We’re just about two weeks away from Mother’s Day. After I gathered a bunch of fun, local, reasonably priced — if not free — events for Mother’s Day weekend, I went back and forth on how to tie all the info together. We’re already knee deep in jewelry commercials and pretty soon we’re going to start seeing full-time posts on social media. Some will be about how the founder of Mother’s Day eventually tried to get it, well, canceled, eventually calling the industries that commercialized the holiday “bandits, pirates, [and] racketeers,” among other things.

There will be lots and lots of blog posts on what NOT to do for Mother’s Day. Seriously, a Google search for those words yielded 44.6 million results. I believe the well-meant gist is, Moms don’t wanna plan Mother’s Day, even the ones who have an idea of what they’d like to do. So I figured I would just call it what it is: easy, economical ways to get the kids out of the house while making something for Mother’s Day at the last, albeit thoughtful, minute.

Mother’s Day weekend is full of fun, local events for anyone and everyone. There is the Watershed Fun Fair, with a chance for a free plant for Mom, The Children’s Fairy Flower Parade from the library to the Garden Market to plant something for Mom with Edmonds in Bloom, card making at C’est La Vie, and a fun Mother’s Day event at Glazed and Amazed.

On Saturday, May 7, the Watershed Fun Fair is being held at the Willow Creek Salmon Hatchery from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This free event has a lot of stuff to do “especially for kids,” including fish feeding, face painting, exhibits and tours of the native plant garden and fish hatchery. Jennifer Leach, Environmental Education and Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Edmonds, told me that the first 50 people to arrive get a free “potted native plant, just in time for Mother’s Day.” Possible gift for Mom + fish feeding + face paint + kids out of the house = win. For more information on the event, you can contact Jennifer Leach at 425-771-0227.

Mother’s Day weekend is also the first day of the Edmonds Farmers Market. The pre-summer market, called the Garden Market, starts Saturday May 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. At the market you can find Edmonds in Bloom’s yearly event, “Kids Plant for Mom’s Day.” Kids can pick a pot to decorate before adding a plant of their choice. Edmonds in Bloom says, “your $10 donation for the cost of materials and plants is much appreciated.”

If you’d like to show up at “Kids Plant for Mom’s Day” with a bunch of your best-dressed friends, you can join the Children’s Fairy Flower Parade at noon which walks from the library, 650 Main Street, to the Garden Market. I spoke to Edith Farrar, Children’s Librarian at the Edmonds Library, who I’m always happy to see at Reading with Rover. She told me the event starts at 11 a.m., when all the fairies, elves and wild things meet up to do crafts and get ready for their parade at noon. The Saturday before, April 30, kids ages 5 and up can prefunc at the Make a Fairy House event at the library at 11 a.m. Builders can bring their own material and use those provided by the library getting inspiration by the fairy house outside the library in the children’s section.

If plants aren’t a part of your plan, you can opt to head to C’est La Vie 320, 5th Avenue, to make a free Mother’s Day card. You can do the craft anytime between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 7.

If you want to include Mom in on the fun, Sunday, May 8th, Glazed and Amazed is inviting you to “create something fun with Mom to remember the moment.” Plus, each Mom will receive a “fun gift” from Glazed and Amazed. Reservations are required as space fills up fast. You can make your reservation by calling 425-673-5474.

— By Jennifer Marx

Jen Marx, a mom of two young boys, is always looking for a fun place to take the kids that makes them tired enough to go to bed on time. You can find her trying to make sense of begging kids to ” just eat the mac n cheese” at jen_marx . If you have a kid-friendly event you’d like to share, email her at play@myedmondsnews.com.