And so, last weekend I went home to North Wales to celebrate my Mum's 50th birthday - there was plenty of food and more than enough cider and wine.
I couldn't decide for months what to get my mum as a gift - I wanted something special, but also something she'd use. Buying her a star to commemorate her 50th didn't really appeal.
In the end I decided on 3 separate gifts. The first one was a Spode Italian Blue cake stand. My mum collects Spode plates and the like but they tend to be for display purposes only. I wanted her to have something beautiful she could use - and so I chose this.
And she used it this weekend for her pretty pink birthday cake.
The second gift was a box full of goodies. It began as something small to add to the main gifts, but actually, it turned out to be a large box full of luxurious creams and serums, a romcom DVD, pretty stationery, chamomile tea and many more things. My mum was like a little child - oohing and aahing at every new thing she found. I'd definitely recommend anyone to do this - it seemed so personal, and the smile on my mum's face was priceless.
And then, my last gift was a photo album full of photos of me and my brother in chronological order - from the day I was born to an outing we all had in Portmeirion last year. My mum loved it and spent hours flicking through it. It was basically a pretty photo album from Paperchase and around 50 photos I managed to find in old albums and on facebook. Simple but very effective.
Mum, I hope you had a good one!
