Mother’s Day 2025 revealed a deeper cultural shift: fewer over-the-top gestures, more emotionally resonant choices. While DIY gifting remains steady, the bigger story this year was experience-forward celebration, especially dining out. Even in an economically strained environment, consumers prioritized shared moments, reflective appreciation, and quietly meaningful splurges.
Below, we see how sentiment around homemade gifts, luxurious items, dining out, and purchases evolved year over year. The data doesn’t just reflect what people bought—it reveals how they felt about celebrating mothers in an increasingly complex world.
As we can see in the data, sentiment for homemade gifts remained high across all three years. This makes sense, as what mom doesn’t love something personalized by her child? However, at the same time, we see sentiment around price improve sharply in 2025 compared to 2024, indicating that people are more comfortable with spending when it aligns with their values. Dine-in experiences rebounded, too, confirming the shift toward shared moments over standalone material gifts.
This indicates that consumers weren’t scaling back—they were simply making different choices.
This was the year of expressive effort. Conversations centered around handmade gifts, heartfelt messages, and creative tributes. The sentiment was high across the board, especially for homemade gestures, suggesting an emotional impulse to show love in tangible, handcrafted ways. For many, this wasn’t just about appreciation. It was about honoring mothers in all forms—those present, those lost, and those estranged.
Key clusters emphasized diversity, love, and emotional creativity, with stories told online that blended joy with nostalgia, recognition with grief.
2024 brought a desire to elevate gifting—luxurious purchases peaked in sentiment—but also introduced tension. Cost sensitivity rose, and reviews became one of the top topics in online discourse. Consumers wanted to indulge but needed reassurance that it was worth it.
Conversations about restaurant dining illustrate this—experiences were important, but expectations were high. People were quick to critique poor service, long waits, or underwhelming food. The emotional investment was still present, but it came with scrutiny—reflecting a desire for quality over hype.
This year showed a rebound in price tolerance, not for extravagance, but for intentional, shared experiences. Dining out, especially brunch, earned stronger positive sentiment. In 2025, brunch wasn’t just a meal, it was the moment.
Consumers showed a clear preference for curated, joyful connection, often opting for “just enough” rather than “as much as possible,” with a renewed focus on the emotional side of things. It’s the first year that food didn’t win out as the top conversation.
Since 2023, we can see this conversation arc gradually making its way to the forefront and capturing the top spot this year:
Our AI-generated analysis of content surrounding this year’s celebration revealed five core trends:
The documents extensively cover the celebration of Mother's Day, emphasizing its cultural and emotional significance. Major themes include diverse celebrations and personal reflections on motherhood, highlighting both the joys and challenges associated with it. Dining experiences on this day vary, with significant emphasis on service quality and customer satisfaction. Community events also play a crucial role in fostering local engagement and celebrating motherhood through cultural expressions. Here's a breakdown:
So splurging wasn’t dead, but it has been redefined, along with the general consumer mood.
Our consumer passion analysis revealed a stark contrast between Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day. While both holidays ranked high in sentiment, Valentine’s Day generated significantly more intensity. This suggests that Mother’s Day is more subdued, personal, and reflective; it’s less about performative declarations and more about quiet recognition.
Consumer Passion Comparison: Valentine's Day vs. Mother's Day 2025
This doesn’t mean it’s less important. It means the celebration carries a different emotional frequency. And yes, some of it is performative. A brunch, a bouquet, a post. But beneath it lies a recognition of motherhood’s complexity. It’s a nuance that consumers are increasingly honoring. We see joyful tribute as well as quiet grief, and picture-perfect brunches contrasted by strained relationships or a sense of loss. Maybe we’re become a bit more appreciate of our moms? It’s overdue.
The cultural contract is shifting. The future of Mother’s Day is likely to reflect:
DIY gifting continues to carry emotional weight, but it’s no longer leading the conversation. Instead, consumers are gravitating toward shared experiences that blend simplicity with significance. What’s emerging is elevated simplicity, like a thoughtfully planned brunch, a handwritten note, and something just indulgent enough to feel like a splurge.
Mother’s Day is no longer just about how much we spend; it’s about how well we listen, acknowledge, and show up. In 2025, consumers chose presence over presents, intimacy over indulgence, and thoughtful intention over obligation. That tells us a lot about where we’re heading.
If your brand wants to stay aligned with where consumers are going, not just what they’re buying, we can help. Want to turn sentiment, search, and story into strategy? Reach out! We’d love to help you find the signal in the emotion.