Image: CC from the Official Star Wars Blog via Flickr; Anakin Kapusta and Mom, Elyse
The Star Wars Fan – This is as simple as arranging for a Star Wars movie marathon, kids optional. Get the living room spic and span, move the couches together, and get creative. Consider making some blue milk for the kids and maybe something a little more adult for mom: how about a C3P0 or a Princess’ Pleasure (recipes via iDrink)? If you’re feeling really adventurous, why not take out the old Star Wars Cookbook and make dinner along with the film? I don’t know about you, but Tusken Raider Taters sound awesome. At the end of they day you can all curl up in your Tauntaun sleeping bag together!
The WoW Player – This is easy. Get a sitter, get some good drinks (her favorite… you know what her favorite wine/beer/beverages are, right?), and get creative. You can surprise her with an in-game pet (as those are so conveniently purchasable now) or set up a plushie (we have a griffin here) by her computer. Then raid the dungeons she wants to raid, work to get the loot she wants, and maybe even enlist the help of some of your guild mates to make her day special. There’s nothing quite so heartwarming in game to find a mailbox full of Mothers Day wishes!
The Dr. Who Fan – If she’s a fan of the old school, this is a great opportunity to go back in time and view some of the older episodes. Whether or not she’s a fan of the new series, you’ve still got decades to pull from. Show a few episodes, and then consider making a special dessert. There are tons of dalek-style cakes recipes on line, in fact. Can’t find anything that’s your skill level? Consider decorating some upside-down cupcakes or use an angel food cake (they’re really easy to shape) and covering it with frosting and candies in a close approximation.
The Book Geek – Really, letting the mom in you life run amok in her favorite bookstore with no time limit, no screeching kids, and no worries about distractions is worth its weight in gold. Make sure she gets her favorite coffee and snack, and set aside block of time this weekend where she can peruse the aisles and pick out her own gift. If you have a Kindle of an iPod already, you can try and recreate the same idea at home, but it probably won’t have quite the same effect (unless the rugrats are staying with someone else). Either way, sometimes the best gift you can give a mom is time to herself!
The Kitchen Geek – Get thyself to a shrubbery shop—er, I mean, garden store. While it’s tempting to go the Home Depot Route or the Lowes route, I always prefer smaller locations because you can find a much better selection of plants, especially heirloom variety. No matter the size of your home, or garden, you can easily put together an herb planter for your wife. Include a variety of herbs that grow well together—pick some unusual ones, just for the sake of culinary curiosity. Not only are the plants a beautiful addition inside or outside the house, but they’re unparalleled for flavoring foods. I’d consider varieties of basil, oregano, thyme, chive, and rosemary; for the more adventurous, there’s always tarragon, stevia, chervil, and bay (check out this great article about growing herbs indoors from Organic Gardening for more details).
The Gaming Geek – If your lady’s social, don’t think that you have to just keep Mothers Day to the nuclear family. Invite a crowd over and take out some of the games you’ve had around but just haven’t managed to play. Play Arkham Horror and serve up some creepy drinks; go the Arthurian route and play Shadows Over Camelot whilst sipping mead; have a dungeon crawl with your D&D group, and convince the DM to do something special in game for her character. Maybe even surprise her with a cool new mini that you hand painted for her!
Whatever you do, do it with love. Moms really deserve our credit, geek our no, and making a day special for them (especially aside from all the Hallmark marketing) is what it’s all about.
[This article was originally published on GeekDad on May 6, 2010.]
