Mother’s Day – Flowers or Food?
- by Matthew McNairy, May 4, 2011
Mother’s Day is celebrated throughout the world in April or May. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday of May as national recognition of Mother’s day. One woman, Anne Jarvis, made it her life’s work to have a day dedicated to the celebration of motherhood. Once the holiday was nationally recognized, she fought the commercialization of the holiday…to no avail.
Mother’s Day has been celebrated with flowers since the tradition of pinning carnation on mothers in the Methodist church started in 1908. Mother’s Day quickly grew to a commercialized holiday with greeting cards and flowers.
According to a 2010 BIGresearch survey for National Retail Federation, two-thirds of those who celebrate Mother’s Day will buy flowers for their mommy dearest, totaling $1.9 billion in flower sales for the one-day holiday.
Mother’s Day is also the most popular day to dine out according to the National Restaurant Association. They project that 75 million adults will be taking their mother’s and wife’s out for a meal.
“Restaurants are at the center of Mother’s Day celebrations, providing moms much-needed reprieve from the chore of cooking at home to instead spend quality time with their family and friends,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the National Restaurant Association.
So how will you honor your mother or the mother of your children this year? We’d love to hear your comments below.