Please Don’t Give Me Valentine’s Day Candy
It is February, and I have been breastfeeding my daughter for over eight months. Add my pregnancy onto that number and you get a sum total of almost a year and half of my body not being my body. I haven’t been prioritizing exercise, I’m tired, and I’m both starving and thirsty all the time.
Flashback! Rewind to the first week of 2019. I’m in that same crazed new-mom state, and my house is FULL of holiday sweets – cookies, cakes, candy. So, I ate them. All of them. Even my husband’s stash.
Now it is Valentine’s Day, and I am here to say – for all of the moms like me, who are tired and always hungry and never able to find time for exercise, PLEASE DON’T GIVE ME VALENTINE’S CANDY. I have no self-control in this vulnerable state. I am quite likely to eat myself into diabetes right around 4:43pm each day, in that frazzled moment when I quite am sure that I cannot handle this #momlife for another moment.
So, here are some non-candy gift ideas to show the mom in your life some love on Valentine’s Day:
FOOD
Contrary to what Walgreens and Russell Stover want you to think, there are food items out there that are not candy!
Budget-friendly: fancy tea or coffee (or gift card), delicious homemade breakfast in bed, fancy granola, Vital Proteins items
Splurge: champagne, wine, or other alcoholic beverage of choice
SPA
Give her anything spa-related. Help her to feel like a human woman again.
Budget-friendly: nail polish, one-time use face masks, bath bombs, fancy travel-size shampoos
Splurge: facial or massage gift cards, spa day, manicure or pedicure gift certificate
EXERCISE
This is a delicate point. Don’t give her anything exercise-related unless you know she wants it; this gift could be taken the wrong way easily.
Budget-friendly: water bottle, yoga/pilates mat, top or pants, weights (Marshalls and T.J. Maxx have some great stuff!), one-time class pass to a gym
Splurge: gift certificate to Lululemon or Athleta, one-month or more studio/online streaming membership, personal training or private session pass
DATE
Think about the things she liked to do with you before your lives revolved around little ones for inspiration.
Budget-friendly: go to a park, farmers market, festival, or other free or low-cost event
Splurge: take or plan a trip, go out to a fancy dinner (or not), tickets to a concert/performance/sporting event
HOME
If she’s the primary cook/housekeeper in your house or enjoys it, this is a good category; but, like exercise, this can be a touchy subject, so use your judgment!
Budget-friendly: small kitchen gadgets, fancy dishtowels, fun-smelling cleaning sprays
Splurge: gift certificate for meal prep subscription, cooking class (solo or as a date), house cleaning service
WORK
If she works, or even if she does not work but has a desk area at home, office stuff can be fun!
Budget-friendly: her favorite pens, a bright desk set, binder clips and paper clips in funky patterns, a new mug with a catchy phrase, a beautiful throw pillow
Splurge: new computer or tablet, printer, new desk chair or desk, framed art
