Mother's Day 2026: Sunday, May 10

Mother's Day 2026 falls on Sunday, May 10, 2026 — the second Sunday of May, as it has been in the United States since 1914.

Mother's Day Dates, 2026–2035

How the date is set

Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May in the United States. Congress and President Woodrow Wilson made it official in 1914, at the urging of Anna Jarvis, who had campaigned for a day honouring mothers since 1908.

Because it is tied to a weekday rather than a date, it moves between May 8 and May 14. Sunday is deliberate: the day was designed around church attendance and family gatherings.

Every date Mother's Day can fall on, and the years it lands on each

Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May, so the date is decided by which weekday May 1 happens to be, not by anyone choosing a date. That leaves exactly seven possibilities — May 8 through May 14, never earlier and never later.

The table below runs the question backwards. Instead of asking what date Mother's Day is in a given year, it shows which years produce each date, and which weekday May 1 has to be for that to happen.

The pattern repeats every 28 years. Inside any 28-year block that contains no skipped leap year, each of the seven dates comes up exactly four times — 2026–2053 is one complete cycle, which is why the table stops there and not at an arbitrary year.

One consequence worth knowing: Mother's Day can never fall on May 7. If April 30 is a Sunday, then May 7 is only the first Sunday in May, and the rule asks for the second.

How these tables were built

Every year in these tables was generated from the calendar rule and cross-checked against the published 2026 date on this page.

Mother's Day is not Mothering Sunday

A common point of confusion for anyone searching from outside the US — the two are unrelated traditions with different dates:

Practical notes for 2026

• Restaurants and florists are at peak demand — reservations for Sunday May 10 are worth making a week ahead
• It is not a federal holiday, so banks, post offices and government offices keep normal Sunday hours
• Mother's Day is consistently one of the heaviest calling and flower-delivery days of the year

Other US holidays in May 2026

Frequently asked questions

What date is Mother's Day 2026?

Sunday, May 10, 2026.

Is Mother's Day always the second Sunday of May?

In the United States, yes. That has been the rule since 1914. Other countries use different dates, and the UK's Mothering Sunday follows the Christian calendar instead.

When is Mother's Day 2027?

Sunday, May 9, 2027.

Why is Mother's Day on a Sunday?

Anna Jarvis's original vision was a day anchored in church services and family time, and the Sunday placement survived when it became an official observance.

Is Mother's Day a federal holiday?

No. It is a national observance, not a legal public holiday, so nothing closes.

When is Mother's Day in the UK in 2026?

Mothering Sunday in the UK falls on March 15, 2026 — the fourth Sunday of Lent, which is a completely separate tradition from the American date.

Does Mother's Day fall on the same date every year?

No. It moves between May 8 and May 14 because it is defined as the second Sunday of the month.

When is Father's Day 2026?

Father's Day 2026 is Sunday, June 21, 2026 — the third Sunday of June.

Official sources

• U.S. House of Representatives — History of Mother's Day — 1914 joint resolution
• Library of Congress — Anna Jarvis and the founding of Mother's Day — background on the observance

Last verified against official sources on September 26, 2026.