Treat her special
The second Sunday of May each year is set aside as a day to celebrate and appreciate all the mothers in our lives.
It is also a busy time for some local business owners. As county residents scramble each spring to pick up gifts for all the moms in their lives, certain trends appear as to what kinds of gifts are the most popular.
While fresh-cut flowers are the tradition go-to on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day has its own most popular choice: hanging baskets.“For Mother's Day, people get fresh flowers, usually what their mother's favorite is,” said Ed Bloom, owner of The Butler Florist. “People also like hanging baskets, things they can put out and display over the summer.”Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9.Bloom, whose shop sits just before the bride on East Wayne Street, said the trend years ago used to be all pink flowers. Recently, however, customers instead buy whatever flower is their mother's favorite.Mother's Day is actually one of the busiest times of the year for florists, according to Jeff Double, owner of All About Reclaimed on South Washington Street.“It's the largest holiday for a florist throughout the year,” Double said. “It's not a gender holiday for the sender: It's a gender holiday for the recipient. On Valentine's Day, men will get flowers for women, but everybody has a mom, grandmother or wife. We do two-to-four times as many orders (for Mother's Day).”All About Reclaimed specializes in more extravagant and unusual floral designs for its Mother's Day gifts. Double said a specialized hanging basket carries more meaning for the recipient.“It's a little more personality than just a plastic container,” Double said. “(Standard) designs are very repetitive, very ordinary. It's like buying a gift card, a cop-out.”
Another popular Mother's Day gift is chocolate-dipped fresh fruits.“It's one of our most popular holidays,” said Karen Rupp, store manager of Edible Arrangements in Cranberry Township.Edible Arrangements offers different holiday specials every year, but Rupp said the basic fruit arrangements with strawberries, pineapples and melons and chocolate-dipped fruits are popular for any holiday.“The popular items change from year to year, but the basic arrangements are always popular,” Rupp said. “Chocolate-dipped strawberries are popular any holiday.”This year, Rupp said the store's special item is a rose vanilla berry, a white chocolate-dipped strawberry that is tinted pink and has rose vanilla flavoring.Lori Steinheiser, owner of Peter's Chocolate Shoppe on West Jefferson Street, said candies are a popular Mother's Day gift choice for children especially.“They come in and pick something out themselves,” Steinheiser said. “Sometimes Dad brings them in to pick out a 'No. 1 Mom' lollipop or something.”Like Edible Arrangements, Steinheiser said their chocolate-dipped fruits are most popular, dipping as much as 25 pounds of strawberries over Mother's Day weekend.“We do a lot of fresh fruit, dipped strawberries and raspberries mostly,” Steinheiser said. “Strawberries have always been the most popular; they are a classic. But in the last few years, raspberries are becoming almost as popular.”
While flowers and chocolates are popular choices among anyone for Mother's Day, it is husbands who buy the most jewelry.“In jewelry, it's really Wive's Day,” said Bob Emigh, owner of Emigh Jewelry in Butler Crossing. “It's mostly husbands buying for the wife.”Jewelry with birthstones are particularly popular around Mother's Day. Emigh said rings or pendants with birthstones representing the mother or her kids are very common.“We can do them all pretty close to Mother's Day, but it's better to come in early if possible,” Emigh said. “Still, even if it's just a few days before, we can get it done.”It is not just custom-order jewelry that is popular for moms.“Classic jewelry items are popular,” said Tim Moses, owner of Moses Jewelers in the Clearview Mall. “Diamond-stud earrings, diamond bracelets: any silver jewelry.“(Mother's Day is) usually busy. It makes May one of the busiest months of the year.”
