With Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday if you prefer) on the horizon, children of all ages will be scratching their heads as to what gifts to buy for the women that brought them into the world. How do I know this?

Because it’s the same situation every year of course.

Just walk around any high street shops as Mothers Day approaches and you’ll see exactly what I mean. People wandering aimlessly from one place to the next looking confused, bored and increasingly agitated as they fail in their quest to find the perfect gift. Of course, many of these people will eventually throw the towel in and spend their money on the failsafe options of flowers and chocolates – how original.

But why should we torture ourselves so much anyway? It’s just another Hallmark holiday after all. Plus our mothers all know full well that we love them (we have to – it’s the law). We’ve got enough problems buying our moms gifts for their birthdays and Christmas as it is; throw Mothers Day in there too and its enough to make your head explode.

A recent survey from a leading online gift shop found that the Mothers Day gift that most mothers want is in fact, wait for it, a hug. 50% of the mothers polled said what they wanted more than anything to mark the occasion was just a little affection from their kids. Surprised? Well, it doesn’t stop there. The supposedly ‘failsafe’ chocs and flowers were actually amongst the least desirable items that mothers wanted to receive as gifts, polling just 3% and 20% respectively.

Now I’m not suggesting for a second that you shouldn’t buy any Mothers Day gifts, I’m just merely pointing out that it isn’t worth getting stressed over. Just do what I do, sit back with a cup of tea and pick something nice out from an online gift store. But most importantly, show your mom some affection. That’s what she wants more than anything for Mothers Day!