Mother’s Day was first proposed by Julia Ward Howe in 1870, who is famously known for writing the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
Although it was first proposed in 1870, nothing official ever came until 1914 when Anna Jarvis campaigned for a national day of recognition for mothers. She did this in honor of her mother, who spent years providing resources to poor mothers in West Virginia.
So basically the first Mother’s Day gift was Mother’s Day itself, which means that homemade coupon book for “free hugs” and “1-time use vacuum the whole house” really won’t cut it anymore.
Within a few years of Mother’s Day starting, Anna Jarvis had become disgusted with the over-commercialization of the holiday and petitioned to have it rescinded (to no avail).
Call volume in the United States goes up 11% on Mother’s Day, and there have even been studies showing the widespread popularity of cell phones have greatly increased the amount of contact people have with their mothers.
Over 80 million people will dine out on Mother’s Day, far beyond even Valentines Day as the biggest day for restaurants.
24% of consumers will spend money on personal services (the spa, nail salon, etc.) for their mothers, resulting in over $2 billion dollars in sales.
But gifts are hard to pick sometimes, and 45% of consumers said they would rather go the gift card route.
Mother’s Day is the #1 day for floral sales, with a survey saying that 67% of people planned on purchasing flowers.
In Thailand, parades are held for Mother’s Day, and jasmine in a commonly given gift.
In Serbia, moms are tied up with rope or ribbon until they give sweets and gifts to their children. Which seems like the opposite of what I was taught about Mother’s Day, but who am I to question their culture.
The average consumer buys 2.8 Mother’s Day cards to give to moms, grandmothers, mother-in-laws, step-mothers, sisters, friends (and I assumed at least 1 ironic birthday card to your buddy Steve). 57% of mothers say they have received Mother’s Day gifts from non-family members.
Should dads buy gifts for the mother of their kids on Mother’s Day? Well, 47% of mothers think so, but only 6% of dads agree.
But don’t spend too much time thinking of the stingy dads, on average their gifts for Father’s Day only run about $133, compared to the $196 spent on Mother’s Day.
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