Organizing Ideas


Have a Mother's Day Tea
Organize a tea party or a picnic in an outdoor location such as a neighborhood park or plaza. Make it positive, fun, and educational at the same time. Set a place set up where people can write a letter to Laura and then have a space where they can be read. Click here for pink snack and drink recipes we've used in the past.

Pink-In for Peace
Plan an evening of spoken word, music, and dance performances that showcase the talents of the women in your community. Make it a night of arts and entertainment highlighting the power of women's work across cultures. In between performances read a letter to Laura.

Take to the streets
Organize a Mourning Mothers march through your town. Hold a rally. Protest outside a recruiting station or a government building. Do a banner drop over a freeway or in a public area during rush hour.  Demonstrate and flyer outside of a popular Mother's Day brunch or dinner restaurant.  Remind people of the real origins of Mother's Day by dressing up as Julia Ward Howe and handing out her Proclamation.  Click here for images of our shero Julia.

Pick a major thoroughfare where many pedestrians will be able to see your group marching. Consider coordinating an action outside a popular shopping location like a mall where many people will be doing last minute Mother's Day gift buying on Saturday, May 13.  Bring banners with phrases such as:
 Women Say No to War
, Mothers Say No To War
, Women Say Enought! Basta!, No to the lying, the spying, and the dying!
  Or you might choose a favorite line to quote from Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation.

Create a song and cheer sheet and keep your march lively with music. Click here to download some of our favorite CODEPINK chants.

Have a vigil for Mothers
Organize vigil in front of a recruiting station, a government building or a well-trafficked spot. Make a big "Declare Peace for Mother's Day" banner, and dress in your wildest pink. That way you'll be sure to stand out-no matter what size the crowd, and you'll be mirroring the vigil taking place in front of the White House.

Take a moment of silence or take a moment to collectively wail, expressing our sorrow at seeing so many of our brothers and sisters fallen in war.

In between reading letters to Laura, read the names of the fallen soldiers and Iraqi civilians as a group. Click here to download the list of those who have perished in this war. One person can read the names, or your group can read them as a chorus, going in a circle and having each person read a name in turn. Bring candles. Sometimes people say "Presente" after each person's name, to acknowledge their presence and their life.

Start a progressive fast
Hold a rolling fast for 24 hours or for multiple days, such as from May 1 to May 14, end the fast at your Mother's Day event. One person can fast each day, and can spend time publicly fasting in a visible place, such as outside a government building or in a busy town square, set up a table or a space where people can stop by and write their own letter to Laura. (For example, the women in Albany, New York, held a progressive fast outside the state capitol, where they set up a bed.)