Advertorial: A woman who can afford her own rings, bracelets, and necklaces still wants someone else to choose one for her. That finding, from a survey by Manhattan research firm IpsoFacto, cuts to the heart of why jewelry dominates Mother's Day spending year after year. The study polled women across five decades of life, all middle-income earners fully capable of buying their own pieces. Yet 88% agreed they would feel more valued receiving jewelry as a sincere gift. The act of selection matters. The thought behind the choice registers in a way that self-purchase cannot replicate.
Mother's Day spending in the United States will reach $34.1 billion in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Of that total, $6.8 billion will go toward jewelry alone. No other gift category comes close.
The Spending Tells the Story
Flowers and greeting cards remain the most frequently purchased Mother's Day items, with 74% and 73% of shoppers buying them respectively. But frequency and financial commitment tell different stories. Jewelry commands the largest share of total dollars spent, and this has been true since at least 2014.
The gap between what people buy most often and what they spend most on reveals something about intention. Cards and flowers satisfy an obligation. They signal remembrance. Jewelry signals something else: deliberation, investment, permanence. When someone spends money on a ring or a pendant, they are making a statement about how they see the recipient.
Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy at Prosper, noted that jewelry purchases and special outings are driving spending increases, marking a record in average spending for both categories. He described jewelry as a timeless gift selection that continues to capture an increasing market share.
What Consumers Actually Spend On
Jewelry accounts for the largest share of total spending on Mother's Day gifts. The National Retail Federation projects consumers will spend $6.8 billion on jewelry in 2025, ahead of special outings at $6.3 billion, gift cards at $3.5 billion, and flowers at $3.2 billion. Flowers and greeting cards remain the most frequently purchased items, but jewelry commands the highest dollar amount by a wide margin.
This pattern has held since 2014. Mother's Day Gifts like brunch reservations, spa treatments, and personalized cards all rank among popular choices, yet jewelry continues to outpace each category in total dollars spent year after year.
Why Meaning Outweighs Price Tags
The assumption that expensive gifts impress most does not hold up under scrutiny. A survey on jewelry preferences found that 86% of respondents would prefer a piece with emotional significance over a pricier but less meaningful item. Half of respondents said their first jewelry piece left a lasting imprint on their memory.
This preference for sentiment over cost creates an opening for gift-givers at every budget level. A modest pendant with a child's birthstone can carry more weight than a flashy bracelet chosen at random. The connection between giver and recipient, encoded in the choice, matters more than the material.
Research on consumer psychology supports this. Studies show that givers often overestimate how much recipients value superficial attributes like brand or price point, while underestimating how much recipients value sentimental meaning. People giving gifts tend to match surface preferences. People receiving gifts tend to treasure personal connection. Jewelry bridges that gap when chosen thoughtfully.
The Heirloom Factor
A piece of jewelry given this Mother's Day may still exist in the family a century from now. That potential for longevity separates jewelry from almost every other gift category.
The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers conducted a 2023 survey of inherited jewelry owners. They found 68% felt emotionally obligated to retain family pieces regardless of personal style preferences or financial circumstances. People keep jewelry that belonged to their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, even when the pieces do not match their taste. The obligation runs deeper than aesthetics.
This makes jewelry a gift that extends beyond the immediate moment. A mother receiving a necklace this May may eventually pass it to her daughter, who may pass it to hers. The object becomes a carrier of family memory, a physical artifact connecting generations who may never meet.
Growing Interest in Personalized Pieces
The personalized jewelry market has grown rapidly. Cognitive Market Research valued the global market at $42.5 billion in 2024 and projects compound annual growth of 8.6% through 2031. Another firm places the 2024 valuation at $48.2 billion, expecting it to reach $84.2 billion by 2031.
These numbers reflect consumer demand for customization. Engraved names, birthstones, coordinates of meaningful locations, handwritten messages converted to metal: all of these options allow gift-givers to encode specific meaning into a piece. The result is jewelry that cannot be duplicated in a store, that speaks directly to one recipient and no one else.
The 2025 National Retail Federation survey found that 48% of consumers said finding a unique or different gift mattered most to them. Another 42% prioritized gifts that create special memories. Personalized jewelry satisfies both criteria simultaneously.
The Numbers Keep Climbing
In 2025, 42% of survey respondents said they would purchase jewelry for Mother's Day, up from 40% in 2024. This increase comes alongside slight year-over-year adjustments in overall jewelry spending, suggesting that more people are choosing jewelry even as individual budgets fluctuate.
The category's dominance becomes starker when compared to Father's Day. In 2024, consumers spent $33.5 billion on Mother's Day and $22.4 billion on Father's Day. The average person spent $254.04 on their mother compared to $189.81 on their father. Katherine Cullen, NRF Vice President of Industry and Consumer Insights, noted that Mother's Day ranks second only to the winter holidays in average spending.
Permanence in an Age of Fleeting Gifts
Gift experiences have grown popular. About 36% of men plan to give experiences this year, up from 29% in 2019. Spa days, concert tickets, and weekend trips all carry appeal. But experiences exist only in memory once they end. Nothing physical remains.
Jewelry occupies a different position. It can be worn daily, touched, seen. It serves as a constant physical reminder of the person who gave it and the occasion that prompted the gift. A mother glancing at her wrist and seeing a bracelet from her children experiences something different from remembering a dinner that happened two years ago.
This permanence carries emotional weight. The IpsoFacto survey's finding that 88% of women would feel more valued receiving jewelry points to something beyond the object itself. The gift persists. It does not fade, cannot be consumed, resists being forgotten. Every time the recipient puts it on, the act of giving happens again in miniature.
Choosing With Purpose
The research on gift-giving psychology suggests that many people approach the task incorrectly. They focus on matching stated preferences, on finding items the recipient mentioned wanting, on surface-level alignment. Recipients, meanwhile, care more about the thought and sentiment behind the selection.
Jewelry rewards thoughtful selection. A mother who loves the ocean might receive a pendant shaped like a wave. A grandmother who gardens might receive a ring featuring her favorite flower. A new mother might receive a piece incorporating her child's birthstone. Each of these choices requires the giver to think about the recipient as a person, to consider her interests and history and personality.
That consideration registers. The IpsoFacto survey did not find that women want expensive jewelry. It found that women want to feel valued. The gift serves as evidence of attention, of care, of the giver's willingness to invest time in selecting something meaningful.
The Case for Jewelry
Mother's Day arrives once per year. The holiday asks gift-givers to express appreciation for someone who has shaped their lives. Cards fulfill the minimum obligation. Flowers add color and fade within a week. Brunch creates a pleasant afternoon and exists afterward only in photographs and memory.
Jewelry does something different. It persists. It can be worn and seen and touched for decades. It can pass to the next generation and the one after that. It signals to the recipient that the giver invested thought and resources into finding something lasting.
The spending data confirms what the emotional research suggests. Consumers have chosen jewelry as the top Mother's Day spending category for more than a decade running. They continue to choose it even as other options multiply. The reasons are not complicated. Jewelry lasts. Jewelry shows care. Jewelry lets a mother carry a reminder of her children with her wherever she goes.
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