10 Holidays Moms would Love to Have

Mother’s Day is great – but with all that moms do around the house, at work, and for their families, one measly day out of 365 simply isn’t enough.

So we asked a few moms, “What other holidays do wish we had?” Apparently, there are a lot! Here are our favorites:

1. Mandatory-Breakfast-in-Bed-Served-by-Hubby-in-Bunny-Ears Day
This completely self-explanatory holiday was wished for by freelance voice talent Pauline Gaerlan-Espulgar.

Note the word “mandatory.” The problem with Mother’s Day, you see, is that breakfast in bed is still optional.

But the part of this holiday that really catches one’s attention is the phrase “bunny ears.” To confirm your suspicions, yes, those are the fake-fur rabbit-ear headbands that we all wore at least once in our lives when we were little girls. Way to go, Mommy Pauline!


2. Switch-Places-with-your-Spouse Day
Here’s another self-explanatory holiday, this time contributed by home-based freelance writer and editor Tina Rodriguez. It’s a day we have all wished for, when we could exchange places, responsibilities, and duties with our spouse!

This holiday should always fall on a weekend. Switching roles with our spouses, we’ll do some token housework, then take some “much-needed rest” while our spouse takes care of the kids, because after all, we deserve a break after being “so hard at work at the office all week!”

It would be so delicious just to be able to say that.  


3. National Mom’s Tequila Night
On this holiday, Pauline Espulgar explained, moms would leave everything behind for an hour or two of tequila with the girls.

The truth is, Mom’s Tequila Night is already likely to happen on Switch Places with Your Spouse Day. But why settle for one tequila night when you can have two? And why settle for paid tequila when a holiday may perhaps entitle us to get these drinks on the house? After all, holiday or no holiday, moms still have a tightly-controlled budget to think of.


4. No-Laundry-for-Mommy Day
According to Tina Rodriguez, this holiday would require all laundromats to accept one pile of laundry per mom; wash, dry, press, and fold everything for free; and of course, deliver the load directly back to Mom’s address.

To be fair to the laundromats, this service may be government-subsidized, tax deductible, or eligible for tax credit. Now that is when “your taxes are working for you” – literally.


5. Mommy Mani-Pedi Day
Another good use of our tax money is for the government to subsidize one day in which mommies can get free pedicure and manicure from any salon in the Philippines.

Shallow and trivial? Perhaps.

But, we argue, it’s a far greater service to the country to make families happy with their mommies’ pretty hands and feet than pay salaries to lawmakers who seem to think their main job is to think up new names for our streets.

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6. National Spa Day
Like Mommy Mani-Pedi Day (can you say that quickly three times in a row?), this holiday would entitle hard-working body-aching pore-clogged moms to a government-paid Jacuzzi, sauna, massage, and facial treatment session at any government-accredited spa. For rationale, please see “Mommy Mani-Pedi Day.”


7. Year-Ender Week
You know those five hectic days between Christmas and New Year? Thanks to mandatory leave, those are, for all practical purposes, already holidays in our minds.

Unfortunately, in many moms’ cases, there aren’t always enough leave credits left to cover those five days.

The baby got sick? Mom takes a sick leave. U.N. Day at school? Mom takes a vacation leave.

Kuya broke his leg. Ate broke up with her boyfriend. The school principal called. Somebody needs to go to the dentist. The yaya went on a day off and never returned. All these eat up Mommy’s leaves, not Daddy’s.

So what Aggie Austriaco Aviso wants is for the week between Christmas and New Year to gain formal holiday status. That way, they will no longer eat up leave credits, and that will let Mom freely enjoy these five days of busy holiday bliss.


8. Wife’s Day
If there’s a day for honoring moms, why isn’t there a day for honoring wives? Michelle Siaotong-Llaban thinks this oversight should be corrected.

And who of us would argue? Heaven knows, it can be much harder to be a good wife than to be a good mom. And while many of us would attest that our children already do honor us almost every day of our lives, we may not be able to say quite as much about our husbands, despite what you see in our blogs.

To be fair, we would willingly concede a Husband’s Day as well. They can have it every weekend. In fact, don’t they already?


9. Single Mother's Day
Michelle Llaban explained, “We all know how hard it is to be a mom, but to be a single mom is twice – or probably even a hundred times – harder.”

There are different reasons why a woman would end up being a single mom, but one thing remains the same: these amazing women, through hell or high water, chose to move forward, nurture life, and raise their children despite all the seemingly insurmountable challenges they knew would come their way.

Michelle envisions Single Mother’s Day as “a day where all single mothers and their kids will be gathered for a day of fun activities. There will be giveaways of coupons, discount cards, freebies, and gifts. TV and radio networks and social media will be filled with messages of appreciation.”

On the lighter side, “There may also be a dating game,” Michelle said.


10. Breastfeeding Day
August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month, and indeed, many of us are now aware of the benefits of breastfeeding.

Wouldn’t it be great to have at least one day in the year when we can actually just stay home and do it?
Sally Abella-Yu, owner of The Binondo Mommy blog, thinks we should have a Breastfeeding Day, a day that could be celebrated with free breastfeeding shoots, breastfeeding talks, games, and other fun and empowering activities.

But the crowning feature of Breastfeeding Day is that breastfeeding moms will get to stay home in the middle of the workweek and enjoy their temporary reprieve from the pain of engorged, leaking breasts and the inconvenience of pumping at the office or, in many cases, the office toilet. On Breastfeeding Day, nursing moms could enjoy a middle-of-the-workweek direct-nursing session all day with their little one.

Indeed, when it comes to holidays, moms have a lot to suggest – quite like the thirsty man who can think of a hundred ways to enjoy a glass of cold water. Who among us would not appreciate a Bring-the-Kids-to-Daddy’s-Work Day, or a National Household Heroes Day, or an Araw ng Libreng Manggagawa?

Sweet dreams these are, but we can only bask in them for so long. The microwave goes “ting!” and it’s time to take out the three-times heated adobo. The school bus honks outside and we need to open the gate to let the kids in. The phone is ringing. Hubby says he’s coming home early tonight, and could we have pork chops and mushroom soup instead of adobo for dinner?

A bit reluctantly, we drift back to the real world. And we look around. And we realize that – strangely enough – the reality around us is even sweeter than the dream.

Image from salon.com