Making Mother’s Day

Already 4 years old, Nicholas Roco figures he knows a bit about mom’s floral tastes: carnations of any color, yellow chrysanthemums.

“Some of these too!” he tells his father, Rick Roco, selecting a bunch of Marguerite daisies at a local flower shop.

They’re for “Mama’s Day,” the boy declares, proud to be entrusted for the first time with the honor of picking the annual gift.

All day Saturday, people scrambled to prepare for Mother’s Day fetes. And while most may not have displayed Nicholas Roco’s boyish exuberance, they certainly shared in his desire to make the day a special one for mother.

The last-minute gifts ranged from the traditional to the offbeat.

Allen Johnson held a hot pot as he strode the housewares section of Sears at South Coast Plaza with his wife and three young children.

“You don’t want to do the whole flower, perfume, candy thing,” he said. “We’ve already done that.”

A hot pot was a practical gift for a mother who “already has everything,” he said. Plus, “she eats a lot of soup.”

Turning and spying her husband’s selection, Lavette Johnson exclaimed: “Hey, maybe I’ll give my mother one too!”

The couple paused to discuss the merits of the $12 hot pot. Several minutes later, at the cash register, the couple rang up two hot pots, two picture frames and a set of curlers.

The curlers “are for me,” said Lavette, explaining mothers should indulge themselves as well.

Across the mall at Brookstone’s, Sydney Romero paid $106 for a “Tempur-Pedic” pillow, a foam headrest that molds to the user’s shape by sensing temperature changes.

When asked why she didn’t choose something more standard, like flowers, she answered: “My mom’s never gone for that kind of thing.”

Other popular gifts, store manager David Bennett said, include a $240 heavy-duty massager, a full-length hammock and an indoor plant-care kit complete with a tool set and spritzer.

At candy stores, people swept pounds of chocolates off shelves, many knowing their mothers’ sweets of choice. Restaurants, fielding reservation after reservation, braced for one of their biggest days of the year. And fleets of flower trucks delivered thousands of bouquets across the county.

Knowing flowers are among the most popular Mother’s Day gifts, florists were well-prepared.

“Unlike Valentine’s Day, everybody has a mother,” said Denny Full, the owner of Conroy’s Flowers in Costa Mesa.

From Full’s store alone, employees made more than 250 deliveries Saturday, he said. He also arranged for deliveries around the world, including Switzerland, England, Germany and even Finland.

Sons, daughters and grandchildren, of course, were the primary givers, but they weren’t the only ones.

Future daughters-in-law, stepchildren and even husbands had special mothers in their thoughts.

Costa Mesa resident Kirk Buckham said his 24-year-old daughter will give his wife a gift, but so will he.

“Just cause I love her,” he said, carrying off a basket of flowers.

And April Lantz of Lake Forest said she bought a 2-pound box of candy for her future mother-in-law.

Both Steven Kendrick’s wife and mother are florists, so flowers are out of the question, he and his daughter, Amanda, said.

“Our house is already very decorated with flowers. It doesn’t give us an easy way out,” he said. Father and daughter both opted to give sweets.

Irvine resident Lilly White said her four daughters make her strawberry waffles for breakfast each year. On Saturday, she was in See’s Candies at South Coast Plaza buying some gifts of her own.

“They take good care of me, so I’m showing them my gratitude,” she said.