What images flicker across your mind when you think of Mother’s Day? A blue skied May day, a box of chocolates, a lively bouquet, a trip to a nice restaurant, and perhaps a few more items with a hefty price tag. Given the current circumstances, many of these aren’t possible, but is ordering a late arrival box of chocolates from Amazon really the way to go?

According to the National Retail Federation, over 84% of Americans celebrated Mother’s Day in 2019 by making some sort of purchase, with an average spending of $196 per consumer. For retailers, Mother’s Day is a multi-billion dollar industry. They state that over 80% of Americans look to retailers for “inspiration” for their gift giving.

The Buddhist economist sees this kind of behavior as muddleheaded, the product of a pure intention corrupted by worldly desires, corporate greed, and lurid advertisements. This kind of criticism of Mother’s Day is not new. In fact, Anna Jarvais, the woman credited with starting the formal holiday in 1908, became disgusted by the commercialization of the holiday. It was supposed “to be a day of sentiment, not profit.” She fought against commercialization from the 1920s onward, eventually even advocating its repeal.

So, the Buddhist economist wants us to remember that Mother’s Day is a time for us all to acknowledge our profound interdependence with our mothers who bore us and brought us into this world, and to honor the mothers in our lives. She interprets motherhood abstractly, appreciating the maternal roles that our community and our planet play for us, and does her best to honor these as well.

This abstract sense appreciation is nice, but how do we actually change our behavior on Mother’s Day to reflect our values? To answer that question, let’s look at some common practices and suggest more mindful and appropriate alternatives for our current times:

• Pick up a new craft together. Over $5 billion is spent on jewelry in the United States for Mother’s Day. Maybe it’s worth considering sitting down with the women in your life, whether that means constructing jewelry, knitting a hat, or decorating a pair of jeans.
• More than half of Americans treat mothers to a special outing, usually a dinner, spending over $4.6 billion dollars collectively. While tasty food is a large contributor to spending on Mother’s Day, it’s difficult to source the food served in restaurants. That, and the current pandemic situation render this type of celebration pretty difficult. Think of how meaningful it would be to start a garden with Mom, responsibly sourcing your food and bringing it to your kitchen to cook. Spend an evening cooking with Mom, honoring both your birth mother and Mother earth.
• Get creative with the junk lying around your house. The average American throws away approximately 81 pounds of clothing every year, and the fast fashion industry only makes this number worse. Perhaps take old clothes and make them into a blanket, or convert an old sports jersey into a cute top. Picking up a new skill with Mom could be a new way to accomplish a task lying around, while still giving back to our Earth. Is engaging in rampant consumerism really reflective of how much we love and revere the women in our lives? Is capitalizing on maternal love really an ethical means to celebrate this holiday? Let’s reflect on the more meaningful ways to show we love them.

Tristan Misko and Uma Krishnaswamy are second-year students at University of California, Berkeley. Tristan studies Economics and Math, and Uma studies Economics and Data Science. Both have interests in economic policy and inequality. This article is written for their Buddhist Economics seminar.