Mother's Day falls on …. Here's the live count:
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In the United States, Mother's Day is the second Sunday of May. Because it's tied to a Sunday rather than a calendar date, it can fall anywhere from May 8 to May 14 depending on the year — which is exactly why it catches so many people out. This page works out the second Sunday of May for this year and next, and counts down to whichever one comes next. The exact date is shown at the top, weekday and all, so you can plan the card, the flowers, or the visit around the real day.
The modern American holiday was the life's work of Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, who campaigned for a day honoring mothers after her own mother died in 1905. The first official observances were held in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed Mother's Day into law as a national observance fixed to the second Sunday in May. Jarvis imagined a quiet day of church services, carnations, and handwritten letters — and, in a twist of history, spent her later years campaigning against the card-and-flowers commercialization that grew up around her creation.
The American date is widely copied but far from universal. Britain and Ireland keep Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday of Lent, a tradition with much older roots, so it lands in March or early April. Many countries share the second-Sunday-in-May date, others fix their own: Mexico always celebrates on May 10, and France usually waits until the last Sunday of May. If your family spans countries, it's worth checking which date applies before you send anything across an ocean.
Why does Mother's Day change every year? Because it's defined by the week, not the date: the second Sunday of May. The earliest it can fall is May 8 (when May 1 is a Sunday) and the latest is May 14.
How far ahead should I plan? Brunch reservations and flower delivery slots for that Sunday go quickly — two to three weeks ahead is comfortable, and the countdown above tells you exactly how much runway you have left.