Mother’s Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday in the U.S., after Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
The ranking comes from greeting-card industry estimates, which measure cards exchanged rather than total holiday spending or the number of people celebrating. Mother’s Day has long been one of the major annual occasions for sending personal messages to family members.
The modern U.S. observance grew from Anna Jarvis’s campaign in the early 20th century. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it a national observance in 1914, and card companies, florists, and confectioners soon helped turn it into a major commercial event.
A common mix-up is confusing card rankings with gift or retail rankings. Those lists can differ, and the exact annual card total changes. Valentine’s Day, however, is conventionally cited as the second-largest U.S. card-sending holiday, behind Christmas.