Gifts need not to be expensive (I guess if you can afford it and you want to, then it's ok), but most importantly, any gift must be given wholeheartedly. With my experience, one of the things I found out my Mom loves is the gift of time, and this cannot be contested by even the best satellite internet service providers available out there.
The gift of time is simply finding the time to be with her and this doesn't mean only during Mother's Day. When I was still living in Hawaii, these are a few things my Mom and I love to do:
- pack some food and head to the beach - sometimes we spend the whole day at the beach just napping and relaxing
- go shopping or sometimes just window shopping for hours (of course, I do end up with some loot most of the time)
- go to the movies or watch DVDs at home until our eyes are red tired - look at each other and laugh
- try out a new restaurant or just buy a bag of hot pandesal and munch inside the car
- play card games at home
- we cook together then feast
- go out for walks (pick up aluminum cans along the way for recycling)
- watch hula shows at Ala Moana
- circle the island (you can take a bus in O'ahu that will take you around the island)
- head to the swap meet (commonly known as flea market in other areas)
