Mother's Day Countdown

Mother's Day in the United States falls on the second Sunday of May. This countdown automatically targets the next one, no date math required.

How many days until Mother's Day?

Mother's Day is on Sunday, May 9, 2027, which is 290 days away. The live countdown above ticks down to the exact moment, to the second.

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Mother's Day's story so far

1858Anna Jarvis's mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, organizes 'Mothers' Day Work Clubs' across West Virginia to teach sanitation and fight childhood disease in Appalachian towns.

1868Ann Reeves Jarvis leads a 'Mothers' Friendship Day,' bringing together former Union and Confederate families to promote reconciliation after the Civil War.

1912Anna Jarvis incorporates the Mother's Day International Association and trademarks 'Mother's Day' — insisting on the singular possessive apostrophe so each family would honor its own mother.

1925Jarvis is arrested for disturbing the peace after crashing a Philadelphia carnation-selling convention, part of her escalating campaign against the holiday's commercialization.

1943Her fortune spent on decades of lawsuits and lobbying, Jarvis is placed in a Pennsylvania sanitarium; unbeknownst to her, florists and greeting-card companies quietly cover her bills.

20th centuryThe holiday spreads worldwide but never settles on one date: the UK keeps Mothering Sunday in Lent, Norway observes it in February, most Arab countries mark it on March 21, and Thailand ties it to the queen's birthday on August 12.

Mother's Day by the numbers

US spendingA record $38 billion projected for Mother's Day 2026, averaging $284.25 per shopper, per the National Retail Federation

Flowers aloneAbout $3.2 billion of that spending goes to flowers — Mother's Day's single most popular gift category

Card sendingThird-largest card-sending holiday, trailing only Christmas and Valentine's Day, with roughly 113 million cards exchanged annually

Restaurant reservationsRestaurant reservations jump about 319% above an average Sunday, with the 2 p.m. brunch hour running roughly 6.5 times busier than normal

How it began

Anna Jarvis held the first Mother's Day service in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 to honor her own mother, and campaigned until President Wilson made it a national observance in 1914.

A founder's regret

Jarvis later spent decades fighting the holiday's commercialization, she wanted handwritten letters, not printed cards. The flowers won, but the sentiment endures.

The founder who tried to cancel it

Anna Jarvis created Mother's Day in 1908 to honor her own mother, and President Wilson made it national in 1914. Then florists and card companies moved in — and Jarvis spent the rest of her life, and most of her inheritance, campaigning to abolish the holiday she'd founded, organizing boycotts and crashing conventions. She died in 1948, penniless, still fighting it.

Quick facts

Observed on the second Sunday of May in the US
First celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908
Became a national observance under President Wilson in 1914
One of the busiest days of the year for restaurants
Founder Anna Jarvis later fought to abolish the holiday

For mom

She said she doesn't want anything. She does not mean it.

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Mother's Day — frequently asked questions

When is Mother's Day?

Mother's Day is on Sunday, May 9, 2027.

How many days until Mother's Day?

Mother's Day is on Sunday, May 9, 2027, which is 290 days away. The live countdown above ticks down to the exact moment, to the second.

Updated July 2026 · alarm-clock.org

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