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Mother's Day 2025 expected spend
Mother's Day 2025 was expected to reach $34.1 billion, with celebrants budgeting $259.04 on average and nearly half saying uniqueness mattered most.
Retail data
Consumer Gift Spending: Retail, NRF, Census
We track U.S. consumer retail gift spending through National Retail Federation (NRF) releases and U.S. Census Bureau e-commerce data. Coverage includes holiday sales, online retail share, and occasion budgets for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, and the winter holidays. Donation and fundraising data is separate.
Published April 6, 2026Updated April 28, 2026U.S. data onlyPrimary sources only
Coverage
What counts here
Shopping budgets, holiday retail sales, and e-commerce share. Nonprofit giving uses separate source sets.
| Counts | Sources |
|---|---|
| Retail gift shoppingIncludedHoliday retail sales, online share of retail, planned shopper budgets, and occasion-specific gift buying. | NRF retail and occasion releases; U.S. Census Bureau retail e-commerce data |
| Nonprofit givingSeparateDonations, grants, fundraising, and gifts to nonprofit organizations. | Nonprofit, fundraising, and tax-deductible donation datasets |
- Updated
- April 28, 2026
- Sources
- 7 primary releases
Figures come from original releases or official reporting pages. Forecasts stay labeled as expected or planned when the source does.
Top lines
Numbers a reporter can lead with.
NRF said U.S. holiday sales grew 4.1% year over year from November 1 through December 31, 2025, finishing near the top of its forecast range despite cautious shopper sentiment.
The U.S. Census Bureau put fourth-quarter 2025 retail e-commerce at $316.1 billion, or 16.6% of all retail sales in the quarter.
NRF expected Mother's Day 2025 spending to reach $34.1 billion, its biggest average-spend occasion after the winter holidays, with 84% of U.S. adults planning to celebrate.
NRF called Father's Day 2025 a record $24 billion, with shoppers leaning toward unique gifts, special memories, experiences, and subscription boxes.
NRF's 2026 Valentine's Day forecast set a new record at $29.1 billion and pushed the average expected budget to $199.78 per shopper.
A record 35% of Valentine's Day celebrants planned to buy a gift for a pet in 2026, lifting expected pet-gift spending to $2.1 billion.
Media-ready charts
Download the same cited figures as clean PNG assets.
These exports are built from the same source data as the page, sized for quick placement in newsletters, decks, and news coverage.
Figure 01
Download PNGOccasion spend comparison
A clean comparison chart for the three occasion-spend spikes GiftHint cites most often in outreach and source checks.
Figure 02
Download PNGE-commerce share of retail
A simple share chart for the online slice of U.S. fourth-quarter retail, plus the supporting dollar totals reporters usually ask for next.
Figure 03
Download PNGHoliday market size snapshot
A market-size snapshot for the winter holiday baseline: trillion-dollar forecast, average planned spend, and peak shopping volume in one exportable asset.
NRF said 48% of Mother's Day shoppers prioritized uniqueness in 2025, and Father's Day interest in subscription boxes climbed from 34% to 43% in six years.
NRF Mother's Day and Father's Day 2025 consumer surveys.
Market size
How much money is moving through gift shopping?
The biggest U.S. gift moments are still large enough to matter at a national retail scale. NRF forecast the 2025 winter holiday season at more than $1 trillion, and its post-season card-data read later said holiday sales still grew 4.1% year over year.
NRF projected U.S. November-December 2025 retail sales at $1.01 to $1.02 trillion, the first time the winter holidays would clear the trillion-dollar mark.
U.S. shoppers planned to spend $890.49 per person on average across gifts, food, and decor, the second-highest seasonal budget in NRF's 23-year Prosper survey history.
NRF counted a record 202.9 million consumers shopping Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday 2025, including 85.7 million online on Black Friday and 75.9 million on Cyber Monday.
Occasion spikes
Which gifting occasions are still expanding?
The spring and early-year gifting occasions are still growing, and the biggest jumps are happening on emotionally loaded occasions where shoppers are trying to avoid generic choices. Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day all posted either new records or near-record expectations in the latest NRF releases.
02
Father's Day 2025 expected spend
Father's Day 2025 hit a record $24 billion, with 76% of U.S. consumers planning to celebrate and celebrants budgeting $199.38 on average.
03
Valentine's Day 2026 expected spend
NRF's 2026 Valentine's Day survey projected a new record of $29.1 billion, with 55% of consumers planning to celebrate and $14.5 billion expected for gifts to significant others.
Shopping patterns
How are gift shoppers buying?
Gift buying keeps moving online. The Census Bureau's latest release pushed e-commerce to 16.6% of fourth-quarter retail sales, while NRF's holiday tracking showed Black Friday and Cyber Monday still functioning as the main online gift-buying events.
U.S. fourth-quarter 2025 retail e-commerce hit $316.1 billion, and full-year e-commerce reached $1.2337 trillion, or 16.4% of all 2025 retail sales.
Black Friday 2025 stayed the top U.S. online shopping day at 85.7 million shoppers, narrowly ahead of its 80.3 million in-store shoppers and Cyber Monday's 75.9 million online shoppers.
NRF said online stayed the most popular Father's Day 2025 shopping destination, ahead of department, discount, specialty, and small-business stores.
What people want
What kinds of gifts are getting traction?
The current gifting signal is less about bigger baskets than about more specific baskets. NRF's occasion surveys repeatedly show shoppers prioritizing gifts that feel unique, memorable, experience-based, or able to keep delivering after the holiday itself.
01
Mother's Day shoppers prioritizing a unique or different gift
NRF found 48% of Mother's Day shoppers said uniqueness mattered most, and 42% prioritized a gift that created a special memory.
02
Father's Day shoppers open to subscription boxes
Subscription boxes reached 43% of Father's Day shoppers in 2025, up from 34% in 2019, while gifts of experience climbed to 30%.
03
Valentine's Day 2026 pet-gift spend
A record 35% of Valentine's Day 2026 celebrants planned to buy a gift for a pet, lifting expected pet-gift spending to $2.1 billion.
For actual picks, start with the occasion gift guides.
Methodology
How we use these numbers
This page uses the latest official U.S. figures available to GiftHint on April 6, 2026. When a source describes spending as expected, planned, or forecast, GiftHint preserves that wording rather than rewriting it as a completed total.
NRF occasion releases and holiday reports do the best job of showing shopper intent, average budgets, and event-specific gift behavior. The U.S. Census Bureau release is used here for the broad retail e-commerce baseline and share of retail sales.
All dollar figures are nominal, U.S.-focused, and shown as reported by the source. GiftHint does not interpolate missing values or blend survey-based estimates into a synthetic house number.
Sources
Every number on this page traces back to an original release.
Use these links to check the original NRF and Census reporting behind the figures.
- Open
National Retail Federation
NRF Expects Holiday Sales to Surpass $1 Trillion for the First Time in 2025
Published November 6, 2025
NRF's winter-holiday forecast for November and December 2025, including projected retail sales and average planned seasonal spend per person.
- Open
National Retail Federation
CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor's December Data Shows Strong Holiday Season Spending
Published January 12, 2026
NRF's post-season read on 2025 holiday sales using Affinity Solutions card data, including the 4.1% growth figure for November 1 through December 31.
- Open
National Retail Federation
Winter Holiday Data and Trends
Published December 2, 2025
NRF's holiday hub covering Thanksgiving-through-Cyber-Monday shopper counts, Black Friday/Cyber Monday behavior, and 2025 seasonal survey highlights.
- Open
U.S. Census Bureau
Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales Report, Fourth Quarter 2025
Published March 10, 2026
Official U.S. Census Bureau release covering fourth-quarter 2025 retail e-commerce sales, annual 2025 totals, and e-commerce share of total retail sales.
- Open
National Retail Federation
Mother's Day Spending Expected to Reach $34.1 Billion
Published April 28, 2025
NRF and Prosper survey release covering 2025 Mother's Day spend, average spend, celebration rate, and what shoppers value in a Mother's Day gift.
- Open
National Retail Federation
Father's Day Spending to Reach Record $24 Billion
Published May 29, 2025
NRF and Prosper survey release covering 2025 Father's Day spend, average spend, experience gifts, and subscription-box interest.
- Open
National Retail Federation
Valentine's Day Spending Expected to Reach New Records
Published January 27, 2026
NRF and Prosper survey release covering 2026 Valentine's Day spend, per-person budgets, shopping destinations, and pet gifting.
FAQ
Answers reporters reach for first.
How much do Americans spend during the winter holiday season?
NRF forecast November-December 2025 retail sales at $1.01 trillion to $1.02 trillion, and its Retail Monitor later said 2025 holiday sales grew 4.1% year over year.
How much of gift shopping happens online now?
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated fourth-quarter 2025 retail e-commerce sales at $316.1 billion, which represented 16.6% of total retail sales in the quarter. For all of 2025, e-commerce accounted for 16.4% of U.S. retail sales.
Which gifting occasions are posting the biggest spend right now?
In the latest available NRF releases, Mother's Day 2025 was expected to reach $34.1 billion, Father's Day 2025 was expected to reach a record $24 billion, and Valentine's Day 2026 was expected to reach a record $29.1 billion.
What gift categories are gaining momentum?
NRF's 2025 occasion surveys point to more demand for gifts that feel unique or memory-making. Father's Day showed rising interest in subscription boxes and experience gifts, while Mother's Day shoppers also leaned toward gifts that feel distinctive rather than generic.
Related reading
More gift research and shopping context.
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