CT Celebrates Mother's Day Weekend With Festivities Galore

CONNECTICUT — It's Mother's Day weekend in Connecticut. Time to get The Ol' Gal up, out, and feeling appreciated.

Most towns will have a few restaurants offering a special Mother's Day brunch or two, but Olde Mystic Village in Mystic has turned it into a festival, as it has a tendency to do. There's live music (noon to 4 p.m.), a family photo contest sporting moms around the Village and in front of "Queen for A Day" banners, prizes, and a spa day package giveaway.

Speaking of spas: The ones at Delamar hotels in Connecticut are offering a special mother-daughter deal this weekend. Book a Delamar Manual Lift and Remodeling facial for yourself and treat your mom to one at 50 percent off. The offer is available for bookings made in May 2024, but you must apply the code MOTHERSDAY24 at checkout to receive cash it in. Delamar has resorts in Greenwich Harbor, Southport and West Hartford.

The tradition of taking mom out for tea on her special day has gotten revived in recent years, and restaurants and even museums are dusting off their lace tablecloths and fine China for the occasion. Vivo Seasonal Trattoria at the Marriott in Downtown will be holding a High Tea Mother’s Day Brunch from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It's pretty much a lock that Mom will be overwhelmed by all the food at separate stations for waffles, omelets, pasta, salads, desserts and even a raw bar. Equally overwhelming are the Mother's Day Brunch offerings at The Wharf, located in the Madison Beach Hotel in Madison (tickets here).

Not quite so over the top and a little further back in time is the Victorian Tea Service hosted by The Wilton Historical Society the day before Mother's Day from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Guests will be seated in the courtyard of the Society’s campus, with "all the classically magnificent details expected from a 19th century tea service." A Dash of Salt will be catering the edible details, accompanied by a presentation on the history of tea from an expert from Bigelow Tea. Reservations are available online here.

Moms beam in free Sunday to the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, where more than 165 hands-on exhibits, including the all-new traveling presentation "Science Fiction, Science Future," are installed. Mom will thrill to "live science demonstrations, beautiful outdoor gardens, thrilling 3D movies, and Connecticut’s only year-round immersive tropical Butterfly Encounter." And if she doesn't, there may still be time to shoot some pool.

Moms hanging out at The Lebanon Tap Room can put down their pool cues and pick up their paint brushes from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and join their Mother's Day Paint Party. Instructor Pam hosts classes throughout New London and Windham Counties (usually not in pubs), and mom won't have to know a thing about painting to have fun,"meet new people, and create beautiful masterpieces together." Register online here.

Not a Mother's Day event and certainly not pink and frilly, but well worth a visit with or without mom before it closes on Sunday, is "Carolyn Marks Blackwood: The Story Series" at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury. Blackwood is a photographer, screenwriter and film producer who has assembled a "haunting and profound" series of photographs and captions that will grab you and mom, and live inside your heads for months if not years afterward. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and until 4 p.m. on Sunday.