Community Corner

Father's Day Spending at All-Time High, But Gap With Mother's Day Widening

The average adult celebrating Father's Day is expected to spend $119.84 on activities, gifts and cards, up from $117.14 in 2012.

Record spending is forecast for Father's Day Sunday, but the gap with Mother's Day is widening, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Foundation.

The average adult celebrating Father's Day is expected to spend $119.84 on activities, gifts and cards, up from $117.14 in 2012 and $106.49 in 2011, according to the federation's Father's Day spending survey.

A similar survey for Mother's Day found that the average adult celebrating the day expected to spend $168.94 this year, $152.52 in 2012 and $140.73 in 2011.

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Total spending for Father's Day is forecast to reach $13.3 billion, compared to $12.7 billion in 2012 and $11.1 billion in 2011. Mother's Day spending was forecast at $20.7 billion this year, $18.6 billion in 2012 and $16.3 billion in 2011.

"Never expecting more than a nice day out or a special family dinner, dads are usually easy to shop for," said Matthew Shay, the president and CEO of the National Retail Foundation, which bills itself as the world's largest retail trade association.

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Of the 5,706 adults polled, 77.7 percent said they planned on celebrating Father's Day, with 65.8 percent saying they would buy a greeting card, 45.9 percent said they would treat their father to a special outing such as dinner or brunch and 43.3 percent said they would buy clothing.

The survey, conducted between May 1-8 by BIGinsight, has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points.

Father's Day was the subject of President Barack Obama's weekly address Saturday as he pledged "to encourage marriage and strong families."

"We should reform our child support laws to get more men working and engaged with their children," Obama said.

"And my administration will continue to work with the faith and other community organizations, as well as businesses, on a campaign to encourage strong parenting and fatherhood."

Obama also lamented that he "never really knew" his father, Barack Obama Sr.

"I was raised by a single mom and two wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me," said Obama, whose parents separated shortly after his birth and were divorced when he was 2 years old. His father was killed in an auto accident in Kenya in 1982.

"But I still wish I had a dad who was not only around, but involved, another role model to teach me what my mom did her best to instill -- values like hard work and integrity, responsibility and delayed gratification -- and the things that give a child the foundation to envision a brighter future for themselves."

Father's Day began when Sonora Smart Dodd wanted to honor her father, William Jackson Smart, a single parent who raised six children in Spokane, Wash. She initially suggested June 5, the anniversary of his death.

However, when that date would not provide organizers with enough time to make arrangements, the first Father's Day was celebrated in 1910 in Spokane on the third Sunday in June.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended Father's Day be a national holiday. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Father's Day as a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday in June, while President Richard Nixon signed a bill into law to do so in 1972.

–City News Service

   


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