Your mother is a special person in your life. You cry on her shoulder when the latest love of your life has dumped you, or you didn’t get the job you were after. If it wasn’t for her you would have failed Matric and never got a driver’s licence. Now it’s your turn to say thank you, but you recently had a sick cat and you had to pay a plumber to fix the leaking toilet on a Sunday. In short, you have no money. What can you do?

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Don’t despair – there are many things you can do with very little money, a bit of effort and lots of imagination. Things that will make your mother very happy that you are her child – maybe even more so than champagne, red roses and an expensive lunch out.

• Go to a bead shop where you can buy lovely beads with which to make a necklace or bracelet for less than R10.
• Paint an old plant pot in a bright enamel paint (Small tins of paint retail at about R15) and repot a plant from your garden.
• Bake a cake – nothing too fancy, and then share it over a cup of tea
• Make a scrapbook of family photographs, old cards and mementoes
• Make a special candle. A packet of plain white candles costs less than R4 and everything else you need you will probably have in the house (Like string).
• Make a little set of redeemable cards on which you offer your time and effort. Offer to do things like:
• Feeding the cat when she goes away on holiday
• Giving a half hour massage
• A dinner voucher (when the finances have improved)
• Running five errands
• Washing up when it is not my turn
• Taking her to the supermarket
• Write a poem yourself, or photocopy a collection of your favourite poems and put them in a cardboard folder tied with a ribbon.
• Plan an original lunch out
• Drive somewhere beautiful and have tea
• Invite your mother for a home-cooked meal and really cook it yourself. (No Mr Delivery). You do not have to spend a fortune on ingredients. Roast chicken and vegetables will be more than adequate. Use candles and ribbons to decorate the table.
• Find out if there are free or low-cost outside concerts anywhere. Take a picnic with you.
• Go for a walk somewhere beautiful
• Rent a really funny video
• A picnic on the beach with wine, rolls and chocolate should not cost you an arm and a leg.

Most people prefer a gift or a meal that took time, effort and careful planning rather than wilted overpriced roses and a rushed lunch in an overcrowded restaurant. You should not have to spend a fortune to make your mother feel special.

Read more:
Poems and extracts for Mother’s Day

 

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