Celebrate Mother's Day the Organic Way!

However you choose to celebrate this Mother’s day, do bear in mind (and heart) the 'Mother' of us all – Mother Earth. Let’s show our love and respect for this wonderful planet that gave us life and sustains us all. Make sure you celebrate and gift in an eco-friendly and sustainable way such as with the gift of organic bedding. What better way to take care of both our Mother and Mother Nature at one and the same time?

Mother's Day or Mothering Sunday?

Mothering Sunday has been celebrated in the British Isles and other parts of the English speaking world since medieval times. Originally, it was a day when Christians visited their mothers, and their mother church, where they were baptised, and honoured both their own mothers, and their mother churches through religious observation.

In 1913, its modern observance was revived, to honour not just mothers of earthly homes, mother churches, and Mary, mother of Jesus, but also Mother Nature. In part, its increase in popularity was a response to the American Mother's Day tradition, with its commercialisation and narrowly biological definition of motherhood.

Though now often confused and blended with American traditions, Mothering Sunday, it is important to remember, does emphasise, amongst other things, the gifts of Mother Earth. Remembering this can be helpful when working out green ways to gift, and to spend the day.

Celebrating Mother's Day with Mother Earth

Mother's Day (or Mothering Sunday) does not need to be about giving tangible things bought in a store. One great way to reduce your impact on Mother Earth is to consider how you might be able to gift experiences rather than things.  

Give the gift of your time and make memories with your mum this Mother's Day. If you are able, and live close by, invite her round to simply spend some time together. Or head out to enjoy an activity together in a beautiful natural setting. Spending time together, or showing that you have spent time thinking about them can be far more important than buying gifts.

Together or separately, heading outdoors into the spring sunshine can really boost the mood, and spending time in a natural setting can also help you feel more connected to Mother Nature, and more appreciative of, and beguiled by, all her charms. We've all been neglectful children of Mother Earth to some degree – and we need to reconnect to Her and in so doing reconnect to deeper ourselves. Appreciating Nature is also the first step on the road to a greener and more ethical way of life.

Choose Gifts for Mothers with Mother Earth in Mind

If you do give a gift, food related gifts can often go down very well. Food related gifts (especially those made with home-grown produce) can really show her how much you care.

Another great idea this Mother's Day involves gifting plants (perhaps even those you've grown yourself from seed). This is a lot more meaningful than buying some blooms from the store – and of course gifting living plants is a far more eco-friendly and sustainable option too. There are also plenty of other sustainable and eco-friendly DIY gift ideas to consider. But we think that one of the very best gifts you could possibly give this Mothering Sunday is the gift of a good night's sleep. Mothers work hard, and good sleep is essential for stress-relief, boosting the immune system (more important now than ever), and general health and wellbeing. It has been reported by the US National Sleep Foundation that three quarters of us have a deeper and more refreshing sleep on fresh sheets, and anecdotally, we all know what a difference fresh bedding – especially high quality organic bedding - can make.

Better yet, by choosing organic cotton bedding, you can honour and respect Mother Earth too. By giving the mothers in our lives the chance to bed down on soft and sumptuous organic sheets, and rest their heads on organic pillows, you are not just helping them rest easy. You can rest easy too knowing that your choice of gift has not had a negative impact on our precious Mother Earth.

So, why not gift organic cotton bedding this Mother's Day; giving our mothers a well-deserved lie-in, then head out to honour and appreciate Mother Earth in whatever way you see fit. Spend time in a garden, or a natural beauty spot nearby. Spring has sprung, and this Mothering Sunday could be the perfect time to really stop, relax, and smell the flowers together.

Nisa Shah, co-founder Sleep Organic