Staff Writer

Every year, billions of dollars are spent for flowers. Some of these are spent for personal use, others are intended as thoughtful gifts to loved ones. In the United States, floral spending peaks on 5 popular holidays–Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. These holidays account for nearly 33% of annual floral sales, according to Nielsen.

It’s not only the kids who enjoy celebrating Easter. This occasion of cultural and religious significance attracts about 8 in 10 adults into a festive mood with each spending an average of $151 for all the goodies and flowers. According to the NRF survey, consumers are projected to spend $5.5 billion on food, $3 billion on clothing, $2.7 billion on gifts, $2.4 billion on candy and $1.2 billion on Easter floral spending.

For Thanksgiving, floral purchases are typically not for gift-giving but for decorative purposes like Christmas. Chrysanthemums, symbolizing joy, are in high demand during this occasion.Fall colours, yellow and bronze, are particularly favoured.

Consumers may buy jewelry or clothes for their moms, but flowers are staples. They’re traditional and thoughtful, and a Mother’s Day surprise just seems incomplete without them. This is why floral spending on Mother’s Day has been increasing over the years. This year, projected consumer spending was a record $2.6 billion, making Mother’s Day the top floral holiday.

Unlike the other floral holidays where flowers are mostly for gift-giving, Christmas flowers tend to be used for decorative purposes. Flowers add a festive touch to any home and the red poinsettia is the ubiquitous flower of this season. In fact, about $60 million dollars’ worth of poinsettias are sold in the six weeks leading up to Christmas. Of course, the red variety is the most popular colour for the poinsettia. Overall, an average of $25 per consumer is spent to deck the halls with plants and florals.

In 2019, the average consumer would spend about $15.07, slightly up from $14.75 last year as reported by the NRF. A separate survey conducted by the Society of American Florists yielded $75 as the average amount spent for flowers on Valentine’s Day. This means that the projected floral spending by the NRF at $1.9 billion could be progressively higher in reality.