Spend Mother’s Day Like A Gilmore Girl

Gilmore Girls is responsible for a lot of cultural touchstones: Stars Hollow, Luke Danes, the phrase “oy with the poodles already.” A Mother's Day episode, however, is not one of them — a genuinely unhinged omission for a show whose entire premise is one mother and her daughter. Lorelai would’ve made it a whole production. So should you.

So if you're still figuring out what to do with your mom this May, consider this your sign to go full Gilmore. Rory famously tried to gift her mom the world's largest pizza for her birthday, so it's safe to assume she would've gone even bigger for a Sunday that was literally about Lorelai. Here's a Gilmore Girls-coded itinerary to steal for yours — no 35 classic novels required.

9 a.m.: Order The Special Omelet At Your Local Diner

This is about as close to Luke's Diner as it gets: a hometown spot where the coffee never stops coming and nobody blinks when you order roughly three breakfasts between the two of you. Commandeer two tables, linger over refills, and take your sweet time. Bonus points if Mom flirts with the server à la Lorelai and Luke. (Extra bonus points if she has no idea she's doing it.)

11 a.m.: Right Mom's Most Recent Wrong

If you and Mom call each other 14 times a day, you already know her running list of micro-grievances by heart. Today's the day to fix them. Was the bakery out of her favorite scone the last time she stopped by? Hit it again and stock up. Did the dry cleaner close before she could swing by for her favorite dress? Handle the drop-off yourself and set a reminder in her phone for pickup. None of this has to break the bank — it just shows you actually listen when she calls.

12 p.m.: Go For The “International Grab Bag”

Remember when the only thing that got Rory and Lorelai excited about a Yale visit was the nearest Mexican restaurant? Find the best hole-in-the-wall taco spot in town and order one of everything. Free chips and salsa are non-negotiable. Once you're set up, rank every taco from best to worst and argue about it until the server comes back.

2 p.m.: Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

You've done a lot of walking. Time to refuel like a Gilmore. Post up at a coffee shop with a window seat and commit to some serious people-watching. Make up backstories for every stranger who walks in, or play the classic Gilmore Girls game: one, two, three, he's yours. Just be ready to accept your fate if the third man through the door turns out to be Kirk.

4 p.m.: Walk & Talk Your Way Through Downtown

Lorelai and Rory's natural gait is “power-walking while delivering a monologue,” so pick a walkable stretch — a cute main street, a downtown shopping district, a mall food court if your town still has one — and cover some ground. Window-shop, sample everything the food court is giving out for free, and talk fast enough that you can count it all as cardio. Pretend Emily Gilmore is about to round the corner on her own shopping tirade at any moment.

6 p.m.: Order Too Much Chinese Food & Queue Up A Trilogy

Head back to Mom's, order Chinese food from at least two different places (leftovers are a feature, not a bug), and pick something you've both been meaning to watch. A Star Is Born triple feature is peak Gilmore energy — Judy, Babs, and Lady Gaga back-to-back-to-back — and you can spend the whole night debating which one Lorelai would've defended the hardest. (It's Babs. Obviously.)

Before you call it, ask Mom what her favorite part of the day was. Fair warning: this might become the tradition.