tips

No matter how you decide to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, there will always be one thing you’ll give your mother without fail: your Happy Mother’s Day greeting message.

Yet, however you send it to your mother online, whether it’s in an email, an e-card, or posting up a simple “Happy Mother’s Day” message on her Facebook page, it just doesn’t seem enough. Ever think that it could use a personal touch? That it could be made even more special?

Why not take your Mother’s Day message to the next level this year? Make sure it’s a special day with a message specially crafted for her. Here are a few ideas to jazz up your Happy Mother’s Day greeting with a few tips and tools.

1. Digital Photo Albums

Sometimes the best gift you can give is a collection of good moments, and a Mother’s Day Album is a great way of getting them into one single package. When creating it, try getting a good collection of photos over the year since last year’s Mother’s Day. Each year is unique and with it you’ll want to capture the best moments and memories of each one.

Tools: jAlbum, Photobucket, Flickr

Tip:  Since albums are ultimately a collection of captured moments, an album collecting different facets of your mother as a person is a great way to show your appreciation for the person she is.  For this, create one that has multiple sections. Within each section, designate a category like “mother,” “best friend,” or even “super hero.”  Then include photos that show her in different moments, representing those traits throughout the year.

2. Photo Collages

We’ve all had those moments we wish we had kept in a bottle, and surely your mother has had them too.  Photo collages can be a perfect way to “bottle” those moments up.  The best part about collages is that you can be as artistically creative with them as you’d like. Add pictures not normally associated with each other or arrange them in different patterns. See where the collage takes you!

Tools: Fotor, PhotoCollage, Photovisi, Canva

Tip:  In your collage, mix in images that you associate with those moments, whether it’s a picture that sets a mood or one that evokes a special meaning to you both. It’s a visually challenging project, but an effective one that doesn’t need words to get your message across.

3. Word Clouds

Just like a collage, word clouds can express your Mother’s Day message with a visual mash up of ideas. This is perfect as a family project as every member can contribute their own words as well.  Online word cloud generators are flexible enough to work with websites, documents, and text. In most cases, you can even tailor the shape of your word cloud.

Tools:   Wordle, WordItOut.com, Tagxedo

Tip:  Fit in words that pertain not just to your mother, but to your relationship as well. For instance, adding nicknames or places that are special to you both will add a nice touch to remembering the memorable tidbits in your lives.

4. Audio Recordings

A simple post that states “Happy Mother’s Day” just isn’t enough. And let’s face it. A written message doesn’t have the same authenticity or weight than a real live voice. Hearing those words from the mouths of loved ones themselves is priceless. So why not make an audio recording of your Mother’s Day greeting? Add sound effects, special messages or even make a song out of your Mother’s Day greeting.

Tools:  Apowersoft, Vocaroo, Chirbit

Tip:  Ever hear of that TV show “This is Your Life”?  This is a perfect opportunity to replicate that same spotlight on your own mother in audio format. Record every family member’s anecdotes which involve your mother. Then put it all together. The result? Your mother gets to hear some great memories from the people who matter the most.

5. Multimedia Presentations

Who says presentations are only for professional purposes?  Make a presentation listing all the great things about your mother.  This is a more flexible greeting format as you can decide how you want it to look, what you want it to contain and which sorts of media to add—images, audio, text, and even video.

Tools: Prezi, MS PowerPoint, GoogleDocs Slides, Moovly

Tips:  Don’t forget that you can also set up presentations as a slideshow. As such, try formatting the presentation as a narrative so it can simply play and take your mother through it.  She can watch her mother’s day gift like it’s movie night at home.