Top Ten Ways to Pamper Mom for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is fast approaching and it’s not too late to make plans that will surprise your mom and make sure she has the perfect day! Here is a quick list of top ten ways to pamper mom for Mother’s Day, all located in Southern California. Because budgets can be all over the map, we’ve tried to be inclusive and keep that in mind. Most of these suggestions can be adapted to fit whatever your range is.
First, of you no longer have a mom, my heart goes out to you and I’m sorry if this post comes up in your timeline on some social and is upsetting. Mother’s Day marketing can be painful, but if you are a mom, please still take time to allow recognition for yourself. You deserve the focus and the attention.
When your kids are little, it’s often breakfast in bed and quiet time while dad takes care of the kids. That can be so wonderful. As your kids grow up and have their own lives, planning the day can be a bit more challenging, but I look at it this way: I get multiple Mother’s Days. Winning. Being a midlife mom has a lot of perks, and this is just another. The downside is that if not all your children live nearby, it can be less exciting; if that’s you, make a reservation for brunch. Buy the bottle of wine that’s a little more expensive than you’d normally spend. Go do something you’ve put off doing. If we learn anything in midlife, it’s that life is short, and we need to stop worrying about what others think!
Onwards.
Some of the following links are affiliate links, which means we may earn a little money if you click them. It will not change your cost or experience.
Here’s our list of top ten ways to pamper mom on Mother’s Day!
Head to the beach for a picnic! It’s not too hot, it is usually less crowded, and mom can spend a day reading or sunning or eating, not being the one chasing after kids. Make it special by packing special treats, like fancy cheeses, fruit, olives, crackers, whatever you’d put out for a charcuterie board or happy hour at home when you want to impress…and then let mom get first dibs on everything. This activity is easily adjusted to fit within any real financial status and number of people, too. This affordable picnic backpack comes with all you need to have a picnic for up to four people, and all you need to add is a cooler of food!
Go wine tasting! I mean, it’s Southern California, where there is no shortage of wineries of all different levels. Lots of wineries still require reservations, so book in advance, and depending on what time you go, you can fit in a lunch or array of appetizers at her favorite spots. A wine cave tour is typically child-free, if you’re aiming for a child-free day…and don’t judge, we moms love our kids more than anything in the world, but we also enjoy some time away, from our own AND others’. Temecula is, of course, the central for SoCal wineries, with a plethora of places to choose from. A few of my suggestions are South Coast Winery Resort & Spa. This bed and breakfast package is pretty sweet! Europa Village is growing and adding new mini-venues inside, and it’s a beautiful place to spend hours roaming and sipping. Bel Vino is casual fun with great wines, Mount Palomar has a wine variety of wines, serves food and has events, and if you like Disney and want a childfree winery, Briar Rose is your spot! (Ask about the tour to see all the Disney pieces on-site!) Don’t forget a wine carrier like this one from Fly With Wine; it’s a molded case that holds two bottles and can actually even go on a plane, so you know it’ll be safe thrown in your car.
Glen Ivy Spa is another ultimate relaxation destination! The spa is not a place for small children, but it’s great for couples, or maybe even better, mom on her own. Weekday rates are even cheaper than weekends, and you don’t need to book any fancy add-on treatments if you want to keep it in a lower budget range. I guarantee you, mom will still enjoy taking the waters with or without a massage or any of their other experiences such as the Grotto, hydromassage, Paint and Sip or other massage/facial treatments. Send her with a little extra cash so she can enjoy a sustainable lunch and maybe a cocktail or two! (Want to ramp it up a notch? Arrange transportation so she’s not driving to or from!) There are also seasonal packages and combos available, so visit their website to purchase tickets and book reservations.
Mom’s not a wine fan? Or maybe she just went last week? Head to a brewery! There is no shortage of choices in SoCal, and out here in the Inland Empire, my brewery of choice is Hamilton Family Brewery in Rancho Cucamonga. Open 7 days a week, often from 12pm – 12am, Hamilton’s craft beers are made in-house, seasonally-focused (as in Watermelon Man, my all-time favorite) and there is plenty of seating, much of it under cover or umbrellas. Beers are affordable, they have alcohol-free slushies and root beer, and they also have special treats throughout the year along with live music on certain holidays. Hamilton Family Brewery is also very dog-friendly, and you’ll often see mom, dad, kids, and dogs all huddled around a table, eating whatever the food truck of the hour is providing. We go every couple of weeks and can’t recommend this place enough!
A new trend that’s spreading around Southern California is personal one-on-one stretch therapy. We just got a Stretchlab here in Rancho Cucamonga, and it’s a cross between a lazy workout and a massage. You make an appointment, they do all the stretching for you and you leave feeling like a new person. It’s a therapeutic massage but moms are lifting, carrying, bending, you name it, and I don’t know a single mom, of any age, that couldn’t benefit from this! There are also group sessions that cost less, where mom will still get the same benefits but not one-on-one.
Does mom like to try new approaches to wellness? Give her a gift card for a salt cave class! I got to do this with my daughter at Salt Oasis when the cave initially opened, and we had an amazing afternoon! We sat in anti-gravity chairs for 20 minutes in a salt-lined room with relaxing sounds via headphones, then we had an hour in one of the actual salt caves. You can sit in chairs, do yoga, sit on the ground, lay down, whatever you need to do to fully immerse yourself. We left feeling incredibly rejuvenated. They also offer sound bath classes, yoga classes, meditation and more. Learn about our local salt cave here, and get a full lineup of all the options available.
Speaking of sound baths, this is something that you have to experience once to really understand why people are so into it. These are available at numerous places all over Southern California, but this one at Khloestika Healing and Wellness Center gets my vote. Get relaxed, clear your mind, and feel at peace, surrounded by peaceful sounds designed to put you in the right frame of mind. And if meditation worries you, don’t let it. There is so much more to it than you think, while requiring far less than you might expect. Once you try a meditation-focused class of any sort, you’ll see why it’s becoming more and more popular. This really is a unique way to pamper mom for Mother’s Day!
Sign her up for a cooking class! Before you think this is a bad thing, consider that you can learn how to make sourdough bread, bake and assembled macarons, make pasta, decorate cookies, the possibilities are endless. There are a lot of chef academies around, but my favorite local school is Claremont Chef’s Academy. Classes are varied by topic and age, so adults-only classes are available. On the schedule right now, I see a Cinco de Mayo-focused class about learning to make chile rellenos, a Mardi Gras meal class for two, and fresh ravioli! (The ravioli one is sold out, so book in advance because these classes are very popular!) These also make a great date night event if you can’t set it up in time for Mother’s Day.
Who hasn’t wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride? My husband surprised me with one years ago, where we went on a very early morning hot air balloon ride over citrus fields in Temecula, and when we landed, we were treated to a breakfast at Thornton Winery and of course, champagne. It was one of the most memorable things we’ve done together yet! The balloons do go up high, but ours gave us the option; we were a group of four, and luckily, all four of us agreed to go up, up and away! You can book it for a private experience for two, but it will be more expensive.
Want to keep it simple? Book brunch at her favorite restaurant, or try something new that she’s mentioned trying. New restaurants are popping up here all the time! A place with endless mimosas is perfect for Mother’s Day. I love the mimosa cart at Mama X Dios in Rancho Cucamonga on Foothill. The bartender has quite the personality and every single drink is a mini-show as it is created, not to mention the food! (It can be loud there at times, so if you’re looking for quiet and romantic, this is not your place.) Another fab choice is Rodrigo’s Mexican Grill, with several locations around SoCal. They’ve got a new drink menu, and for Mother’s Day, they’ve got a “momosa” special!
Can’t leave the house? A professional in-home massage can make her feel like she has at least! I just had a 90-minute deep-tissue massage from a masseur that came to our room in Costa Rica. Oh my gosh, I did not want to get up after. She was amazing! Rose petals on the floor, soft music, custom body oils and lotions, it was heaven. I don’t have one locally to recommend, but there are a lot available online. My one recommendation though? Go to your city’s Facebook page and ask for their suggestions. Avoid the “my cousin Mary does it…she’ll DM you” this time, and go for a certified masseur you can verify. (Cousin Mary may be amazing, but Mother’s Day is not the time to learn she also may not be.)
Want to give her a gift that she can do on more of her own schedule? Give her a bubble bath gift box — and if you can, plan for two hours of quiet so she can enjoy it. You can buy things like a fluffy robe, soft slippers, scented bubble bath, a headband or wrap to keep her hair out of the bubbles, and if she doesn’t have one, a tray for the bath, a candle, and if you want to spend a little time, put together a Spotify playlist for her to relax to. Also, don’t forget a beverage! If she likes wine (or champagne), you can even have a bottle label custom-made. These wine bottle labels are available via San Antonio Winery, local to SoCal, a cool, historic winery with two locations.
There are so many ways to pamper mom for Mother’s Day, but mostly, it’s not about the money. Us moms want time with our family, and it doesn’t need to be exactly on the holiday even. We moms are pretty resilient. We appreciate the handmade gifts, the experiential gifts, the gifts of knowing you get us and thought of us. It matters way more than what you get us, if that makes sense? As everyone grows up, we don’t expect to be the center of your world, and we appreciate when you understand we’re people outside of being parents. I miss those days of breakfast in bed, kids giggling as they hand me homemade cards and gifts they made at school or bought at school book fairs, but I also have memories worth their weight in gold.
