Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - For Mother’s Day, many Jordanians are eschewing traditional gifts and buying their mothers practical items that they hope will make their day-to-day lives a little easier or more fun.

While citizens flocked to stores and malls over the past three days to buy simple luxury items like sweets, flowers and perfumes, shops have also been promoting household appliances and gadgets that appeal to housewives as Mother’s Day gifts.

Diaa Faouri, a private sector employee, said that she decided to buy her mother a home appliance for Mother’s Day because it would be useful.

“These items will help my mother get things done faster in the kitchen. I bought her an electric kettle because she needed it,” Faouri explained.

“Buying her a home appliance doesn’t mean that I think her only job is to cook; it’s about providing her with items that help her while preparing food and make it easier for her,” she added.

Yasmin Najjar, a supervisor at Carrefour’s home appliances section, agreed.

“When you buy a citrus juicer for example, it does not mean that you are forcing your mother to work all day. People believe that mothers like having home appliances because they are simply their favourite items,” Najjar told The Jordan Times yesterday.

Nael Halaweh, the owner of Noor Home Store in the upscale neighbourhood of Sweifieh, explained that in the past five years, new household gadgets have come on the market, giving sons and daughters the opportunity to buy their mothers handy appliances they do not already own.

“Customers can find several appliances that their mothers don’t have… their mothers already have garments or perfumes, but they don’t have a full collection of home appliances,” Halaweh told The Jordan Times at his store.

Najjar also noted that special promotions encouraged practical gift-giving for Mothers’ Day.

“Several brands announced huge sales to persuade clients to buy. For instance, the price of a citrus juicer was decreased from JD40 to JD29,” she elaborated.

Lara Awamleh said she bought her mother a new housedress and headscarf as well as a gift box, but also took advantage of the Mother’s Day sales to buy some picture frames she needed for herself.

“Before the holiday, I wanted to buy them but I couldn’t because they were expensive. On Monday, they were affordable,” she said.

Home appliances, however, were not the only practical items that people were buying their mothers this week.

For instance, Alaa Abudiak, an employee at an insurance company, said that she bought her mother a special mattress to help improve her bad back.

“She needed this mattress because her back was hurting her. I wanted to buy her something she needed,” Abudiak told The Jordan Times.

Najjar said sales usually go up in the days leading up to Mother’s Day, and this year is no exception.

“During normal days, we sell around JD4,000 to JD5,000 worth of products and on weekends we sell around JD8,000. During the past two days, we sold more than JD11,000,” she noted.


* Jordan Times / By Muath Freij