Mother's Day and Mothering Days

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):