Here’s What You Need to Know. Americans are projected to spend a record $38 billion on Mother’s Day 2026, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey released April 21. That works out to $284.25 per shopper — up roughly 10% from last year’s $259 and a fresh all-time high. 84% of U.S. adults say they plan to celebrate, and the dollars are concentrated in five places: jewelry, special outings, electronics, flowers and greeting cards. The most interesting story isn’t in the headline numbers, though — it’s in a small set of consumer-tech and home categories that are quietly posting double- and triple-digit growth. We break it down below.

How Much Are Americans Actually Spending on Mom This Year?

The NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics surveyed 7,877 U.S. adults between April 1 and April 8. The headline: per-person spending of $284.25, beating the previous record of $274.02 set in 2023 and well above last year’s $259.04. Total outlays roll up to $38 billion, ahead of 2025’s $34.1 billion and 2023’s $35.7 billion.

The pattern is consistent with what we saw at the start of the year. Earlier in 2026, Italy’s €2 billion Valentine’s Day showed the first holiday-spending pulse of the year — and U.S. consumers are following the same script: macroeconomic worries everywhere, but discretionary holiday budgets continuing to expand. NRF Chief Economist Mark Mathews framed it bluntly: “Mother’s Day remains a priority for many Americans, and they plan to lean into the holiday despite current economic uncertainty.”

That fits a broader pattern we’ve tracked all spring — Americans keep spending and the U.S. economy keeps reviving in spite of every headline calling for a slowdown.

Where Is the Money Going — Flowers, Fragrance, Fitness Trackers?

NRF’s category breakdown puts the dollars roughly here:

  • Jewelry: $7.5 billion (the single biggest category by dollars)
  • Special outings (brunch, dinner): $6.4 billion
  • Electronics: $4.4 billion — over $4 billion for the first time ever
  • Flowers: $3.2 billion
  • Greeting cards: $1.3 billion

Flowers are still the most popular gift — 75% of shoppers plan to buy them — followed by greeting cards (74%), special outings (63%), gift cards (55%) and clothing (51%). Online and department stores tie at 33% each as the leading destinations, with specialty stores at 29% and discount stores at 26%.

Circana’s separate retail-tracking data adds the week-of texture. The floral aisle is “the most important holiday of the year” for the department, posting a $509 million week-over-week dollar lift in the run-up. Prestige fragrance — the second-place category in Circana’s basket — added $98 million week-over-week. Brunch is the food-and-beverage center of gravity: fresh eggs, berries, avocados and refrigerated breakfast meats all spike in the seven days before the holiday.

What’s Spiking in Last-Minute Searches?

This is where 2026 looks different from past Mother’s Days. Circana’s data shows a clear migration from “sentimental classics” toward practical wellness and connected-home gifting — and the growth rates are not subtle.

In the two-week run-up to last year’s holiday, fitness trackers posted a 60% unit-sales jump year over year. Smart displays — the Echo Show / Nest Hub category — were up 71% in units. Digital picture frames rose 42%. Even LEGO’s Botanicals building sets, which moms increasingly buy for themselves, were up 16% in dollar sales over the same window.

If you’re shopping today, that’s the signal: shoppers walking into a Best Buy or scrolling Amazon at the eleventh hour are reaching past the perfume counter for something that plugs in. Mom isn’t necessarily asking for a Fitbit — but her kids are increasingly buying her one.

The One Category That’s Quietly Up 76%

The single fastest-growing Mother’s Day category in Circana’s tracker isn’t a watch or a smart speaker. It’s the humble electric kettle, up 76% in unit sales year over year in the two-week pre-holiday window — the biggest percentage move in the entire dataset.

It’s a small absolute number compared to jewelry’s $7.5 billion. But the trend is telling. Pair it with the surge in smart displays and fitness trackers, and a clear consumer-tech micro-narrative emerges: in a year where 46% of shoppers say “unique or different” matters most and a record one-third plan to gift an experience, the category that’s quietly winning is the one that lives on the kitchen counter and gets used every morning.

For the late shopper, that’s the most useful data point in this piece. If you need something other than a last-minute bouquet, a curated list of practical gifts for parents and grandparents is a better starting point than the nearest card rack.

The Bottom Line

A record $38 billion will move through U.S. registers and checkout pages this Mother’s Day weekend — most of it into jewelry counters, restaurant bookings and Apple/Samsung electronics shelves. But the growth is in connected-home and personal-wellness gifts, with electric kettles of all things leading the pack at +76%. If your shopping is still pending: flowers will get you to the door, but a smart display or a fitness tracker is what the data says people are actually unwrapping in 2026.

 [1]