7 unexpected virtual activities to make your mom smile on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day’s is around the corner. I haven’t forgotten this because I live with my mother currently and she reminds me a soft five or six times a day. But if you’re social distancing from your mom this year or if this is just news to you, there might be a sense of panic. As if thinking of ideas every year isn’t tricky enough, who knows what to do for Mothers Day in quarantine?

Well, we do! We investigated a few little bonding activities and that occasionally double as Mothers Day gifts, appropriate the day-of and beyond. You know, if you like your mother more than one Sunday out of the year.

What to do for Mother’s Day in quartantine

1. Watch a Broadway Play

Me, a cheap-ass, resorts to scavenging plays off YouTube. I’ve definitely seen Heathers in 15 parts that way. But there are other, slightly more cohesive ways to get to Broadway! If you have a theater loving mom like I do, a useful gift you can enjoy the day-of is BroadwayHD. It offers plenty of plays you can enjoy together.The King and I, An American in Paris, Kinky Boots, and A Night with Janis Joplin (which my mother loved so much she saw it twice, highly recommend). Two birds, one stone!

Can’t make a decision? There’s Broadway Does Mother’s Day, a digital variety show benefitting Broadway Cares’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. It’ll include a potpourri of sketches from musicals such as Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Jagged Little Pill, Company, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Chicago, Diana, and Mean Girls, to name a few.

2. enjoy a virtual Wine Tasting

While it would be so nice to stroll some grape-filled valleys in Napa, this is a good way to get lightly sauced with the whole family at home. Big Cork Vineyards is doing a virtual wine tasting on May 8, the Friday before Mother’s Day. If you want to DIY it, services like Vinebox, and USUAL can help you customize some dreamy flights. Don’t forget the cheese!

3. Have Sunday Brunch together, separately

Duh, you would be probably doing this one anyway. Send over a kit like these bagel and salmon combos from Russ & Daughters and you can make together and enjoy in bed. Or, you know, Pops can make it for her, you can make it for yourself, and y’all can enjoy in your respective beds. I don’t know your respective set-ups but I do know my mother would eat glass before she’d make breakfast on Mother’s Day. We all can probably shmear some bagels though. You can also use an online grocery shopping service like Instacart to deliver all the ingredients needed for your favorite frittata recipe and Aperol spritzes.

4. Take a class together over AirBnb experiences

I feel like if you have a Fun Mom whose never misses an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Sangria and Secrets with Drag Queens sounds like a blast. But there’s a lot of experiences you can try.

5. Go full wellness workout with facegym

If you and your mom both have surplus of Gua Sha stones, FaceGym is setting up Virtual PT Sessions just in time for Mother’s Day (and beyond!) Learn how to reduce puffiness, contours your face, and relaxes facial muscles. I mean, people can see you from only the Face up right now anyway, why not?

6. Go to the opera

Full-length gloves and sweatpants alike are allowed! MassOpera is holding the extremely appropriate virtual event Mother’s Day Songs and Shout-outs!, featuring a series of arias. It’s free but donate-what-you-can, and a fresh option if your mother gets moved to tears by anyone with a seraph’s voice.

7. Watch a movie together

If you ultimately don’t want to overthink this because you know that adding food, drink, technology, activities and a set time will be too much, there’s this. It’s not super complicated to watch a movie together online, I tend to find Netflix Party to still be the most straightforward. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be a film; a Gilmore Girls marathon could be the perfect couch potato mother-daughter activity. But how to get the Red Vines…