14 Ways To Celebrate Mother’s Day in Raleigh: Events, Activities, Days Out

Mother’s Day is a special day to celebrate the one person in your life who loves you unconditionally and you can always turn to for advice, supportive words, and fierce hugs. If you want to celebrate your mom with a special day out, we’ve put together some of our top ways to spend Mother’s Day in Raleigh to give you some creative ideas for celebrating your mom.

This coming Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 10, 2026, there are plenty of events to take her to, restaurants to wine and dine her at, and Mother’s Day activities you can do to show your mom what a special woman she is. And be sure to check out our Mother’s Day Gift Guide to get her the perfect present!

You’ll find most of our Mother Day ideas for Raleigh involve experiences over things. As lifelong travelers, we’ve always emphasized memories over an accumulation of possessions. While I love thoughtful gifts, I love even more quality time spent with those I love doing something special. Many of these Mother’s Day ideas are great for last minute as they won’t require reservations! And if you are reading this from outside of Raleigh, find the places that match these experiences in your local area.

1. Take her for a Mother’s Day Brunch

One of the most popular things to do to celebrate mom this weekend is a Mother’s Day brunch in Raleigh. Raleigh has many outstanding brunch options; below are a few of our current favorites. Share yours in the comments!

Top brunch spots for Mother’s Day in Raleigh (so far)

• Taverna Agora – It makes me feel like I am back on the Greek Islands. I love enjoying a glass of their ancient Greek retsina wine on their outdoor patio surrounded by oak trees. Their food is also exceptional.
• Wye Hill Kitchen & Brewery – You can’t go past the views from Wye Hill Patio, which pairs perfectly with their innovative cocktails.
• Rosewater Kitchen and Bar – We fell in love with the incredible brunch experience in North Hills, whose floral interior design and ambiance made me feel like I was in Paris.
• Gringo a Go Go is a fun Sunday brunch spot for those who love Mexican and margaritas on a sunny patio.
• Irregardless Cafe is a wonderful place for brunch for those who have dietary considerations like gluten free and vegetarian/vegan. I love their gluten free chicken and waffles.
• Foxcroft Food & Wine Co is one of my new favorite brunch spots in Raleigh. Must get the salmon board and the Aperol Spritz is very authentic!
• 10th & Terrace – brunch at 10th & Terrace above the Residence Inn in Downtown Raleigh comes with insanely beautiful views, and almost everything on the buffet menu is gluten free and delicious!
• Peck & Plume at the Mayton Inn in Downtown Cary has a delicious southern inspired brunch – their shrimp & grits are one of the best in Wake County.

Mother’s Day brunch events in Raleigh 2026

• Herons at the Umstead Hotel will have an elevated Mother’s Day brunch celebration on Sun May 10, 2026, with an exquisitely curated four-course choice menu highlights the best of the season in an elegant setting. 10am-2pm $125 per adult and $39 per child (ages 2 to 10), inclusive of tax and gratuity
• Larema Coffee House in Wilson will have a Mother’s Day Jazz Brunch. There’ll be live jazz with Chaz Hall, delicious food, and a tasty range of mimosas!
• Take mom to E. Carroll Joyner Park in Wake Forest, NC for a picnic brunch on May 9 from 1:30pm – 3:30pm. Tickets go on sale March 1st.
• For a more upscale experience, head to Il Falo for a bountiful buffet brunch in the Grand Ballroom of the The Westin Raleigh-Durham on Sunday, May 11, from 10am – 4pm.

2. Take her to one of Raleigh’s Mother’s Day Events

• Back for another year, the Raleigh’s Spring Time Mother’s Day Festival at Moore Square. There’ll be live performances, food trucks, arts and crafts and more. Sat May 9, 2026, 11am – 7pm
• The MAKRS Society’s will host their annual Ma & Pa Festival on Fayetteville St. This is an early combined celebration for Mother’s and Fathers (great idea) shopping, delicious food, live music, and family fun. With 100+ local vendors for a perfect mom and dad gift! Sat May 9th, 2026, from 11am – 6pm.
• Head over to nearby Franklinton for an afternoon of Sip and Paint — expect good vibes, drinks, and create masterpieces together.
• Over near Jordan Lake, take your mom for a Mother’s Day Yoga and Soundbath on May 9th from 10am – 12pm.
• Enjoy a Mother’s Day festival at Seven Springs Farm and Vineyard, who will be hosting an afternoon of live music, local vendors, food trucks, and family-friendly activities. On Sunday 10 May, from 12pm – 5pm.

3. Get outdoors and hike, bike, or paddleboard

I love hiking, biking, or paddle boarding together on Mother’s Day because it’s my day and the girls aren’t allowed to complain! I recommend doing an early morning hike or bike trail (if the weather is warm, I’d even suggest these stand-up paddle boarding spots) and then heading straight for coffee, followed by brunch or another fun activity from this list – maybe a picnic or afternoon live music experience.

Our favorite trails

• Lake Johnson Loop Trail
• Umstead Park
• Lynn Lake Loop
• Bond Lake Loop
• Lake Raleigh is a hidden gem for paddle boarding.
• Art to Heart Trail
• See more top trails in Raleigh here.

Any bike-taco-loving moms in your life may enjoy this 3hr Guided E-Bike Tour with Triangle Adventures in Downtown Clayton, enjoying tacos, taps, and stories! We thoroughly enjoyed their burgers and brews tour and the Raleigh ghosts and mysteries tour along the Art to Heart Trail. It’s on Sat May 10, 2025.

4. Indulge in an Afternoon Tea

An afternoon tea is an elegant and sophisticated way to celebrate Mother’s Day – either with your mother, or your children! It’s a inter-generatlional treat. While I’m not sure if it will have quite the same ambiance and three-tiered offerings as in England, its traditional Motherland, a high tea in the Triangle can still be an elegant experience.

We had a fantastic afternoon tea experience at the luxurious Fearrington Inn with my parents visiting from Australia, and from the equally fancy Washington Duke Inn with Craig’s parents visiting from Australia. And Little Native in Raleigh has afternoon tea in their secret room behind a bookcase. Discover more afternoon tea experiences in the Triangle.

5. Picnic in the park / garden

If the weather is sunny, I recommend heading out for a picnic in a park. Raleigh has plenty to choose from. This is a great Mother’s Day idea for multi-generational celebrations. On our first Mother’s Day during lockdown, Craig and the girls took me to Shelley Lake, grabbing some food along the way from STIR in North Hills. It was a relaxing day spent in the sun.

We also visited the Sarah P Duke Gardens one weekend to see their beautiful spring blooms. How lucky are we to have these spectacular world-class gardens nearby and for free? There are plenty of open spaces for picnics. I also love the open space and city views from Dorothea Dix Park. Take your frisbee and outdoor games to play together. There’s a great list of Raleigh parks to choose from and here are gorgeous Raleigh gardens to visit.

On Mother’s Day weekend, the spectacular Juniper Level Gardens will be open for their spring showings. They’re only opened 8 weekends throughout the year! What a great Mother’s Day treat!

The Raleigh Municipal Rose Garden will host their 4th Annual Mother’s Day Picnic on Saturday May 9. Includes food, activities for moms, face paint, treats, a photographer to capture the moment and a wonderful atmosphere

6. Enjoy a Wellness Experience for Mum

I’m always happy to celebrate all it means to be a mom on my own at a spa! Sorry, not Sorry. We need to have one day off, right? You’re surrounded by options in Wake County. Go lux at the five-star Heron’s Spa at the Umstead, or the Woodhouse Spa in North Hills – one of our favorite wellness businesses in Raleigh. And if you really want to spoil mom, I’m sure she’d be thrilled with a stay at the Umstead Hotel & Spa! I also love Spavia at the Macgregor Village in Cary – one of the best massages I’ve had.

I loved my deluxe mani pedi experience at Sen Nail Spa and salt water facial at Blue Water Spa is a treat. And I promise you any mother will want an emsella treatment.

7. Play a round of golf at Drive Shack

I love an interactive game of golf at Drive Shack. I’m much better at it than normal golf, and our family has a lot of laughs while we play it. It brings out the competitive, yet fun side of us all. I know for sure my mother would love to play this with us, if she were not on the opposite side of the world. Plus, I love how it’s an indoor-outdoor experience and prefer it over the dark halls of a bowling alley. Read more about the Drive Shack experience here.

8. Figure out how to Escape Together

I love doing Escape Rooms with my girls. It is fun for the whole family – including multi-generational – and is a great bonding experience as you work together to solve challenging puzzles against a ticking clock.

Escape Rooms in Raleigh

• Game On Escapes & More
• ROOM 5280 – this was our first escape room and we loved it
• Times Up! Escape Rooms
• Amaze Room Escapes
• The Tower Escapes – a fun one located in an historic house and tower in Raleigh we did with my sister

9. Get tickets for a show, live music, or theater

My family knows that live music is my jam! Whether it’s an acoustic session in a beer garden, or a headlining concert at the Lenovo Center or Red Hat Amphitheater, I am there with my happy dance pants on! For Mother’s Day in 2023, we were at the Taylor Swift concert in Philadelphia! Raleigh also has many theaters if you want to catch a show or more classical style productions. You can see our May event guide to check what concerts and live events are on.

10. Go for a Candlelight Concert

What about listening to a string quartet play songs from some of your favorite modern artists in an enchanting location under the spellbinding light of candles (they are fake though for safety purposes? My eldest daughter, Kalyra and I enjoyed a date together at the Merrimon-Wynne House in Historic Oakwood for the Tribute to Taylor Swift (she’s a big Swiftie!). We both loved it!

Candlelight concerts happening a few times a month with tributes to artists like Nirvana, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Fleetwood Mac and Taylor Swift! See our guide to the Candlelight concerts here. See all concerts, locations, times, and availability here.

11. Go strawberry picking

Tis the season for sweetness – and none more reflective of that than our mothers. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the state you live in and our very important producers. Most farms will also have other produce and may offer other delights like ice cream! North Carolina is the third-largest producer of strawberries in the United States! Now to add a cherry on top. Go home and create a yummy treat together. Or drizzle some chocolate over it and sit mom down on the porch with a glass of champagne. Read our post about u-pick strawberry farms in Raleigh, Wake County, the Triangle and nearby counties.

12. Go wine tasting in Raleigh

Yes, we do have wineries near Raleigh! We discovered the hidden gem, Cloer Family Vineyards when our friends visited from Australia. We loved trying wines from white to red that were actually quite good, and grapes are grown, harvested, and produced onsite in Apex. This is a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day. It might be an activity you do with your own mom, rather than with your children celebrating you as a mom!

In North Raleigh, there is also the Zinc House Winery and Brewery, which is nestled on 87 acres of vineyards and treetop views. As its new, they don’t yet have their own wine harvested for tasting. But they have a good wine sommelier program. Plus, live music! This is an adult only playground though! Chatham Hill Winery was established in 1999 — the fourteenth winery in North Carolina & the first winery in the Triangle. They have a tasting room in Cary with wine tastings and charcuterie boards on Sundays.

Why not take the mom in your life to Johnston County to experience Hinnant Winery? Craig and I loved wine tasting there on a date experience in Johnston County. They often have live music and the outlook over the vineyards is gorgeous! We have a list of great wine bars in Raleigh and Wake County and wineries and meaderies less than an hour from Raleigh for even more ideas for mom!

13. Take a weekend getaway

You know we’re always up for travel. It’s so important we make time for it in our lives – especially for celebrating and connecting with those we love. Special occasions tend to force us more into scheduling it in. Do you want to spend hundreds of dollars on gifts and a fancy meal, or would you rather go camping together, or rent a cute beach cottage? You can even make it a day trip rather than an overnight stay.

While the water temperatures may still be a little cool for swimming (but not for some) you can’t beat that fresh salty air, or the pine tree smell from your lake campsite surroundings.

Getaway ideas from Raleigh

• Day trips from Raleigh
• Fearrington Village
• 1 day in Wrightsville Beach
• The Crystal Coast
• Things to do in Outer Banks
• 2 days in Wilmington
• Brunswick Islands
• Carolina Beach
• Biltmore Estate
• Downtown Asheville, NC
• Lake Lure, NC
• Pinehurst NC
• Chapel Hill, NC

14. Give mom “Time Out”

One of the best things anyone can ever do for their mothers is to give them time out. No work or house duties today for the mom in your life for any reason. Let them sleep in, make her breakfast in bed, give her a lazy morning sipping coffee on the back deck enjoying any of the gifts you do happen to buy them. Let her lounge around and do what she wants to do without interruption. Don’t forget to clean the house and make her dinner!

Local Gift Ideas for Mother’s Day

The gifts moms like the most are thoughtful gifts. I’m happier with a gift my girls bought themselves – or even better yet, made themselves – than I am with anything else. The next best thing would be a gift that comes from my local community. We’re lucky in Raleigh as we have so many amazing local artisans and stores carrying all kinds of products for the mom you love.

From gifts to boutique clothes stores, jewelry, vinyls, artwork, and local spirits, we have a cool list of local Raleigh stores where you can find a gift for the wonderful woman you are celebrating on Mother’s Day. A few other ideas moms tend to love. Here is a Mother’s Day gift guide for Raleigh!

Local chocolate

Did you know that there are several chocolate makers in Raleigh? I’m sure plenty of mothers will appreciate a box of some of their favorite melt in-the-mouth treats.

• Videri Chocolate in the Warehouse district will have Mother’s Day bundles wrapped and ready for you. Their fine, hand-crafted, artisan chocolate is made from high-quality, responsible sources
• Escazu Chocolates: White Chocolate Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Ganache. Oh, and their Peppermint Marshmallows are a hit for dipping in a cup of hot chocolate. There’s also a coffee bar and ice cream.
• Azuerlize Choclates: A chocolate maker making unique gourmet chocolate truffles since 2002.

Plants that last

While I love a beautiful bouquet of flowers brightening up my home, I’m always so sad watching them fade to brown. Instead, why not give your mom a plant, something that will last for a long time, and she can always think of you when she looks at it. Just give her clear instructions on how to care for it, if she’s anything like me, she’ll kill it real fast. Some local House plant shops to consider:

• Logan’s one Stop Garden Shop in Seaboard
• Urban Pothos Houseplant Shop
• Copperline Plant Co in Downtown Raleigh
• Cary Garden Supply
• Green Rabbit – is a new green store in the North Hills Innovation District! It’s very cool!

Books for Mom (from local stores)

I’m sure most moms love reading a good book. Hold on, moms would first love the time to be able to read a good book! Encourage them with a book gift for Mother’s Day.

• Quail Ridge Books in North Hills was founded by Nancy Olson in 1984 and is still going strong as an independent Raleigh bookstore.
• So and So Books in North Person St carry a carefully curated selection of the owner’s favorite titles in all the major genres that you probably won’t find easily elsewhere.
• Blackbird Books & Coffee is a cozy book-lovers cafe with a thoughtfully curated selection of new titles with an emphasis on female, queer, Black, Indigenous, and other minority authors, primarily focused on adult literature across all genres.

Final thoughts

We hope this guide gave you some ideas for how to celebrate your mom in Raleigh this Mother’s Day weekend. Think about what the mom in your life loves to do most and embrace that experience with her – these ideas are mostly from our own personal experiences, and you can easily combine several of the listed ideas in one day. We have even more ideas in our guide to celebrating Mother’s Day in North Hills.

For those of you who find this day hard due to motherly loss and hardship, our thoughts and hugs are with you, and may your special memories bring you comfort. Remember that our motherly figures extend to other special women in our lives – our grandmothers, aunts, sisters, mentors, and carers – all those wonderful women worth celebrating. Once again, happy Mother’s Day, we hope it is a special and enjoyable day for you (and with your kids)!

Tell us your plans or any other great Mother’s Day suggestions you may have in the comments!