Just For Mom

Five Spa Packages to Make Her Feel Like a Queen for a Day JUST FOR MOM!

by Carrie Borzillo

With May being the second busiest month of the year for most spas (behind December, of course), creating the perfect Mother’s Day spa offerings is critical for a good business year. “We get twice as much business for Mother’s Day as we do in February for Valentine’s Day. We all have moms, wives, sisters, and grandmothers to celebrate and honor. We see a huge lift on all fronts, but especially in Mother’s Day gift certificate sales — which brings new clients and helps offset the slower summer months,” says Shannon Mouser, co-founder of Viva Day Spa in Austin, Texas. Here’s a look at what Viva, and other spas around the country, have offered for this special day.

SUPER MOM SPA PACKAGE With the mindset that mothers are the everyday superheroes in all of our lives, Viva Day Spa, crafted the Super Mom Spa Package (195 min., $325) to give moms a pampering head-to-toe experience, including a massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure. “Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity to pay homage to all the special moms and create awareness for all they do. It’s also a great way for guests to sample several of the spa’s most popular services,” says Mouser.

The Details: This package includes a 60-Minute Swedish Massage with their in-house blended Oh So Coconut/ Vanilla Body Butter, along with the application of hot herbal steam towels throughout the treatment. Next, there’s a customized Organic Express Facial to meet any skincare needs, plus a Blueberry Detox Peel to leave the skin glowing. “This naturally exfoliating peel cleanses the pores deeply and tones the skin. The combination of blueberry juice, raspberry juice, blackberry juice and pineapple extract is high in vitamins and antioxidants that will nourish and refresh the skin. Plus, lactic acid will remove dead skin cells and improve the appearance of your skin’s texture,” explains Mouser. The package wraps up with an Express Viva Manicure and Pedicure to end Mom’s spa escape polished, refreshed, and pampered.

Special Touches: Hot tea, wine, and chocolates are served during the manicure and pedicure. “We fill our spas with beautiful flower arrangements to make it extra beautiful and fragrant over Mother’s Day weekend. And, we send her home with a special Take-Home Gift Bag featuring an assortment of special spa goodies,” adds Mouser.

QUEEN OF THE DAY Vida Organic Wellness in Seal Beach, California, has created a customizable package (ranging from 60-120 min.,

$70-$299) with five options to help moms spend the whole day “feeling like the Queen of the household that they are,” says owner Julia Sackis. Guests can choose to feature all five options or pick and choose to create their own perfect day. “We combine some of our very best and most popular therapies to develop an incredible experience for mothers. These services are usually offered separately, but we combine them and offer a discounted rate for the month of May,” she adds.

The Details: Among the options are a one hour customized massage followed by a one hour organic facial discounted from the regular rate of $225 to the Mother’s Day Rate of $185. The Heal from Within choice features a 60-minute organic healing CBD massage and a 75-minute Diamond Microdermabrasion Facial, also using the organic CBD product line ($299). The One Hour Foot Bliss ($70) includes a hydrating foot mask, aromatherapy, and feet, hands, arms, neck, and shoulder massage. The Triple Crown Facial (90-min., $170) uses microcurrent, radio-frequency facelift, diamond microdermabrasion, and an oxygen facial. Another option is the Signature Sculpt Detox Massage, which uses Brazilian Lymphatic Drainage techniques (60-minutes, $155).

Special Touches: Guests will be offered champagne, teas from their inhouse collection, chocolates, and other snacks. The spa is specially decorated with fresh flowers, and guests will find a flower on their treatment table upon entering the treatment room. They will also find a diffuser with essential oil blends for soothing and relaxation.

MOTHER & DAUGHTER RETREAT The Mother & Daughter Retreat (180 min., $515) has become quite the bonding ritual for clients at DayDreams Day Spa in Lakeland, Florida. “They come back to celebrate birthdays, back to school, and graduations. Some of my favorite stories are from adult women who tell us that they used to come to the spa with their mothers when they were little. They always detail how magical the experience was,” says owner Nikiya Herron.

The Details: This package features two Swedish Massages, two Targeted Corrective Facials, and two Luxury Honey Pedicures. “The massages feature gentle gliding strokes to soothe and relax, and the facials are fully customized and result-oriented to address specific skin issues such as aging, hydration, hyperpigmentation, and rosacea,” says Herron. The spa also offers a

shortened kid’s version of this designed for ages 14 and younger. The Mom & Tween package (120-min., $265) features the Neck and Back Massage (Swedish) for mom and a Kids Massage for the daughter. It also features side by side manicures and pedicures for both (classic version for mom; kids’ version for daughter). “It is really a great bonding experience for moms and daughters, and they always leave happy,” she adds.

Special Touches: Complimentary classic and seasonal mimosas are offered. For Mother’s Day and the weekend after, they also offer a limited brunch menu featuring croissants, honey, cheese, and fruit. The massages can be performed in a couples’ suite, and they provide side-by-side pedicures for up to three people.

BABYMOON Geared toward expecting mothers and their partners, the Babymoon Package (two-night stay, $1,050) at Spa Aiyana at Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel, California, offers a couple’s get-away filled with spa treatments and fine dining in a romantic setting. “It’s specifically designed with first-time parents in mind to celebrate the close of one chapter as another very exciting chapter looms on the horizon. It’s filled with self-care and romance before the arrival of their little one,” says Director of Spa, Retail, and Recreation Franziska von Gerstenberger-Draper.

The Details: Expecting parents enjoy a two-night stay that includes a couple’s massage (a Mother-To-Be Massage for her and the choice of Swedish, Hot Stone, Aromatherapy, or Deep Tissue for him). The comforting maternity massage for women in their second and third trimester helps to alleviate tension in high-stress areas, such as the lower back, hips, shoulders, and feet. Dinner for two is included at Valley Kitchen, a farm-to-table-inspired restaurant using honey, cheese, salts, eggs, fruits, and vegetables from The Ranch’s organic garden.

Special Touches: A special creamerythemed animal onesie and a stuffed animal for the baby will be gifted to the couple from the Ranch’s own Market & Creamery shop on site.

THE MOTHER LOVER PACKAGE Utilizing the power of prose, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa’s description for The Mother Lover Package (80-min., $164.95 at gift card price) gets to the heart of why she deserves a spa day. The clever copy says the massage is to “help melt away the kink in the neck you gave her as a child,” while the foot treatment aims to “soothe those feet from the miles of trips you asked her to take.” Assistant Vice President of Brand Experience Lisa Rossmann says, “We haven’t always written our descriptions like this – it’s new. And, we have noticed a difference in sales when we market it this way.”

The Details: The package starts with an 80-minute Swedish massage using warm, smooth Himalayan salt crystal stones as a tool and lemongrass scented massage cream. The salts feature grounding properties that help improve sleep and balance the central nervous system to soothe away stress and tension. The stone’s natural salt properties exfoliate the skin, reducing signs of aging. A hot towel foot treatment follows using a lemongrass scrub as well.

Special Touches: Each location adds their own special touches for Mother’s Day, such as handing out a rose or spring bloom to the guests. But one of Rossmann’s favorite special touches is a location that gifted mother’s a pair of gardening gloves with the note that read, “Let us give you a hand today.”

Carrie Borzillo is an awardwinning lifestyle and entertainment journalist covering spas, health and wellness, sex and relationships. Her work has appeared in magazines such as Men's Health, SELF, People, Entertainment Weekly and more. She is the author of three pop culture books. Borzillo can be reached at carrie.borzillo@ gmail.com.

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