Mama, Nana, Madre or Mother, no matter how you spell it or say it moms everywhere are the masters of kissing our boo-boos… even when we’re all grown up and it’s really, really embarrassing. According to the calendar moms only get one day when we all pickup the phone, buy some pretty flowers, pick out a sweetly written card, and take her out for a big fancy meal. So we darn well better make the most of it! To help get you in the Mother’s Day mood we’ve selected some neato stuff about the big day you can share with your mommy.
Factoids
1st Mother’s Day: May 10, 1908; Founded by Anna Jarvis; made a national holiday in 1914 by President Wilson
Busiest Phone Day: 68% of people plan to call Mom on Mother’s Day, totaling 122.5 million phone calls
Card Giving: 50% of households give Mother’s Day cards, totaling some 152 million cards
For two scoops of mom facts, these incredible mom statistics and figures will satisfy your hunger for knowledge
Mother's Day Around the World
Many cultures and countries set aside a day to recognize the tremendous impact Moms make on families and societies. However, there's no consensus on the actual date, so a version of Mother's Day occurs at different times around the world... just a few examples:
U.S. and Canada: second Sunday in May
UK: fourth Sunday in Lent
Norway: second Sunday in February
Egypt: first day of Spring - March 21
Thailand: August 12
Russia: last Sunday in November
Cost of Mother's Day
While no amount of money can ever repay our moms for what they've done for us, it doesn't mean we're not trying. Collectively we spend a lot of dough on our mamas for Mother’s Day. A brief run down of our Mother's Day spending in 2008 (courtesy of the National Retail Federation):
- Special Brunch or Dinner Outing - $3 billion
- Flowers - $2 billion
- Gift Cards - $1.6 billion
- Clothing - $1.4 billion
- Consumer Electronics - $1.2 billion
- Personal Services (trips and spas) - $1.1 billion
- Housewares and Gardening - $696 million
- Greeting Cards - $672 million
Note... this doesn't include the billions wisely invested each year in SuperMom Action Figures!