Team Pick: Mamas Day Cards for All Your Mama Needs

cover photo by Chucha Marquez

This one’s for you, people with dead moms and moms or mom-type figures that Hallmark doesn’t make cards about and stores don’t make promotions for:

My mom died seven years ago, and this time of year is always daunting. It’s always felt lonely when I’ve been surrounded by people casually (sometimes resentfully) talking about what they’re doing for their moms. It’s also grating when businesses take the two weeks before Mother’s Day to berate the general public to buy stuff to show your mom you care. But even though it sometimes feels like it, I know I’m not the only one who experiences this, which is why I was so thrilled to find Mamas Day last year. We’ve talked about this campaign before, but it’s worth remembering on a weekend that can be difficult for some people and some families.

Strong Families’ declaration of Mamas Day recognizes that, “being a Mama is a profound act of community that should be acknowledged and celebrated.” To me, this is comforting. I can celebrate my Mama with my family and friends, or by myself, and I can also celebrate the other people in my life that nurture and love me.

Strong Families’ series of ecards and blogs from all kinds of Mamas and all kinds of kids celebrates family and community resilience. Mamas Day honors mothers’ work, in and outside of the home, and the power in mother/child relationships. Mamas Day breaks the silence Mother’s Day holds for incarcerated and immigrant moms who are separated from their children, and this year, Mamas Day has centered the narratives of teen Mamas through #NoTeenShame, a movement to destigmatize and support young parents.

And no, the lack of an apostrophe isn’t an error:

“Mamas Day is not just grammatically correct, it’s also a total embodiment of our hopes and goals for this campaign. Mamas Day shifts the frame from a singular and possessive celebration of a mother’s day to a collective celebration of a day about Mamas. In a year when everyone is talking about “leaning in,” Mamas Day helps us celebrate and lift up how many mamas lean on networks of support.”

Mamas Day cards show so many different iterations of Mama relationships: Mamas and babies at a political rallies, two Mama hens in a nest with their chicks, Mamas of all races and ages and gender presentations kissing and hugging their children. A lot of their cards don’t show people at all, they just have images representing love, connection, growth and power. All of them have space for customizable text, so you can decide what the picture means for you and your Mama, whoever that person is.

I love Mamas Day because I don’t feel like I have to awkwardly try and squish my own life around to try and make it applicable. Happy Mamas Day to all the Mamas!

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Maddie

Autostraddle staff writer. Copy editor. Fledgling English muffin maker. Temporary turtle parent. Zine creator. Swings enthusiast. Political human who cares a lot about healthcare and queer anti-carceral feminisms. I asked my friend to help me write this bio and they said, "Good-natured. Friend. Earth tones." Another friend said, "Flannel babe. Vacuum lover. Kind." So. Find me on Twitter or my website.

Maddie has written 100 articles for us.

7 Comments

  1. I don’t understand how the absence of an apostrophe could still make this grammatically correct… If they want it to be a collective celebration, why can’t they just refer to it as Mamas’ Day???

  2. These are great Maddie! I’m a bit late but I checked the article out anyway and I’m glad I did. I wonder if they’ll make some for the upcoming high school grads.

Comments are closed.