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The First Mother’s Day
Anna Jarvis first organized observances in Grafton (West Virginia) & Philadelphia on May 10th, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honour mothers. She finally succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
Today…. 96% of Americans take part in Mother’s Day in some way.
Flowers are the most common way of telling Mom “Thanks!”
- Fresh Flowers having 60% sold
- Garden Flowers having 35% sold
- Flowering Houseplants having 20% sold
- Green Houseplants having 10% sold
Mother’s Day, obviously, is the second highest U.S. gift-giving holiday.
8% of Mother’s Day gift buyers are buying for themselves.
The remaining 92% are buying for:
- 60% being for mom
- 30% being for the spouse
- 17% being for the mother-in-law
- 15% being for other relatives
- 5% being for a friend
- 3% being for a significant other
- 10% being for other connections
In the United States, these are about 82.5 million mothers.
Percentage of U.S. Women between the ages of 40-44 who are mothers:
- In the year of 1950 is 90% who are mothers of those ages
- In the year of 2000 is 82% who are mothers of those ages
The percentage of 40-44 year old American women who are mothers declined almost 10% between 1950s and 2000, as described above.
Two times about twice as many young women were childfree in 2000, compared to the 1950s.
Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for many restaurants, and it’s also reported as the peak day of the year for long distance phone calls.
In the UK, 3.7 million bouquets were bought and sent for Mother’s Day 2006, which Brits celebrate about 2 months before Americans do.
- About 400,000 of those bouquets consisted solely or primarily of roses, while 300,000 people opted for tulips, and a further 300,000 choose freesia.
- In addition to the 3.7 million bouquets, and 100,000 opted for potted plants instead.
More than 23,000 florists nationwide employ 125,000 people.
Two-thirds of domestic cut flowers are produced by California.
Colombia is the leading foreign supplier of fresh flower buds and cut flowers to the United States.
In Utah and Alaska, women on average will have three children before the end of their childbearing years. Overall, the average in the United States is two and the Candian average is 1.53.