Tissues, receipts, and rosary beads: a handbag only an Irish Mammy could love

Happy Mother's Day.

A day for celebrating mams, sending mams gifts and, until quite recently, hugging our mams to express love and gratitude. Unfortunately, the latter is no longer possible due to the coronavirus outbreak (unless you already live with your mother, in that case, knock yourself out), but what is possible is celebrating Irish Mammies. They're the best kind of mammy, after all. And while Irish Mammies are probably best known for buying 7up to cure sickness, being on the landline for hours at a time, and cooking coddle on the weekends, they're also known for their iconic handbags - and the contents of them. A new survey by One4All has shown that although the vast majority of Irish Mammies carry their trusty handbag, it's what's inside them that really counts. Respondents said that the most common shopping related items found in their mother’s handbag include receipts (84 percent), shopping coupons (58 percent) and loyalty cards (56 percent), with just over half (53 percent) carrying a trolley token. Just incase, like. Mammies are, unsurprisingly, a sentimental bunch too with 36 percent saying their mam keeps memorial cards of loved ones, religious medals (29 percent) and even rosary beads (29 percent) in her handbag at all times. A few also keep an inkless pen too. Because why not? Aoife Davey, senior marketing director at One4all Ireland, says that her own mammy is always surprising her - and the contents of her handbag are pretty much doing the same.  "With every opportunity that I’ve had to look inside, I’ve always found items which leave me with no doubt that my mum is one of a kind," she says. "We wouldn’t change our mother figures for the world and at One4all, we encourage celebrating our exceptional mums with an equally exceptional gift on Mother’s Day."  One4All are offering customers the opportunity to customise digital vouchers this Mother's Day. The vouchers can be spent online from a computer or smartphone - no need to go to any actual shops. It may not be the same as seeing your mam, but it's something.