How the Date Is Determined

Mother's Day always falls on a Sunday, so the exact date changes a little each year.

Mother's Day is the second Sunday of May, which places it between May 8 and May 14. Congress and the president set the date in 1914. Because it always falls on a Sunday, it is an observance, not a federal holiday. No offices close, and no observed-date rule applies.

History

Anna Jarvis organized the first official Mother's Day service on May 10, 1908, at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. She honored her late mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis. Her mother had run "Mothers' Day Work Clubs" for public health and for healing after the Civil War. The idea spread quickly. President Woodrow Wilson signed the 1914 proclamation naming the second Sunday of May.

Jarvis spent her later years fighting the holiday's commercialization. She even protested florists and card companies, and was arrested for disturbing the peace at a Mother's Day event. She died in 1948, sorry for what her holiday had become. West Virginia had adopted the holiday statewide in 1910, and nearly every state followed before the federal proclamation.

Traditions and Celebrations

Mother's Day is the busiest restaurant day of the year in the United States, driven by brunch. Other fixtures include:

  • Greeting cards; it trails only Christmas and Valentine's Day.
  • Flowers, led by the carnation Jarvis chose as the holiday's emblem.
  • The year's highest volume of phone calls.
  • Jewelry, spa gifts, and family outings, with the National Retail Federation putting annual spending above $30 billion.

Churches report some of their highest attendance outside Easter and Christmas. Handmade gifts are still a classroom staple. A personalized photo calendar made with our calendar maker is a popular do-it-yourself option.

Planning Around Mother's Day

Nothing closes, but demand spikes. Reserve brunch tables one to two weeks ahead. Order flowers by midweek, since florists face their biggest crunch after Valentine's Day. Botanical gardens, parks, and brunch spots see peak traffic. Weekend travel to visit family runs high. Watch gift shipping too, since the holiday falls close to graduation season and can strain carriers. The date shifts within a seven-day window each year. So confirm the exact Sunday before you make reservations or book flights home.