The Mother Lode: Mother’s Day 2013

Just wanting a gift of love from these two!

I love Mother’s Day.  Of course, I do.  I am a mother.  I love spending time with my son and daughter.  I love silly cards, I love sweet cards.  I love flowers.  I love handmade things. I love hugs and kisses.  Seems I am not too different from others.  A gift is good but love is best.

Market researcher NPD  found that of the more than 2,000 moms of kids 18 and younger it surveyed, a handmade gift from their child was on the top of the list, chosen by 14.6%. In the study commissioned by Child’s Play Communications, the second most popular gift was a day off entirely for herself (13.6%), closely followed by a spa day (12.9%).  Only 1.3% say they want breakfast in bed. 

Spending Trends

In a different study,  National Retail Federation’s Mother’s Day spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, consumers indicated they will spend an average of $168.94 on mom, up 11 percent from last year’s $152.52.  The survey found 14.1 percent of shoppers – the highest in the survey’s history – will spend more than $2.3 billion on electronics, treating Mom to a tablet or smartphone.  And more than one-third (34.4%) of gift givers will buy jewelry, spending a total of $4.2 billion.  That’s a lot of glitz!  Also setting a record is the fact that nearly three in 10 (28.5%) Americans will buy their gifts online, up from 25.6 percent last year.  Mother’s Day can mean purchasing gifts for their wife, daughter, grandmother, sister, mother or stepmother.  If you are marketing to women, don’t forget that many of these women are guiding or actually doing the purchasing of these items.

That Takes the Cake!  The History of Mother’s Day

Seems honoring Mother has long been a tradition.  In 16th century England a celebration called “Mothering Sunday” was held annually—a Sunday set aside for visiting one’s mother. The eldest son or daughter would bring a “mothering cake,” which would be cut and shared by the entire family. Family reunions were the order of the day, with sons and daughters assuming all household duties and preparing a special dinner in honor of their mother. Sometime during the day the mother would attend special church services with her family.

Here in the US, the day was first celebrated on May 10, 1908, when a special Mother’s Day service was held in a church in West Virginia, at the insistence of Anna Jarvis.  She campaigned heavily to have the day observed first in West Virginia, then finally the U.S.  In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill designating the second Sunday in May as a legal holiday to be called “Mother’s Day”—dedicated “to the best mother in the world, your mother.”