51% of Mother's Day Shoppers Will Buy Clothing, NRF Survey Finds

Key facts

On April 21, 2026, the National Retail Federation projected total U.S. Mother's Day spending would reach a record $38 billion, with clothing and clothing accessories ranking 5th among all gift categories chosen by shoppers. The annual survey, conducted among 7,877 U.S. adults from April 1 to April 8, found that 51% of shoppers plan to purchase clothing or clothing accessories for Mother's Day 2026.

• Record projected total: $38 billion, up from $34.1 billion in 2025 and surpassing the 2023 record of $35.7 billion
• Average per-person spending: $284.25, a record high, up from $259.04 in 2025
• Gift category ranking by share of shoppers: flowers (75%), greeting cards (74%), special outings (63%), gift cards (55%), clothing or clothing accessories (51%)
• 84% of U.S. adults plan to celebrate Mother's Day; of those, 13% are buying a gift for a daughter

What it means for parents and gift-givers

Clothing as a gift category covers a wide range of choices, from a silk robe to a multipack of kids' crew socks. What those choices have in common is utility, and for households with young children, utility is often what determines whether a gift gets remembered fondly or forgotten in a drawer. The most durable clothing gifts in this context tend to be the ones that get used every single day, worn through, and repurchased, because the parent buying the replacement now knows exactly what the child will tolerate and what they won't.

A separate academic analysis of the same NRF data, published May 4, 2026 by the Medill Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern University, noted that Mother's Day celebrators now average 1.1 recipients per shopper, with a meaningful share buying for two or more people. That pattern reflects how the holiday has broadened beyond a single transaction into something more like household care, which frequently includes the children whose feet are currently outgrowing everything in the sock drawer.

Background and context

Despite the record overall spending figure, the Medill and Northwestern analysis found that planned per-person spending on physical gift categories, including clothing, is running modestly lower than last year. More shoppers are buying clothing for Mother's Day than before, but they are spending less per item on average. The combination points toward value-oriented buying in this category: parents and families seeking practical items at reasonable prices rather than splurge purchases. That is a different motivation than what drives jewelry or experience spending, and it produces a different kind of gift.

Children's clothing fits that practical profile especially well. Items like socks, undershirts, and leggings are genuinely consumable. Kids outgrow them in a season, wear holes through the heels, and lose them on field trips. A parent who receives a well-constructed pack of seamless-toe, combed-cotton socks for a child who struggles with sensory sensitivity is likely to remember the brand specifically, because those socks will need replacing before winter. That repeat-purchase behavior distinguishes practical clothing gifts from one-time gestures, and it is part of why clothing has climbed steadily up the Mother's Day gift-category rankings over the past decade.

Takeaway

As U.S. Mother's Day spending reaches a projected record of $38 billion, clothing and clothing accessories remain a top-5 gift category, chosen by more than half of all shoppers. For families with young children, the clothing gifts worth giving are the ones that solve a recurring problem: a sock that stays on, doesn't bunch at the toe, and survives thirty washes. That is a lower bar than a memorable brunch or a piece of jewelry, but it is a bar that needs clearing every morning before the school bus arrives.