Typical plots involve the children trying to find the perfect present for their mother (or father), or realizing they forgot all about the day and quickly having to go present hunting. Mothers (but fathers are not entirely exempt) are typically served a Breakfast in Bed, and if the children are still in kindergarten or early elementary school, they often create something simple in class to give to their parents for these days.
Interestingly, despite being a holiday that is celebrated in a large number of countries worldwide, there isn't an international agreement on the exact date for the holiday. In Britain, it's — vaguely — "the third Sunday in Lent" and in 2026 will fall on Sunday 15th March. note . The USA holds its Mother's Day on the "second Sunday in May" and can be almost two months out of step with Britain; and several European countries with a more Catholic religious tradition appear to tie it into The Feast of the Annunciation (25th March), arguing that the Virgin Mary is the ultimate mother-figure in Christian tradition, and therefore what better day to celebrate motherhood? note And South Korea has its own Parents' Day celebration every May 8th.
Of course, for a character with a Missing Mom or Disappeared Dad, these days can be a harsh reminder of these missing parental figures in their lives. And this goes double for orphans or characters who otherwise suffer from Parental Abandonment. The day can also be far from a happy occasion for characters who have abusive or neglectful parents.
Examples:
- Pretty Cure:
- In Episode 14 of HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, a new member of the Fashion Club is feeling down on Mother's Day because she had lost her mother, making her a prime victim for the Monster of the Week.
- Episode 15 of Smile PreCure! has Miyuki scrambling to find a Mother's Day present for her mom.
- Episode 15 of HappinessCharge Pretty Cure! has Hime begin to miss her family on Mother's Day, so the girls bring her to the Blue Sky Kingdom to see her.
- Tamagotchi!:
- Episode 30b takes place on Mother's Day, with Lovelitchi taking her mother to various places to celebrate and getting distraught when something goes wrong in those places.
- Both halves of episode 78 are based around Mother's Day. In the first half, Chamametchi, Kikitchi, and Perotchi go to pick Tama Berries for a Mother's Day cake Perotchi wants to make. In the second, Melodytchi can't decide what to get her mother for Mother's Day.
- Calvin and Hobbes: One comic has Calvin make his mom a homemade mother's day card in which he confesses he spend the money he wanted to use on an actual card on himself, and that with his small allowance he can barely buy her any gifts so she should increase it. Mom is naturally not pleased.
- An early Father's Day strip
has Calvin taking great glee in Malicious Compliance with his father's teachings on such topics as getting up early and not spending money on such frivolity as gifts.
- An early Father's Day strip
- Dennis the Menace (US): Had several comics that take place on, or show preparations for, Mother's Day/Father's Day.
- FoxTrot: In one comic
, Roger and the kids try to make Andy breakfast in bed on Mother's Day, but all of them are so terrible at cooking that they nearly set the kitchen on fire.
- The Family Circus:
- One comic set on Mother's day has all the kids give their mom a present that, in their imagination, is much fancier than it actually is. Of course, Mom happily accepts the gifts anyway.
- Another comic has the father and kids go to the movies on mother's day. Dolly thinks it's unfair mom has to stay home, oblivious that having some time to herself is actually a perfect mother's day gift for her.
- Hi and Lois:
- One sunday comic set on mother's day starts with the 2 main kids bringing their mom a gift card while she's in bed, then proceed to wonder what the mothers of various famous people from history, like Attilla the Hun and Mozart where like.
- Another mother's day comic has the kids ask their mom what she would like to do for Mother's day, and when she claims she'd rather be home they all join her in the bed to sleep in.
- Marvin: One comic set on father's day shows Jenny tell Jeff that he should do something fun on father's day. Cue Jeff having an Imagine Spot of him doing various activities by himself, like sailing and racecar driving, before Jenny reminds him she meant he had to do something fun with Marvin. Jeff is clearly disappointed.
- Zits:
- One Sunday strip showed the progression of Jeremy bringing his mom breakfast in bed for Mother's Day, with the array becoming simpler as he grew up until by age 15, he just offers her a box of Pop-Tarts.
- Another comic, this time focussing on Father's Day, shows a progression of Jeremy hugging his father on Father's Day, with Jeremy getting bigger and bigger each year until in the last panel he is much larger than his dad.
- In Dear Mummy
, pre-Hogwarts Harry writes a letter to his late mother for a Mother's Day class project. The teacher who reads the letter is horrified and reaches out to a trusted clergyman for help in helping Harry (she does not know the clergyman is a squib, so has heard of Harry Potter). This sends the storyline firmly into Fix Fic AU territory.
- Danganronpa Gaiden Series:
- "Kyoko Naegi’s First Mother’s Day
", "Toko’s First Mother’s Day!
", and "Mother's Day Alone!
" has Kyoko, Toko, and Maki celebrate their first Mother's Day as mothers.
- "Makoto’s First Father’s Day
", "Byakuya Togami’s First Father’s Day!
", and "The Ultimate Mechanic’s Father’s Day Gift!
" has Makoto, Byakuya, and Kazuichi celebrating Father's Day (the former two being their first Father's Day as fathers).
- "Kyoko Naegi’s First Mother’s Day
- Family Guy Fanon: The version's of "Love and Sabotage
" (AKA "Chick Cancer") takes place on Mother's Day. And the new side plot deals with Peter and his father Francis trying to set up a Mother's Day (or a Wife Day) dinner for Lois and Thelma after forgetting it was Mother's Day. Due to this being Peter and Francis, two people who have a dysfunctional relationship at best, the situation quickly gets out of hand with the house getting flooded.
- Ma Fille contains both a Mother and Father's Day chapter. The Father's Day chapter takes place first, early in the story, and focuses on a small family gathering between Joe (the titular father), his mother, and his daughter. The Mother's Day episode is about an older Katrina (the daughter) learning about her late Missing Mom.
- Adrian Mole: In Adrian's diaries, there is plenty of comment on these days, when somebody does or does not buy presents for their parents.
- In Secret Diary, Adrian's parents are separating, and Adrian's father advises Adrian to buy his mother something, as it might be the last time. When choosing a card, Adrian notes that every card has "wonderful" written on it somewhere.
- In a later year, Adrian doesn't buy his mother anything, so she is in a bad mood all morning. He relents later, buys her a card saying "Mummy I love you" (the only one left). This cheers his mother up, who doesn't mind at all when Adrian's father takes a bunch of tulips to his mother, and comes back five hours later smelling of drink.
- When Adrian's father is hogging the television to watch the lousy, stinking World Cup, he is sulking because Adrian has forgotten that it is Father's Day.
- In Growing Pains, various family members send cards to somebody else's mother; for example, Adrian's father sends a card signed "Pauline" to the mother of Adrian's mother. That year, Adrian is severely depressed, and does not send a card to his mother.
- All About Me: Episode 3 takes place on Father's Day, and has Rupinder completely forgetting about the holiday, much to her embarrassment. She eventually gives Colin a Father's Day gift of the Kama Sutra, which she had grabbed from the room of her half-sister Sima. He quickly figures out the ruse but does come to genuinely enjoy the book over time.
- Dennis the Menace: In the season 2 episode "Father's Day For Mr. Wilson", after celebrating Father's Day with his father, Dennis decides Mr Wilson needs his own Father's Day, even though he has no children. Thus, Dennis tries to do everything to have George enjoy his day. Luckily, one of Dennis' gifts helps George win a lawsuit.
- In Everybody Loves Raymond, Mother's Day arrives at a time when Marie and Debra have had a poisonous, climactic, argument and are not speaking to each other. Battle lines are drawn and a fierce war erupts where Marie makes it clear that as mother of Ray and Robert, her sons should spend the day, exclusively, with her. Ray, on the other hand, is married to Debra and aware they have three children. Debra's expectations are that, as a mother herself, her husband should spend Mother's Day with her, regardless of what his own mother thinks about it. This is not a good situation for him to be in.
- Flodder: In the Season 1 finale of the spin-off tv-series, Johnnie realizes too late he forgot it's Mother's Day. To make up for the fact that he has no present for his mother, he tells her that he will get married soon as a "present", which of course means he now has limited time to find a woman that wants to marry him so he can keep this promise.
- The Goldbergs: In "Smother's Day", Barry and Erica forget Mother's Day completely and hastily prepare some coupons for Beverly. Bev, tired of the two giving her only coupons over the years, decides to cash them all in at once, which is rough on Barry and Erica. But when they refuse to honor any more coupons, Beverly decides to take back all the stuff she's given them, including their clothes and food. To make up for it, the two decide to prepare her breakfast, which leaves the kitchen a mess, with the stove on fire and the dishwasher overflowing; Bev is touched by the gesture, nonetheless.
- The Golden Girls episode "Mother's Day" deals with the girls reminiscing about past Mother's Days while waiting for their own children to call them.
- The Nanny: "I Don't Remember Mama" revolves around Maxwell and the kids have their first Mother's Day without Sara, Gracie decides to enter a mother/daughter talent show. However Betty Jo and her mother Bobbi Jo point out that Grace shouldn't participate since Fran is Grace's nanny, Grace tearfully states that her biological mom just passed away.
- The Noddy Shop: "Part Of The Family" revolves around the kids preparing for Mother's Day when they meet a girl named Julie, who feels bitter whenever she hears people talk about moms.
- Songdrops has "The Mother's Day Song" and "The Father's Day Song", in which a kid tries to make an ideal day for their parent, but fails miserably, for instance, breaking the stove and accidentally getting paint on the carpet.
- My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale: Two episodes revolve around Pipp and Zipp celebrating "Mares' Day" (the In-Universe equivalent of Mother's Day) with their mother, Queen Haven.
- "Queens For A Day" has Pipp and Zipp, along with the rest of the Mane Five, take over all of Queen Haven's duties so she can get some time off as a Mares' Day gift to her.
- "Mare Family Mare Problems" has Pipp and Zipp plan out a whole day of activities with Haven, which gets derailed when she decides to bring along her new paramour, Alphabittle.
- Kevin & Kell: Over the years a few strips cover the topic of Mother's Daynote :
- In this
comic, Lindesfarne tells Rudy about her complicated history with Mother's Day, about how part of the reason she's an over-achiever is to try to get some affection from her distant mother Angelique, how her stepmother Kell accepted Lindesfarne for who she was, and how in a fit of irony, Kell now works for Angelique, who's trying to use her money and power to win Lindesfarne's affections. When Rudy asks who she gives her affections to in the end, Lindesfarne confims it's Kell, because Kell doesn't mind that Lindesfarne is nocturnal and that 'breakfast in bed' comes at six p.m.
- In the first
Mother's Day after Ralph is reunited with his long-lost daughter Corrie, he takes her to the grave of her mother Wanda (who died giving birth to her) so she could honor her mother's memory.
- Another instance
has the kids making breakfast for Kell, and utterly devastating the kitchen in the process, which Kell isn't so happy about.
- In this comic
Kell wakes up early in order to be the first to congratulate her sister-in-law Danielle on her first Mother's Day after giving birth to Francis.
- In this
- Scandinavia and the World: this
comic pokes fun at the fact that Britian celebrates Mother's Day earlier than other countries, as it shows Sister England upset that none of her 'child' countries remembered to get her anything on Britian's Mother's Day, only to be befuddled when Canada, Australia, and America come bearing gifts two months later on their Mother's Day.
- The Tourettes Guy's son prepares his father breakfast in bed for Father's Day. As his son tries to bring him his surprise meal, a glass falls off the tray, tumbles down the staircase, and shatters. Tourettes Guy is very ungrateful of this gesture.
Danny: Get the fuck out of here!Danny's Son: But Dad, it's Father's Day.Danny: Fuck off!Danny's Son: Dad, I spent 30 minutes making breakfast.Danny: You're an asshole!
- SuperMarioLogan:
- In "Mother's Day!", Bowser finds out from his mother that it's Mother's Day, and gives her a 10 dollar bill as a last-minute present. Just afterwards, he finds out about the Charleyyy and Friends DVD box set, which costs $9.99. Unfortunately, as he just spent the last of his money on his mother, he is unable to buy it. Bowser realizes that he has a son, Junior, who can get the box set for him. However, Junior doesn't get the box set for him because he's his dad, so Bowser gets Chef Pee Pee to pretend to be his wife.
- In "2 Tickets!", Junior wins two tickets to Punch in the Face-a-thon, and is having trouble deciding which of his two best friends gets the extra ticket; Joseph or Cody. He ends up having to Take a Third Option and gives his extra ticket to Bowser, since he forgot it was Father's Day and did not get him a present.
- Atomic Betty: Part of "Friends for Eternity" is about Betty planning on treating her mom to a special day on Mother's Day, but she gets called off on a routine mission to retrieve crystals on a remote planet inhabited by a strange unique little creature named Slirps. Despite her absence, her mother still had a great Mother's Day anyways by having time by herself.
- Arthur: The ending of "1001 Dads" takes place at a picnic during Father's Day which Buster surprises everybody with a balloon ride by his dad.
- Bluey has two.
- "The Show" is set on Mother's day. Bingo thinks she ruined her mum's day by dropping the breakfast tray, but Bluey gets the idea to put on a play about how their parents met to make up for it.
- "Perfect" is set on Father's day, and it has Bluey and Bingo trying to come up with pictures to draw for their Father's day cards.
- Bob's Burgers: For Mother's Day in "Mo Mommy, Mo Problems", Linda wants the family to do whatever she wants, and what she wants this year is to go to open houses pretending to be prospective buyers and eat the shrimp cocktails they serve. Things take a turn when Linda becomes too involved with a realtor and they look at a house whose owner knows what they're doing because Bob had met him before and told him, and whose mother is pretending to be a ghost to scare buyers away.
- Bobby's World:
- In "I Want My Mommy!", the Generic family take Martha to the Magicland amusement park to celebrate Mother's Day.
- In "Dad's Big Day", it's Father's Day, and while Martha, Kelly, and Derek are at the mall looking for a present for Howard, Bobby tries to make Father's Day memorable for Howard, who just wants to be left alone to watch a football game.
- Captain Flamingo: In "Flowers and Candy", Milo is trying to get rid of the weeds in his mother's garden as having a nice, beautiful garden will be a good Mother's Day gift. However, he realized that rather than pulling out the weeds, he instead was pulling out the flowers due to his confusion, which can lead to the weeds to start growing. He only had fifteen minutes to start over from scratch before his mother comes back from a birdwatching meeting, but just when he was about to do it, Max calls the Captain to help due to being concerned over Owen's uncontrollable sugar rush. Eventually near the end of the episode, after Milo lures Owen out of the candy store by tying a ball of sugary items to follow him back home, his hyperactive spinning torn down all of the weeds in the garden, just when his mother returned, making her proud, eventually rewarding them a chocolate treat. However, Owen declines eating it after consuming enough sugar today and suggests something healthier like carrots instead.
- Central Park: "Mother's Daze" focuses on Owen and his kids going all out for matriarch Paige on Mother's Day after years of, as Molly puts it, "phoning it in", and sending her on a scavenger hunt (because, as a reporter, she loves mysteries). In addition, Bitsy, whose mother is long dead, dresses her dog up like her mother and celebrates Mothers Day that way.
- Cyberchase: In "Mother's Day", the Cybersquad has to deliver some special Madre Bonita flowers to Motherboard as well as for Jackie to bring some of them for her mom on Mother's Day.
- Dennis the Menace in Mayday For Mother: In this animated special, Dennis tries to make a special gift for Alice for Mother's Day. When he finds out from her that her mother is deceased, he invites Mrs. Wilson to join his parents for a special brunch as Alice's honorary mother. This special is notably the first animated special based on Dennis The Menace, predating the 1986 animated series by five years.
- Dexter's Laboratory: In "Pslyghtly Psycho" it's Mother's Day and Dexter, Dee-Dee, and Dad try to give Mom breakfast in bed and otherwise do things for her all day long. Sadly, their acts of cleaning only lead to a bigger mess.
- Dora the Explorer: In "El Dia De Las Madres", Dora, Boots and their friends celebrate Mother's Day, and some of the characters' mothers (or, in Benny's case, grandmother) appear for the first time.
- Elena of Avalor: "Dia De Las Madres" is set on Mother's Day, with the plot centering around Elena trying to rally Luisa’s spirits after a revelation from the past causes Luisa to doubt her mothering skills.
- Futurama has the episode "Mother Day", with the twist that here it is a holiday where all robots honor their creator, Mom. This day Mom decides she wants to Take Over the World, and uses a remote control to send the robots on a destructive spree.
- Hercules: The Animated Series: "Hercules And The Parent's Weekend" has an analog of Mother's and Father's Day put together in Ancient Greece. The main conflict revolves around that Hercules wanted to see his natural parents (who are Gods) but instead his adopted parents, Amphitryon and Alcmene, show up. Not only Herc is disappointed that his blood relatives failed him but also afraid that Amphitryon and Alcmene will be Amazingly Embarrassing Parents.
- Hey Arnold!:
- In "Parents Day", Arnold grapples with his discomfort with bringing his grandparents to the class Parents Tournament Weekend, taking place to observe Parents' Day, since he doesn't have "real" parents. After a bad first day, where Big Bob Pataki calls him "Orphan Boy", Arnold asks his grandpa for the real story of what happened to his parents. Grandpa explains how there was some truth in the exaggerated adventure stories he told Arnold — his parents really did travel the world and save people as doctors, which was the reason they disappeared. note That night, Arnold dreams of his parents and his grandparents, coming to the conclusion that his grandparents count as his "real" parents, and he is proud to compete with them the next day.
- In "Road Trip", Helga makes her mom a very basic Mother's Day card in class at the beginning, complaining about how terrible her mom is. That weekend, she ends up stuck on a road trip with only her mom to visit Helga's grandma. Miriam tries to bond with Helga, but keeps getting them into worse and worse situations due to her terrible driving and overall ditzinessnote , escalating to a "Reason You Suck" Speech from Helga. However, Miriam impresses Helga by successfully riding a mechanical bull at the local pub and winning the grand prize in order to fix the car, revealing that she was a bull-riding champion as a girl. This prompts Helga to take an interest in her mom's life and continue the road trip as planned.
- Kim Possible: "Mother's Day" has Kim promise to spend the titular holiday with her Mom, while Ron's forced to clean the garage. Because evil never rests, Drakken attempts an evil scheme while pretending to be benevolent in front of his mother, so Kim's mother comes along for the mission instead of Ron.
- Looney Tunes: In "A Bear for Punishment", Ma and Junyer Bear try to celebrate Father's Day for Pa, who just wants some peace and quiet.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998): the show has two Father's Day themed episodes:
- Season 2's "A Very Special Blossom" has Blossom, in a moment of weakness, steal an expensive set of golf clubs to give to the professor as a Father's Day gift. When this gets the Professor arrested, she tries to pin the blame on Mojo Jojo.
- Season 6's "Custody Battle": on Father's Day, Mojo Jojo learns that HIM revived the Rowdyruff boys, and challenges him for custody over the kids, leading a competition to see which one of them is eviller.
- Magic Adventures of Mumfie: "Pinkey's Garden" has Pinkey try to grow flowers to give to her mother on Mother's Day.
- Molly of Denali: "Mother's Day Mission" is a Mother's Day-themed episode. In it, Walter sets up a Mother's Day surprise for Layla.
- Phineas and Ferb: The episode "Father's Day" features the titular boys building an old-fashioned biplane so that Lawrence and Reginald can continue their tradition of flying in one every Father's Day. Meanwhile, Doof finds his family's old lawn gnome and travels to Drusselstein to give to his dad, but he trips on the doorstep and the gnome shatters to pieces.
- Ready Jet Go!:
- "Mars Rock for Mom" takes place on Mother's Day.
- "Asteroids, Meteors, and Meteorites" takes place on Father's Day.
- Rocky Kwaterner: In "Perfect Gift", the Tikka siblings realize they forgot it's Mother's Day, and hastily try to find their mom a good gift before she is due to leave on a trip. Things get more complicated when the kids can't agree on a gift, and thus decide to a competition where they each give mom a gift and see which one she likes best.
- Rosie's Rules: It is Mother's Day in "Rosie Maps it Out," where Rosie wants to take her mom somewhere.
- Rugrats: The season 4 episode "Mother's Day" is set on Mother's Day, and serves as a Day in the Limelight episode for Chuckie, whose mom passed away at some point prior to the start of the show; a fact that was hinted at before but actually gets confirmed in this episode.
- The Simpsons:
- "The Fat and the Furriest" begins on Mother's Day where Homer and the kids buy "Kitchen Carnival" for Marge as a gift.
- "See Homer Run" begins on Father's Day when Bart gives Homer a Swiss Army knife and Lisa gives him a homemade book about them as unicorns. Homer attempts to hang the book on the fridge but it slipped, got wet by the fridge's water despenser and was destroyed. Lisa becomes devastated by this accident.

