Traditions Expert Meg Cox Shares Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
Meg Cox shares Mother's Day gift ideas from The Book of New Family Traditions
Meg Cox is the author of the classic resource book, The Book of New Family Traditions. A new edition arrives May 22 and includes hundreds of daily traditions for helping busy families connect. Meg generously agreed to share some Mother’s Day gift ideas here.
Generations ago in England there was an annual custom known as “mothering Sunday,” in which it was customary to visit one’s mum, take her a cake, and do the midday cooking so she could attend church. A very churchy lady named Anna M. Jarvis came up with the idea of bringing this custom to the U.S. She was said to be alarmed at how commercial the Mother’s Day holiday became during her lifetime.
In honor of Ms. Jarvis, here are Mother’s Day gifts that Moms can request – that are NOT commercial.
Mother’s Day Gift Idea #1: Breakfast Out of Bed
Judy Elkin decided that she hated getting breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day: there were too many crumbs in the sheets and she preferred eating with her kids. Now, her family brings her a menu and coffee in bed. She chooses her breakfast and then lounges. When it’s time to eat, she joins the family downstairs.
Mother’s Day Gift Idea #2: Role Reversal
For a full day, ask your kids to reverse roles and mother you. Let them pick out your clothes, cook your breakfast, kiss your boo-boos, read you a story, and tuck you in bed at the end of the day. There’s also a good chance you’ll receive some lollypops and new toys, too.
For more about Mother’s Day gifts and traditions, visit Meg’s Facebook page or check out her book. Of course, we’re a bit biased here at VoiceQuilt. We hope you’ll also capture voices – young and old – telling Mom how much she is cherished. Like these!
Make Photos More Memorable With Instagram
With all the coverage about Instagram, I decided to give the photo editing service a spin. I was impressed with Instragram’s simple proposition: We’ll help you: 1) take photos; 2) make your photos look cool; and 3) share them with friends. For FREE.
I downloaded the Instagram app to my iPhone, imported a recent picture from my Camera Roll and then applied one of Instagram’s photo effects – in this case, a retro filter. I saw the impact immediately. (You can, too. See my photo before photo editing and after – at the top of this post.) When I clicked “Done”, I was able to share the instagram-edited photo on Facebook and other social media sites.
Instagram was the top news story last week when Facebook agreed to purchase the company in a deal valued at $1 billion (including $300 million in cash). That’s a pretty good return for a company with fewer than 20 employees, no revenue and no business model. Speculation was that Twitter was also a suitor, fueling the quick proposal from Facebook and the astounding price. (The two 20-something CEO’s hammered out the deal over a weekend.)
At VoiceQuilt, we focus on audio memories: voice-based toasts, tributes and even sentimental music. Unlike images, audio is processed by the limbic brain and is inherently emotional. That said, Instagram’s photo effects are a fun, free way to make a photo more memorable….so why not?
A VoiceQuilt Graduation Gift Idea – Keep It Simple!
My Graduate!
My number one son is graduating from high school next month. I was thinking about making a VoiceQuilt graduation gift for him, but I quickly became overwhelmed thinking about how to gather all the contact information – e-mails and phone numbers – for all those that have touched his life over the past 18 years. Everything seems overwhelming at this time of year!
Then, I took a deep breath and realized, why not just include those closest to him? I know how to get in touch with everyone in my house (!) and his Aunts and Uncles. And since he is fortunate enough to have 2 grandmas and 1 grandpa, it will be easy to include them, too. Diamonds are forever, but unfortunately people are not. I love the idea of preserving everyone’s “We’re so proud of you” messages so that my son can listen to them over and over again – or whenever he needs a boost.
So, I’ve decided to do a “mini” VoiceQuilt, if you will: family only. No VoiceQuilt Keepsake Box for him…. Not his style. I’ll give him an electronic VoiceQuilt that he can keep on his phone. I’m also eyeballing the VoiceQuilt Mini-Boom Box. A Mini–VoiceQuilt and Mini-Boombox—- those two go together like peanut butter and jelly!
Vote For A Voice Message Video And VoiceQuilt Donates
Yesterday, VoiceQuilt launched a “Listen Up And Help A Charity!” Mother’s Day contest on Facebook. When you vote for one of the Mother’s Day voice message videos here, we’ll donate $1 to that Mom’s favorite charity.
The Moms that shared voice messages have selected three wonderful non-profits:
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Even better, the “I love you, Mom!” voice messages are life affirming. Treat yourself to a smile – and help VoiceQuilt support these important causes – by visiting ‘Listen Up And Help A Charity!”
An Easy Way To Share Old Family Photos: 1000Memories
Our guest blogger this week is Maureen Taylor: Maureen Taylor is a VoiceQuilt gift giver and friend. More importantly, she’s also an internationally acclaimed family history expert that helps genealogy and family history buffs identify and date the subjects in old photos. The Wall Street Journal describes her as the nation’s foremost historical photo detective and she’s been featured on Hallmark Television, The View, The Today Show, Martha Stewart Living and more. Here are her tips on new ways to store treasured family photos.
1000 Memories.com has a cute app named Shoebox, a digital version of what many folks use to store photos. It’s intended for the iPhone but works well with my iPad. In 5 steps I can “scan” and share a picture via social media like Facebook or Twitter or let my family comment on the image on my 1000 memories.com. Here’s how it works: tap the scan icon to crop, adjust contrast and color or rotate the image. Next, caption, date and identify the location of the picture. The whole process took me about a minute. I didn’t want the whole world to see my photos so I selected the privacy option.
This app is a clever way to copy family photos for the web but it’s not for long term archival preservation. It’s pretty cool to quickly share photos for input from family though. Anyone use it on the iPhone?
Take a peek at what other’s have done such as one person’s Papa’s World War II scrapbook or search for family names to see if your relatives are already creating digital shoeboxes.
It’s fun, fast and functional—go ahead and give it a try.