Overview
Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood. In the United States and several other countries, it is usually celebrated on the second Sunday in May. People celebrate by offering gifts, cards and / or remembrances towards their mothers, grandmothers or other maternal figures.
What better way to celebrate the mother(s) (or mother figures) in your life than by treating them like queens for the day? Read on for ideas on how to celebrate with your customers (and their moms)!
Details
Mother’s Day is an American invention, and is not directly descended from the many celebrations of mothers / motherhood that have occurred throughout the world over thousands of years. The modern holiday was first celebrated in 1908, and became a recognized holiday in the United States by 1914. For information on how other countries celebrate Mother’s Day, click here.
Trivia
- Anna Jarvis, the woman who first lobbied for Mother’s Day to be a recognized holiday, also filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop the over-commercialization of Mother’s Day. She lost her fight.
- In the vast majority of the world’s languages, the word for “mother” begins with the letter “M.”
- In Britain, during the Middle Ages, it was customary for the wealthy to give servants the day off on “Mothering Sunday” (the fourth Sunday of Lent) so that they could visit their mothers.
Celebrating Suggestions
- Offer “mother / daughter” spa treatments at your spa.
- If you own a retail store, merchandise items that would be perfect for a mom together and suggest sell to shoppers. Create a “Top 10 Best Gifts for Mom” list to display in your retail location.
- If you run a restaurant with take-out or catering service, help spouses and children “give mom the night off” by offering special deals on dinner items.
- Host a Mother’s Day brunch, and give all moms a free glass of Champagne!
- Host a promotion at your store or café for “Why I Love My Mom” – get kids and their dads to write in for a chance to win a prize. You can host this on various social media channels, on your website, or in store. Share all the entries (in store or online) and promote the winner(s) in a photo with their mom.
- Set up a craft station for children to create Mother’s Day cards – crayons, stickers, glitter… the works! You can set this up the week leading up to Mother’s Day.
- Don’t limit your marketing to just the standard idea of a mother – think about all the different types of “moms” there are: first time moms, households with two moms, grandmothers, stepmothers, godmothers, mother figures.
Check out our Marketing Holiday Calendar for more dates to celebrate!
