NEW YORK — Supermarkets throughout the country offered kids and dads lots of ideas for making Mother's Day special this past weekend.
Wegmans Food Markets hosted cake-decorating events, where children could select a standard chocolate or vanilla cake, and then either decorate it in the store or take it home along with a Wegmans decorating kit.
The Rochester, N.Y.-based retailer also held tea parties for children at select locations, inviting kids to sip tea or juice while making a special gift or decorating a dessert to share with their moms. Or, parents could take their children along to a special event at Wegmans Menu Cooking School, where for $25, instructors walked parent-kid teams through making special fruit tarts and wraps, and Tussie-Mussie bouquets for moms to take home.
Weekly ads for Ralphs stores in California encouraged shoppers to “Treat Mom to Breakfast in Bed!” with specials on yogurt, grapefruit, bacon, English muffins, coffee, orange juice and egg beaters. Hutchinson, Kan.-based Dillons offered deals on potted plants and floral items all weekend with a three-day Mother's Day sale. And, parent company Kroger encouraged website visitors to use their digital coupon selection to make a special dinner for Mother's Day, with deals on chicken, mussels, cookies and heart-shaped cakes, among other items.
In its weekly “Food for Thought” ad, The Fresh Market, based in Greensboro, N.C., suggested several simple recipes that dads could use to make moms at least one homemade meal on Sunday, such as quiche for brunch, and filet mignon kabobs or tenderloin steaks and lobster tails for dinner. Simple dessert suggestions included chocolate dipped strawberries.
Whole Foods Market had a similar take on the holiday, with blogger Kate Rowe offering website visitors a set of tips for planning a Mother's Day meal, along with three separate sets of recipes based on cooking skill. Simple recipes included frittatas and parfaits. Intermediate recipes included a broccoli quiche and a blueberry coffee cake. For shoppers who wanted to try something fancier, Rowe suggested setting up a breakfast taco stand or an oatmeal bar, and having mom request a special, custom-made smoothie.