What’s better than Mother’s Day at a fancy cake shop?

Archived article:  Amy with Leslie (Leslie’s Fancy Cakes) and Holly Morris

celebrating mothers(FOX 5 Anchor)
More great cake photos at the end of this post – true eye candy!

The Mother’s Day Gift Segment was a treat ! Check it out:

First, what is a mom’s work worth? Priceless, we’d like to hope! Salary.com surveyed 12,000 moms to find out. Using their online wizard, you can calculate the number of hours you spend doing all of your different jobs each day, and based on your zip code, you can calculate and print a paycheck! Fascinating – the top “jobs” we do as moms are housekeeper, teacher and cook.

As promised, here’s some more detail on the tips from the segment with links of where you can find or quickly create last-minute gifts for Mom.

Give Mom a Spa at Home Treat – Indulgence doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag. Draw a bubble bath; scatter rose petals in the tub; light candles to set the mood; give mom a back rub or foot massage with a mint cream; fill the smallest bathroom in the house with steam, and give her a “home steam.”

Clean is Queen – Send her to her room to read a book or take a (clean!) bubble bath while you clean & straighten. Wash and vacuum her car.

Take over the kitchen – Cook mom breakfast in bed; make a picnic lunch; or a special dinner. Force mom to be the guest, and treat her like Queen for the day!

Burn a CD – Download Mom’s faves from iTunes; burn a CD; and decorate the cover.

Make a Movie – Play Director & Producer for Mom. It can be as simple as you talking about the 100 things you love about mom or even interviewing each person in the family about their favorite memories with her.

Schedule quality time together – Plan a family game night, charades, a long walk.

Homemade Treats are Best – Even the littlest hands can make gifts for mom – bookmarks, coasters, cards, poems, songs. Hand prints and photos are great additions, and you can laminate your masterpieces for safekeeping at an office supply store.

Create Coupons for Mom – Give mom a way to cash in after the holiday for a day without dishes; an hour where you’ll babysit your younger siblings; a night when you’ll cook dinner.

Plant a Garden – Flowers, vegetables, it’s the perfect time of the season, and what a great way to plant some seeds that will bear fruit all summer long!

I also posted a call for ideas on Facebook and Twitter – Here are two of my faves…Tina G. suggested “get the handyman to fix all the little things that never quite get finished.” Aviva G. suggested “let someone else plan mom’s menus and make her grocery lists for the year.”

And of course, I’d be remiss in not suggesting this idea — how about a free MomTini every week? Subscriptions are free – just enter your e-mail address on the upper left of this page, and you’ll get our weekly posts (no obligation, can cancel anytime). We’re about to launch a very fun subscription present which all subscribers will receive. Stay tuned on that.

Finally, as a treat for reading this post, you can feast your eyes on some of Leslie’s truly “Fancy Cakes”:

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Isn’t this cake fabulous? The detail is amazing!

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Who doesn’t love cracking crabs in the summer? Yes, this is actually…a CRAB cake!

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As a D.C. native, how exciting to see a cake of “presidential proportion” — this is truly art!

Happy Mother’s Day! I’m off to eat a cupcake!

– Amy