Mother's Day in the United States is an annual holiday celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Mother's Day recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well as the positive contributions that they make to society. In the US, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. In the UK, mothers are honored the fourth Sunday of Lent. Check out our fun Mother's Day Games and Activities for teachers! Mother's Day Thematic Unit of Study.

Gaming potatoes gun mayhem 2. Moms didn’t come up with Mother’s Day as an easy way to get pancakes in bed. And despite how it seems, card companies didn’t invent it as a way to make a few (billion) bucks.

Mother S Day Gifts For Wife

There’s more to the history of Mother’s Day than meets the eye. In addition to the history of the holiday, there’s a whole lot of controversy. There are debates about who came up with the holiday first and lawsuits about who can use the name “Mother’s Day.” One of the founders tried to get the holiday scratched from the books, even after fighting to get it recognized as a national day. Besides all that, there’s the question of where that pesky apostrophe goes.

(Don’t worry: we’ve got you covered on that one. The correct placement of the apostrophe is this: Mother’s Day.)

Here are the secrets of Mother’s Day and its history. And, for good measure, a few ideas on how to celebrate your own mom on the second Sunday of May.

The Birth of Mother’s Day

The origin of Mother’s Day as we know it took place in the early 1900s. A woman named Anna Jarvis started a campaign for an official holiday honoring mothers in 1905, the year her own mother died. The first larger-scale celebration of the holiday was in 1908, when Jarvis held a public memorial for her mother in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia.

Over the next few years, Jarvis pushed to have the holiday officially recognized, and it was celebrated increasingly in more and more states around the U.S. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation making Mother’s Day an official holiday, to take place the second Sunday of May.

Anna Jarvis put Mother’s Day on the calendar as a day dedicated to expressing love and gratitude to mothers, acknowledging the sacrifices women make for their children. That’s why she was determined to keep “Mother’s” a singular possessive, as marked by the apostrophe before “s.” Each family should celebrate its own mother, so that individual women across the country could feel the love, even in the midst of a broad celebration of motherhood.

Other Mother’s Days

Before Anna Jarvis worked to get a day just for recognizing mothers, her own mom played an important role uniting women for good causes. Mama Jarvis—also known as Ann Reeves Jarvis—cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the field during the Civil War, and in its aftermath she organized a “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” the goal of which was to foster reconciliation between former Union and Confederate soldiers by having them come together, along with mothers from both sides. With the senior Jarvis’ lifelong focus on caring for children and promoting peace, it’s no wonder her daughter fought for a day just for moms.

At around the same time Ann Reeves Jarvis was working with mothers in the spirit of peace, Julia Ward Howe, another activist—as well as abolitionist and suffragette—worked to have June 2 be celebrated as “Mother’s Peace Day,” and wrote a “Mother’s Day Proclamation” calling on mothers to work toward world peace.

Mother S Day

These women and others were responsible for precursors to Mother’s Day in American culture, but celebrations of motherhood go back deeper than that. Such celebrations sometimes involved worship of a mother deity, such as the Goddess Isis in Ancient Egypt, or Cybele and Rhea in Ancient Greece. In other cases, celebrations were only tangentially about mothers: Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom, for example, was originally dedicated to the “Mother Church,” but was later broadened to honor human mothers, too.

Around the world, Mother’s Day is celebrated in a variety of ways and on different dates throughout the year, though many countries observe the holiday on the same day as the United States—proof of the powerful impact made by Anna Jarvis.

The Mother’s Day Controversy

Even after Anna Jarvis was successful in getting Mother’s Day made an official national holiday, she wasn’t satisfied with the way that holiday was celebrated. She had teamed up with florists while she was lobbying to get the holiday recognized, even recommending a white carnation as the symbolic flower of Mother’s Day.

However, in the first few years of the holiday’s official existence, Jarvis observed as florists, candy-makers and card-makers, and even charities used Mother’s Day as a way to make an extra buck. The commercialization of Mother’s Day, according to Jarvis, defeated the whole point of a holiday that was supposed to be about celebrating the personal, individual connection between a mother and her children.

From about 1920 onward, Jarvis fought hard to prevent businesses from profiting by means of Mother’s Day cards, candy, flowers, and other gifts. Although she had fought to be recognized as the one and only “Mother of Mother’s Day,” she later lobbied to have the holiday removed from the calendar of national holidays, and spent piles of her own money in lawsuits against profiteers she saw as using the Mother’s Day name in vain.

The Commercialization of Mother’s Day

Did Anna Jarvis have success getting people to cut down on the consumerism? If you’re considering buying your mother a card or a bouquet of flowers, you’ve got your answer.

The National Retail Federation does a yearly survey to find out how much Americans are planning on spending for Mother’s Day. Here’s a hint: most people aren’t busting out the crayons to make a homemade card.

In 2017, the expected total spending for Mother’s Day in the United States is $23.6 billion. That’s an average of $186.39 per shopper. In the fourteen years the National Retail Federation has conducted the Mother’s Day spending survey, that’s the highest amount yet.

But don’t feel bad if you’re not planning on forking up quite so much. There are plenty of ways to celebrate Mom without emptying your wallet. It’s all about making it special.

Mother's Day Gifts

How to Celebrate Mother’s Day Today

For most modern moms, going out to brunch or getting a Hallmark card and a fat bunch of flowers will do the trick. Sure, Anna Jarvis will roll her eyes, but if Mom’s grateful, where’s the real harm?

If you want to go the Anna Jarvis route, make your own card or write a letter to show your love to your mommy dearest. Need inspiration? Use a phrase involving the word “mother” or “mom” or a nice mom-centric quotation. Here’s a good one:

There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one. – Jill Churchill

For some more free alternatives, you can pick up the phone (fun fact: Mother’s Day marks the highest phone traffic of the year in the United States), take Mom for a walk (if you live nearby), or send over something sentimental, like these pictures of animal moms with their cubs, pups, kits, or kids. Irresistible, right?

Mother's Day 2021

Most importantly, show your mom that she (and Grammarly) taught you well by putting the apostrophe in the right place when you write “Happy Mother’s Day.”

Mother’s Day is the special time of year when you get to celebrate your first best friend and the person you always turn to when you need advice. Mother’s Day is also a great time to show your love for all the other wonderful women in your life. If you’re looking for a way to show your mother, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and friends how special you think they are, these lovely quotes about mothers are just what you need. Make these quotes stand out by adding them to a custom mug, wall art, or the best photo book for Mom. If you’re expecting a baby of your own, why not use this time to announce your exciting new role?

We’ve collected 125 funny, caring, and sweet quotes for Mother’s Day that are perfect for all the women who inspire you. Whether you want to make your mom laugh with a humorous Mother’s Day quote or show her how much you care with a sweet saying, there’s sure to be a quote here that is perfect for you. Make your Mother’s Day message even more special by adding your quote to a personalized gift for Mom like photo mugs, blankets, photo books, or pillows. Your photo book can be put together and shipped quickly if you’re looking for a Mother’s Day present in a pinch too.

Browse our collection of Ideas & Inspiration for all of life’s exciting adventures – find homemade crafts and recipes, helpful DIY tips, and inventive ways to stay connected to the people and things that matter most. There are gifts and personalized gifts for everyone special in your life. For the moms and moms-to-be you hold near and dear, we have gifts and announcements to mark every special milestone. From the time she announces her pregnancy, to the nine months she spends with a bun in the oven, help her track her baby’s development, and her growing tummy. When the baby arrives, these gifts will help her celebrate her new title as “Mom.”

Classic Photo Books | Pregnancy Announcement Cards | Pregnancy Photo Books | Love Photo Books | Gifts for New Moms | Gifts | Fast Photo Books | Inspirational Wall Art | Custom Mugs

Quotes For Mom

Our moms are our superheroes and biggest supporters, but we usually don’t tell them enough how much they’re appreciated. Now’s the time—with a custom photo book, wall art, or personalized gift. Best calendar apps for mac os. On her special day, tell your mom how much she means to you with these heartwarming messages about motherhood, whether she’s new to the role or has a lifetime of memories raising children.

• “A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend.” —Unknown
• “When you are looking at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” —Charley Benetto
• “Mother is the heartbeat in the home; and without her, there seems to be no heartthrob.” —Leroy Brownlow
• “Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together.” —Susan Gale
• “My Mother: She is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her. ” —Jodi Picoult
• “Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” —William Makepeace Thackeray
• “The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” —James E. Faust
• “It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?” —Mahatma Gandhi
• “There is no role in life that is more essential than that of motherhood.” —Elder M. Russell Ballard
• “Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes
• “Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.” —Unknown
• “Only mothers can think of the future because they give birth to it in their children.” —Maxim Grosky
• “My mother was my role model before I even knew what that word was.” —Lisa Leslie
• “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” —Maya Angelou
• “Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary – it’s an act of infinite optimism.” —Gilda Radner