Special Mother's Day gift for the ages: ‘Always going to be with you'

New York Post

11-05-2025

What a mom-ento.
Some adventurous moms and their adult children traded in Mother's Day brunches and flowers for matching ink at city tattoo parlors — which offered two-fer specials to celebrate the special occasion.
Studios from the Red Hook Tattoo Parlor in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, to Igla Tattoo Studio in Midtown, Manhattan, offered relatives a unique way to show their love for each other with mom-themed designs.
'You could [buy] flowers … but this is something that's going to last,' said Adam Korothy, a senior tattoo artist at Live By The Sword in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
6 Brooklyn ink artist Adam Korothy, 52, shows off his 'Mom' tattoo while at his Bedford Avenue studio.
Stephen Yang
The shop offered two $50 tattoos for a discounted $90 or three for $130 during Mother's Day weekend.
'It's also having the memory of the experience,' said Korothy, 52, who boasts his own 'Mom' heart tattoo.
'I know this is something special to them — let's turn up the fun and make it a good time.'
Among the shop's special offerings was a 1-inch heart with 'Mom' written across, which at least one duo received Friday.
'Happy 1st Mother's Day to us lol,' one of the recipients wrote on social media.
6 Two young girls watch their mom get tattooed by Korothy on Mother's Day.
Dylan Thomas
Some younger kids also watched as their mother got tattooed as a bonding experience on Mom's special day.
Matching ink for moms and their adult children have exploded in popularity given a de-stigmatization around tattoos in the past decade and particularly since after the pandemic, Korothy said.
'A lot more moms are not only getting tattooed [now], but they've been tattooed before they had kids,' the artist said. 'So you'll have the daughter come of age, and they'll come in and do a matching tattoo or a similar theme.'
The holiday special was done for more than just sentimental reasons, Korothy acknowledged.
6 These matching mother-daughter tattoos were done at Live By The Sword in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Adam Korothy
As recession fears loom and discretionary spending tightens, tattoo shops have to remain competitive and give ink lovers as much bang for their buck as possible.
'Promotions are a part of getting ahead of that,' he said. 'It's going to make it more affordable.'
Isabella Dizon and Carolina Mogollon at Nice Tattoo Parlor in Williamsburg, which was offering a 20% off discount for Mother's Day tattoos, said they do inks honoring moms more than once a week.
6 Tattoo artists Isabella Dizon (left) and Carolina Mogollon work at the Nice Tattoo Parlor in Williamsburg.
Stephen Yang
'I'm also getting a lot of moms recently just celebrating their own motherhood [with a tattoo],' Mongollon said.
'Yesterday, I had a lady with a smiley face [tattoo], and she said it was her first happy tattoo, because her other one was for her stillborn twins.'
At Igla Tattoo, 18-year-old Bostonian Ella Lygran received her second tattoo, which replicated her grandmother's handwriting from a card she wrote when she was born.
6 Ink artists Sophia Zhukova, 22 (left) and Olha Terekh, 28, are at the Igla Tattoo Studio in Manhattan.
Stephen Yang
6 18-year-old Bostonian Ella Lygran got a tattoo in her grandmother's handwriting while on a trip to New York City on Sunday.
Stephen Yang
Shop tattoo artist Olha Terekh said tattoos featuring maternity are 'one of the most common tattoos' — from birth-month flower 'bouquets' to the fingerprints of loved ones.
'For a lot of people it's very important to put something permanent on themselves that's connected to family,' Zhukova said.
'It's a memory for their whole life,' she said.
Just like family, 'it's always going to be with you.'