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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 8, 2015
May 8, 2015
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Mother's Day Background:
Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908 at a church service in Philadelphia, PA. ANNE JARVIS had the service done for her mother, who'd told her when she was much younger that she'd hoped there would be a day to commemorate all mothers --everywhere.
So, two years after her death, Anne and her friends began a national letter-writing campaign to get a holiday honoring mothers, and in 1914 Congress passed legislation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.Mother's Day by the numbers:
Motherhood may be a thankless job (at least that's what they say), but someone's gotta be grateful for all the bucks that get spent on it. This Sunday, America's kids, husbands, and grandkids plan to spend billions upon billions of dollars thanking the moms in their lives.
Here, a few more of the numbers behind Mother's Day:
--$21.2 billion: The amount we'll spend this Mother's Day
--$172.63: The average amount American consumers will spend on mom for Mother's Day 2015
--$162.94: The average spending last year
--3: Mother's Day's ranking, after Christmas and Valentine's Day, in terms of the amount of money spent by U-S consumers
--5: Father's Day's ranking
--80: Percentage of buyers who will pick up a greeting card for Mom
--67.2: Percent of buyers who will get flowers for Mom
--$2.4 billion: Amount expected to be spent on flowers this Mother's Day
--34.2: Percent of Mother's Day shoppers who are planning to splurge on jewelry, spending $4.3 billion
--44.2: Percent of Mother's Day shoppers who will give mom a gift card, spending more than $2.2 billion.
--35.8: Percent of Mother's Day shoppers who will give mom apparel and clothing items, spending more than $1.9 billion
--14.1: Percent of buyers who plan to buy electronics for Mom (like a new smartphone or e-reader), the highest percentage in history
--$1.8 billion: Amount expected to be spent on electronics for Mother's Day, up from last year's $1.6 billion
--28.5: Percent of Americans who will buy their gifts online this year
--24.8: Percent of shoppers who will buy Mother's Day gifts at discount stores
Sources: Business Pundit, U-S Census Bureau, Credit Donkey, National Retail Federation, New York Citizen OneWhere to go on Mother's Day:
No matter how pinched the household budget, we're still going to do our best to keep Mom out of the kitchen for Mother's Day. Restaurants still expect it will be the busiest day of the year, according to the National Restaurant Association --about 38 percent of all Americans will dine out that day. In fact, many will dine out twice, celebrating with different people: The NRA reports that 59 percent celebrate at dinner, 51 percent at lunch or brunch, and 22 percent at breakfast.
Flowers are still the most popular gift, purchased by 66.8 percent of those celebrating. (Kaye)Hallmark says Mother's Day is the third-most popular card-buying holiday, with 162 million cards sold. That's because so many people use the occasion to celebrate relationships with sisters, aunts, and other important women in their lives, it. (Only Christmas and Valentine's Day are bigger.) And among Hispanics, Mother's Day is the single biggest card day of the year. (Kaye)
The 10 Hottest Moms on the Tube:
10. MICHELLE DUGGAR "19 Kids and Counting"
9. "Roseanne Connor" from "Roseanne" --played by ROSEANNE BARR
8. "Samantha Stevens" from "Bewitched" --played by ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY
7. "Lucy Ricardo" from "I Love Lucy" --played by LUCILLE BALL
6. HARRIET NELSON from "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"
4/5. (Tie) "Marion Cunningham" from "Happy Days" --played by MARION ROSS and DONNA STONE from "The Donna Reed Show."
3. "Carol Brady" from "The Brady Bunch" --played by FLORENCE HENDERSON
2. "Claire Huxtable" from "The Cosby Show" --played by PHYLICIA RASHAD
1. "June Cleaver" from "Leave It to Beaver" --played by BARBARA BILLINGSLEY (Source: 2013 Harris Poll --Lee) -
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