Mother's Day is usually the busiest day of the year for restaurants.
Going out to a fancy restaurant is often tied to a special occasion — and there’s no special occasion quite like one for moms. Research from the National Restaurant Association has found that in an average year, about a third of U.S. adults visit a restaurant to celebrate on Mother’s Day. That often makes Mother’s Day the busiest day of the year for restaurants. This deluge of diners even surpasses Valentine’s Day, perhaps because the mid-February holiday really only takes up tables for two, whereas a Mother’s Day celebration often takes up a four-top or more.
Restaurants aren’t the only businesses that get a boost on Mother’s Day. The National Retail Federation estimated that consumers were expecting to spend $31 billion on Mother’s Day celebrations in 2022, with a big chunk of that change being forked over for jewelry, while other industries, such as spa services, also see a noticeable uptick. However, the two biggest winners of the day besides restaurants are florists (it’s their third-most-lucrative day of the year) and greeting card companies (which deliver heartfelt salutations to three-quarters of the moms in America). Overall, Americans spend much more on gifts for mom than dad — people spent an average of $246 on Mother’s Day in 2022, compared to $171 for Father’s Day. Sorry, dad.
Following four bloody years of the U.S. Civil War, two women called for a “mother’s day” to push for peace. In the summer of 1865, Ann Jarvis created Mothers’ Friendship Days in West Virginia that aimed to bring together Americans from all political backgrounds, and she continued the annual tradition for years. Inspired by Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe — who famously penned the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” — also wrote an “Appeal to Womanhood Throughout the World” in 1870, highlighting men’s role in war and calling on women to resist being “made a party to proceedings which fill the world with grief and horror.” She also tried to establish June 2 as “Mother’s Day for Peace.” However, it wasn’t until 1908 that Anna Jarvis (the daughter of the West Virginia peace activist) celebrated a “Mother’s Day” in May in honor of her deceased mother. Within a decade, the observance became a nationally recognized holiday.
