For many, a person’s mother is one of the most important people in their life. Hence, Mother’s Day has taken off in a very big way ever since it came into being in the early 1900s. There are a lot of different kinds of gifts one can get for their mother on Mother’s Day – chocolates, cards, what have you. One of the most common gifts I tend to see given on Mother’s Day however, are flowers. This of course makes a lot of sense. After all, Mother’s Day coincides with the flowers blooming and the weather getting much more comfortable (well, for most people, anyway).

You can do a lot with flowers, and often the style of presentation can be either complex or downright artfully simple. One such option that you can take with your flower presentation is flower leis. Like other kinds of flower arrangements, flower leis can be done with a wide variety of flowers.  Orchids are the most popular because they are colorful, exotic and resilient; they stay fresh for several days if cared for properly.  Or you can implement other kinds of decorative items in the arrangement as well. You could use seashells or various kinds of nuts among other things.

Outside of Hawaii, Flower leis are not something people expect to get as much – and it’s a real darn shame – so when your mother receives one, it will, at the very least, be something that she won’t expect to get as a gift. And unlike a floral bouquet, she can wear it to Mother’s Day brunch, to the office, church, visiting with friends or running errands.  She’ll be sure to get a lot of attention and asked how she got it.  Of course, this will give her the opportunity to show her beaming pride for the child that gave it to her.  You can either buy flower leis, or if you are feeling a little creative, you can make them yourself. You can find a lot of different inspirations for your own online!

Mother’s Day is actually a day in our history that a lot of people are kind of down on. In particular, even the creator of the holiday, Anna Jarvis, takes a lot of issues with the holiday, feeling irritated about the increasingly commercialized nature of it. There is nothing wrong with buying your mother a gift after all, but at the same time, I’ve seen people look at Mother’s Day as just a thing you have to shop for, which I think is an erroneous way to look at it. You can certainly purchase flower leis for instance, or you can even just purchase or otherwise obtain materials to make them yourself. There’s always way around things!

Of course, just because the holiday has been commercialized does not inherently mean that anyone participating in it is being problematic about it. Even if you cannot celebrate Mother’s Day “responsibly,” you can still do so in such a way that demonstrates consciousness about the holiday. First and foremost, the holiday is about recognizing your mother. If you do not wind up buying anything for her, at the very least you can do something that is kind for her. Whether this involves purchasing something or doing something for her, it is ultimately going to be up to you. She may not be perfect, but she is your mom.