Mother’s Day Gift Statistics – What Should We Spend On Mom?

Find out how much we are spending on our Moms for Mother's Day with these very latest gift statistics and trends.

We all love our Moms right?

As they nurture us, love us, and look after us right through our childhood and carry that care on as we become adults too.

So if you've been blessed with an amazing Mom, don't be shy in letting her know.

Because Mother's Day is the perfect opportunity to show your love and appeciation for everything they do for us.

Whether that is by taking them out for a nice meal, pampering them, buying them a gift or flowers, or simply spending some quality time together.

You want to make sure they feel as special as you know they are.

So to help you do this we thought we'd take a look at the latest Mother's Day gift statistics to see just what we're buying our Moms and how much it's costing.

And we did this by analysing the latest Mother's Day surveys from the following retail organisations and companies to get an idea of the general Mother's Day shopping trends:

Mother's Day Highlights

Before we go into more detail on what was in the surveys, here's a Mother's Day gift statistics infographic featuring the key findings.

How Much Are We Spending For Mother's Day?

Spending on Mother's Day has been rising steadily over the years, with the total spend in 2020 expected to hit $26.7 billion (National Retail Federation).

This is significantly more than the $17 billion we expect to spend on our Dads for Father's Day in 2020 (National Retail Federation). 

While the average Mother's Day spend of $204.74 per person is a 4.2% increase on the previous year ($196.47) and a whopping 61% increase on the average spend from 10 years ago ($126.90).

It seems that men are more generous towards their Moms on Mother's Day, spending considerably more on average ($266.25) compared to women who spend an average of $146.31 (National Retail Federation).

While the highest spenders were in the 35-44 age bracket, spending an average of $296.35 per person.

And a whopping $840 million was spent just on greeting cards for Mother's Day, so it's a big day for card shops too! (National Retail Federation).

What Are The Most Popular Mother's Day Gifts?

The National Retail Federation's Mother's Day survey found that people were planning to buy the following gifts for their Moms.

So flowers were the most popular gift choice with 64% of people planning to get their Mom a bunch for Mother's Day.

Men were the more likely gender to give their Mom flowers, with 73% planning to do it compared to only 57% of women.

While the highest average spend was on jewelry, at $40.38 per person for the 34% that planned to get some for their Mom.

Aside from the above gift categories, 35% of sons and daughters were interested in getting their Moms a subscription box for Mother's Day (National Retail Federation).

While 25% were planning to give them an experience gift rather than a physical one (National Retail Federation).

And due to the global pandemic in 2020, 66% of people thought it was likely they'd have to celebrate Mother's Day with their Mom virtually rather than in person. (National Retail Federation).

What's Important For Us In Our Choice Of Gift?

The most important thing when choosing a gift for Mother's Day for those surveyed was finding a gift that was unique or different, which was a big factor for 43% of people (National Retail Federation).

This was closely followed by getting a gift that would create a special memory, which was favoured by 41% of gift shoppers.

Convenience for the gift buyer was next, with 25% of people wanting to keep things easy for themselves when buying a Mother's Day gift, while 17% wanted to keep the expense as low as possible.

And the genders differed in their gift buying preferences too.

As women (44%) were more likely than men (38%) to want to get their Moms a memorable gift (National Retail Federation).

While men put more importance on their own convenience, with 29% of men compared to 21% of women thinking this way. 

What Do Moms Really Want For Mother's Day?

We've seen that flowers, gift cards, and special outings were popular choices for people buying gifts for Mother's Day.

But what do Moms really want?

Well the good news is we seem to be getting it right with our choices.

As the RetailMeNot Mother's Day survey found that the top gift wanted by 35% of Moms was to be treated to a nice dinner, either in a restaurant or at home.

This was followed by gift cards, which were desired by 28% of mothers, while spa days were popular with 21%.

And a nice bunch of flowers remained a desired choice for 19% of Moms, meaning the florists will stay happy on Mother's Day for many years to come!

Rounding Up