As every year on the second Sunday in May we celebrate Mother’s Day, this year on Sunday, May 14. So there is still plenty of time to get or prepare a small gift for the mothers. We like to give homemade gifts and have come up with a gift idea for the occasion using one of our test tubes. For a few thoughts on Mother’s Day and our craft idea, read here.
History of Mother’s Day
The origin of Mother’s Day is in the United States of America and sprang from the women’s movement. Beginning in the 1860s, several women’s movements and women’s clubs emerged to address issues of motherhood, but also advocated for more recognition of mothers and better educational opportunities for girls.
The founder of the holiday is considered to be the US-American Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis, who enforced the day on a political level in honor of her mother, a women’s rights activist. The first Mother’s Day took place on the Sunday after the second anniversary of her mother’s death, and she laid white carnations in front of the local church as a sign of her love. In doing so, Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis not only shaped the date on which we celebrate Mother’s Day today, but also the choice of flowers. Today, white carnations are generally considered a sign of a mother’s love. In 1914, Mother’s Day was first celebrated as a national holiday in the United States.
The holiday spread quickly, gained popularity, and then, unfortunately, was subjected to great commercialization. This deeply shook Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis. She regretted the creation of the holiday and fought long and unsuccessfully for its abolition.
Mother’s Day in Germany
In Germany, Mother’s Day began quite apolitically in about 1922 as `Tag der Blumenwünsche‘. It was not until the time of National Socialism that it achieved greater popularity. Mothers with many children were honored to promote the ‚aryan offspring‘, received a ‚mother consecration‘ and were treated like saints.
The Day as we know it today has been celebrated since 1950, and is not a public holiday in Germany; rather, the florists‘ associations and calendar publishers jointly decided to designate the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. According to the German Trade Association, German citizens spend an average of 25 € on a gift for their Mothers. Alongside homemade and material gifts, floral gifts are still the most popular. Mother’s Day is the florist’s top-selling day, ahead of Valentine’s Day, with sales of cut flowers reaching up to 130 million.
Mother’s Day gift
Despite the commercialization, we also love flower gifts. And our test tubes make wonderful flower vases. For this you will need:
- one or more test tubes, here we used 3 of the 200 mm x 28.5 mm test tube
- cut flowers of your choice, we recommend white carnations
- Gift ribbons
- A branch or a stick
Wrap the gift ribbon around the top rim of the test tubes. Thanks to the crimped edge, it will find a good grip there and the jar won’t easily slip out. Then attach the other end of the ribbon to your horizontal branch so that the jars hang straight down. Attach another ribbon to both ends of the stick so they can hook it in the middle.
Fill a little water into the test tubes and stick the flowers inside. Optionally, you can also put small bouquets inside and vary the arrangement of flowers according to your liking.
The hanging flower vase ensemble can now be hung on the wall. If you lack material or time, we recommend our stylish test tube stands, in which you can put your decorated jars along with flowers. The wooden stands are a decorative eye-catcher in your home. And how about a colorful luminous garland for your next party?
We wish you a lot of fun while crafting and a wonderful Mother’s Day.
