According to the US Census Bureau, there are an estimated 82.5 million mothers in the United States. As soon as Valentine's Day is over, it's time to start thinking about the next big shopping day, Mother's Day.



Once a woman becomes a mom, she tends to value her mom and her mom's mom more than she did before, and wants to recognize them on Mother's Day. That said, the average person plans to spend about $104.63 on Mother's Day gifts and activities, which falls on May 14th.

Cards are number one among those buying gifts for Mother's Day, and Mother's Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday in the United States, according to Hallmark research. Industry wide, Americans will send more than 152 million Mother's Day cards this year but some gift suggestions for mother's day include; flowers, apparel and jewelry, beauty and perfume, personalized gifts, and gift baskets of various types.

Those planning to buy electronics or computer-related accessories will spend the most, paying an average of $100.02 for their Mother's Day purchase. If you're giving mom jewelry, you will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $79.31 and those treating mom to a personal service, such as a trip to the spa, will spend about $60.72. Those of you who are planning to celebrate with a special brunch or dinner will spend about $43.38 on that outing.

Flowers and greeting cards are still Mother's Day favorites, with more than half of us planning to buy flowers (50.7%) and nearly three-fourths (73.6%) of us will be purchasing a Mother's Day card. Moms will also be receiving more gift certificates this year, as more than a quarter (25.5%) of us are planning to give gift certificates, an increase of almost 10 percent from 2005.

It looks like we are purchasing a wider variety of gifts for Mother's Day, including spa visits and electronics, but the average American still finds flowers and greeting cards to be a Mother's Day must. We know that moms want to be pampered on Mother's Day, so we tend to buy the special women in our lives a gift that she probably would not buy for herself.

Finally, men will lead the pack, spending $139.02 on average this Mother's Day, almost twice as much as the average woman ($74.28).

Happy Mother's Day!

A. Warner