The tradition of sending and receiving greeting cards is an important part of the Western culture. Every year, most of the western countries have their inhabitants spending billions on these beautiful items to express their personal feelings to dear ones. In the U.S., around 3,000 big and small greeting card manufacturers are reported to be active and the number of greeting cards sold per year is put at a staggering 7 billion, generating nearly $7.5 billion in retail sales.
The ancient Egyptians, who exchanged wishes in the form of personal notes on simple papyrus slips, are believed to be the pioneers of the tradition of exchanging greeting cards. The custom is also said to have been existent in Greece and China around the same time. These are held to be the predecessors of the handmade paper greeting cards, which had become a common way of expressing good wishes by the early 13th century. Sending love notes on decorated paper strips had already become popular by this time, courtesy the action of a kindly priest named Valentine whom we all seem to know so well.
But the tradition of exchanging greeting cards actually received attention in Europe with the introduction of the postage stamp in 1840. This one change altered the fortunes of the humble greeting card, which was not until then taken too seriously, and turned it into a popular medium to send personal messages. It immediately set off its commercial production on a huge scale. Within a decade, greeting cards began to be created for a number of occassions prominent among which were New Year's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas.
It was the honest effort of Anna Jarvis that added Mother's Day as a new holiday to the American calendar. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day. With a formal proclamation, he announced the second Sunday of May to be henceforth celebrated as Mother’s Day. From this time, special greeting cards began to be created for the occassion and Mother's Day Greeting Cards came into vogue.
Today, Mother's Day is the third-most popular occassion to buy and gift greeting cards in the U.S, ranking only behind Christmas and Valentine's Day. According to IBIS World, a publisher of business research, Americans approximately spend $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on gift items or treats and another $68 million on greeting cards for their mothers on this day. As per the GCA (Greeting Cards Association) Market Report 2009, Mother’s Day was the most popular event in the U.K. in 2009, accounting for almost 29 million cards sent. That equals to a whopping £67.7 million. It again proves the love that children have for their mothers and their desire to demonstrate it in a small way on Mother's Day, the beautiful holiday we all love.
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