Mom deserves only the best on Mother’s Day. Here’s where to wine, dine, pamper, and surprise her this year.
Stay
Kimpton Gray Hotel
The Kimpton Gray Hotel is treating moms to a charcoal skincare gift basket from Scratch Goods, a local woman-owned company that makes food-grade skincare. Goodies include a jade roller, charcoal face mask, and lemon charcoal scrub, plus a gift certificate to the mask bar at Scratch Goods and a complimentary cocktail at Vol. 39. Package rates start at $269 for stays during the month of May and can be booked online.
The Langham Chicago
The Langham Chicago is offering a special Mother’s Day package that includes a welcome amenity of sparkling wine and housemade macarons along with a $100 credit to Chuan Spa and $50 credit to Flavours of Langham, the hotel boutique.
Eat
Temporis
Michelin-starred Temporis is normally only open for dinner, but for Mother’s Day they’re offering a three-course brunch on Sunday, May 12. Reservations can be made from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $75 per person and selections include foie and waffles, deconstructed quiche Lorraine, pancake mille feuille, and a breakfast burrito crepe stuffed with morels, porcini, and pork custard.
Brindille
Chef Carrie Nahabedian only serves afternoon tea at Brindille about a dozen times each year and it’s a decadent but dainty affair that’s not to be missed. The upcoming Mother’s Day Tea on Saturday, May 11 will be rose-themed, with a selection of exotic teas, scones, crumpets and jam, pastries, finger sandwiches, and more. Tea service is $65 per person (tax and tip not included) and seating begins at 1:45 p.m.
Palmer House
Palmer House Hilton also offers a lovely afternoon tea, normally served under the beautiful frescoed ceiling of the lobby. For Mother’s Day, tea is served in the Empire Room surrounded by opulent Tiffany Louis Comfort embellishments. The chocolate fountain, crepe station, live performances by the Jacob Wilson Trio, and a face painting artist will delight the entire family. Seatings on Sunday, May 12 are available at 1 and 3 p.m. Adults are $65 and children 5-12 are $45 while kids five and under are complimentary.
The Peninsula Chicago
The Mother’s Day brunch buffet at The Lobby at The Peninsula Chicago is the most lavish in town, with seatings all day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There’s caviar, a juice bar, sushi and sashimi, lavender-glazed ham, slow-roasted prime rib, dim sum from Shanghai Terrace, a live-action noodle station, and more than a dozen types of salad. Live entertainment includes a string quartet and harpist, as well as a balloon artist, magician, and Peter Bear in the Children’s Lounge. Adults are $225 each and children from 5-12 years old are $65 each.
Recharge
Elina Organics
Elina Organics, Chicago’s hidden gem for organic and holistic skin care in the Gold Coast, is the perfect place to treat mom to green beauty goodness. Founder Elina Fedotova is a chemist and aesthetician, making all her products by hand in her Michigan laboratory with the purest natural ingredients. She’s offering 20 percent off face, neck, and décolletage rejuvenation treatments for Mother’s Day and 15 percent off all skincare products.
Mario Tricoci
Mario Tricoci might be best known for hair styling, but they have a new cutting edge RevitaPen dermal infusion treatment available at all 14 Chicagoland locations that mom is sure to love. A gentle, non-invasive alternative to microneedling, RevitaPen gently pulsates instead of puncturing the skin to push potent serums into deeper layers of the skin for a smoother, plumper, more radiant complexion. You’ll notice results after just one treatment and there’s no downtime. Plus, you’ll receive a $15 bonus for every $100 spent on gift cards until May 12.
Blo Blow Dry Bar
Blo Blow Dry Bar locations in both Wicker Park and Southport are offering moms fun specials throughout Mother’s Day week: $10 off on Monday and Tuesday, free color wow upgrades (Wednesday), deep conditioning (Thursday), lash application (Friday), and braids (Saturday), with blowouts. Even better — a portion of proceeds will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Illinois.
Exhale Gold Coast
Exhale Gold Coast is offering a special Mother’s Day package that includes a 60-minute massage plus a floating meditation class. The brand-new class is a guided meditation as you hang in a soft silk hammock and melt into total relaxation, signaling a new focus for Exhale on the mind-body connection and mental well-being. The package is $135, saving $40 from the regular retail price. Plus, now that Hyatt has purchased Exhale, World of Hyatt members can earn 10 points per dollar spent at Exhale.
Freeze & Float
If mom has trouble sleeping or is feeling stressed, treat her to a day of floatation therapy and cryotherapy at Freeze & Float. The brand-new wellness center in River North is unlike your typical spa. Try the full circuit — 3 minutes in a cold cryotherapy chamber followed by 30 minutes in the infrared sauna to boost metabolism and ease muscle tension, and then an hour floating in darkness and silence to relax like never before. Floating is truly like an out-of-body experience, and if sensory deprivation sounds scary (it’s not!) you can listen to music and keep soft lights on too. For Mother’s Day, you can try two floats for $99, 50 percent off the infrared sauna, or two 45-minutes facials for $140.
Shop
Sara Happ’s Sweet Dreams Lip Kit
Help mom wake up to the perfect pout with Sara Happ’s Sweet Dreams Lip Kit for $64 (a $90 value). Included in this trio is a bedtime chamomile lavender lip scrub, plus the sweet clay lip mask and the best-selling dream slip ultra-moisturizing lip balm. A portion of proceeds goes toward the Cashmere Foundation, Sara’s sister’s foundation that brings spa services to hospitals.
Aethera Cannibis Sativa Self Care Skin Care Set
With CBD oils all the rage, Aethera’s new non-toxic formulation utilizes tropical concentrates and soothing Cannabis Sativa for calm, glowing skin. Anti-oxidant rich hemp seed oil nourishes and smoothes skin while potent active botanicals sourced from the Caribbean such as hibiscus, acerola cherry, and guava fruit extract have an illuminating affect. A gift set
Bixby & Co. Chocolates
The mother-and-daughter team behind Bixby & Co. are crafting chocolates for a cause, supporting the National Audubon Society’s Project Puffin to restore and protect Maine’s iconic puffins. They’re Maine’s first bean-to-bar chocolate factory and open for the public to visit, but best of all, they ship nationwide via Foodease. For Mother’s Day, try the limited-edition raspberry rose or goat cheese lavender honey bonbons.
Play
Saint Sebastian Players — “Love, Loss and What I Wore”
Moms get in free at Saint Sebastian Players on Mother’s Day to see “Love, Loss and What I Wore” by Nora and Delia Ephron with a “momosa” toast with the cast after the show. The bittersweet play based on the bestselling book by Ilene Beckerman includes monologues and ensemble pieces about women, clothes, and memory, including the powerful relationships between mothers and daughters, whether buying first bras or prom dresses.
Beer Under Glass
It may not be traditional, but Illinois Craft Beer Week falls over Mother’s Day, and Beer Under Glass on Friday, May 10 at Garfield Park Conservatory is very mom-friendly. Attendees have exclusive access to the Conservatory after hours while enjoying samples of more than 100 craft beers from Illinois and out-of-state breweries. Proceeds benefit Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild.
Amber Gibson spends 340 nights a year in hotels searching for the latest and greatest in the travel industry. Her writing and photographs have appeared in print, online, and on the radio for outlets including Four Seasons Magazine, NPR, Saveur, Departures, Rhapsody, Hemispheres, American Way, Private Air, Wine Folly, Plate, Chicago Magazine, Tasting Table, and Serious Eats. She graduated as valedictorian from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and received a fellowship to attend the 2017 Wine Writers Symposium at Meadowood Napa Valley. Champagne, dark chocolate, and gelato are her biggest weaknesses. She also admires and supports CAASE in Chicago. Follow her adventures on Instagram and Twitter.
