for anyone else in the family, and mom can shop unencumbered by spouses or children.
If you head to the Mall of Georgia, while mom is shopping, the rest of the family can don their swimsuits and play in the Village Fountain, designed to look like Savannah’s Forsyth Fountain. When they tire of playing, the kids can go to the Painted Penguin and make a Mother’s Day craft project or explore the five geographic regions of the mall mimicking the regions of Georgia: coastal, mountain, plains, Piedmont and Atlanta. If mom loves movies, wait for her to finish shopping before heading to a show at the six-story-tall 3-D Imax theater.
While mom is shopping: Check out the 12-foot-tall statue at the top of the mall. It’s Button Gwinnett, signer of the Declaration of Independence and namesake of Gwinnett County. Impress your family by knowing that he never actually stepped foot in the county named after him.
Mall of Georgia, Buford. Mall is open noon-6 p.m. The Painted Penguin, noon-6 p.m. Free to make crafts including pottery and T-shirt painting. Regal Cinema 20 & Imax, generally open at 10 a.m., May 12. Ticket range: $8-$11.50 matinee, $12- $15.50 RPX theater, $14.50-$18 Imax. 770-271-9458, www.simon.com/mall/mall-of-georgia.
For moms who love the North Georgia mountains
Whether you drive up for the Mother’s Day buffet or plan an overnight trip, Glen-Ella Springs Inn is in the center of dozens of North Georgia activities. Hike to a waterfall, shop for antiques, visit a potter or travel the Georgia “wine highway” all from Clarkesville. Those staying in one of the inn’s 16 rooms can wander the 12-acre meadow and creek paths and spend the evening sitting under the stars while keeping warm near the inn’s wood-burning fire pit.
For the little ones: Don’t miss Goats on the Roof in Tiger, just a 12-mile drive from the inn. Kids can feed the goats and become official “goat rangers.”
Mother’s Day Buffet, Glen-Ella Springs Inn & Meeting Place, Clarkesville. 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. May 12. $34.50 per person, half price for those 12 and under, plus tax and service fee, reservations required. Rooms Sunday through Thursday, $155–$230, Sunday check-in, 3 p.m. 1789 Bear Gap Road, Clarkesville. 1-888-455-8786, www.glenella.com.
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