Mark Kincaid at Kincaid Service Company knows modern moms often want things besides flowers. These small, flat-screen televisions, he said, are perfect for the kitchen. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge]

Sunday is Mother's Day.

Don't panic! Even if you have waited until the last minute to get that special mother a special gift, there's still time. The wide variety of shopping choices available in Shelbyville also means a wide variety of unique items, tailor-made for Mom, even if they were purchased with moments to spare.

"We've been real busy," said Connie Lokey at The Pomegranate Shoppe on the square. "The Vera Bradley bags have been our number-one seller, but the carolers have been real significant, too."

The carolers, she said, are Byer's Choice Carolers, figurines of different sizes and styles, posed as if singing carols. The big favorite for Mother's Day, Lokey said, was the Flower Seller.

Next door at Merle Norman, owner Donna Stearns is used to the last-minute shopper and has a supply of items waiting -- from engravable silver boxes to fizzy bath soaps shaped like cupcakes.

"I think a gift can be special without being expensive," said Stearns, displaying a Mother's Day picture frame as an example. "You would never sell this in a yard sale."

Stearns especially enjoys it when the last-minute shoppers are children, and remembers one such customer fondly.

"She looked and looked and looked and finally decided on these pearl earrings for her mother. The next Monday, her mother brought the earrings back and said, 'These aren't the kind of thing I'd ever wear.'"

Stearns told the woman how hard her daughter had worked to find the perfect present and how much it meant to her. The mother kept the earrings.

"She wore them to her daughter's graduation and her wedding," she said. "She told me once how glad she was I talked her out of returning them."

When a child picks out a present on her own, said Stearns, that makes it special in and of itself. However...

"If a dad bought it and she brings it back, I'll return it," she said, laughing.

The Co-op is another source of last-minute gifts. Knickknacks and table linens line the shelves inside; flower and herb gardens fill flats outside.

"We've got concrete planters, clothing, jewelry. We've got all this stuff in here," said Dana Rodriguez, manager for the Co-op's gift shop.

She wrapped a hummingbird feeder for one customer, who wants to be anonymous to keep the gift a surprise. Buying it Thursday, he said, was not last-minute for him.

"It's early, for him," teased Rodriguez.

"I already got her a mailbox," the customer protested. "I knew what I wanted to get her this year."

Knowing what mother wants is a problem, and getting the wrong gift can create another. Mark Kincaid at Kincaid Service Company doesn't often recommend big appliances, even though he sells them at his Madison Avenue store.

"A big washer and dryer might make life easier for Mom," he said, "but it's kind of like giving a vacuum cleaner as an anniversary present -- not necessarily a good idea."

But that's not to veto all appliances. Televisions and DVD players have been popular as gifts this year.

"Now that TV screens are flat, ladies love televisions again," he said. "Used to be, the decision process was the man came in, began drooling, then went home and got on his knees at the altar ... Now, the ladies are so much more involved in the process. It's great."

He said the smaller flat-screen televisions are ideal to put in the kitchen.

Digital cameras, always a popular gift, aren't a big item at Kincaid's, but there is a ripple effect, and that is the DVD player.

"Kids will send their mothers pictures on CDs, and they don't want to have to mess with computers," said Kincaid. "These small, inexpensive DVD players will play the photos."

Ways to pamper Mom

* Gift certificates -- Whether it's for a leisurely dinner at Charleston on Main, or a weeks of leisure by having Corner Cleaners take over the laundry for a month, a gift certificate is one way to thank Mom for everything she's done and to return the favor.

* Flowers -- Get them ready to plant or in an elegant vase.

* Spa treatment -- Send her to a spa for the day.

* Photo albums -- Surprise her by having them already filled and labeled with those old snapshots that have been tucked in a shoebox forever. (Or, since it is the last minute, a "coupon" promising to put in the photos later.)

* Labor -- She labored for you, now you can do the same for her. Promise her an afternoon of yard work, a spring cleaning weekend or washing her car.