Each year, the second Sunday in May is considered Mother’s Day, a holiday celebration begun by Anna M. Jarvis of Grafton, WV in 1907 to honor her mother. Anna Jarvis spent a good part of her life after the death of her mother in a crusade to have the date declared a national holiday, finally winning over President Wilson in 1914 who signed a Congressional resolution declaring "The American mother is the greatest source of the country’s strength and inspiration."

Approximately 7 billion greeting cards are purchased annually by consumers, generating more than $7.5 billion in retail sales. The ink-on-paper industry has experienced continued growth for the past 60 years (since 1993, nearly 20 percent growth in retail sales). When the GCA was formed in 1941, there were only about 100 card publishers with approximately $43 million in wholesale card sales. Currently, there are now more than 2,500 greeting card publishers in the U.S., ranging from major corporations to small family-run organizations. GCA publisher member companies account for approximately 95 percent of the industry market share.

Growing trends in the greeting card industry include the increase in sales of everyday-general friendship cards, a growing number of greeting card publishers and the need for more emotion-based me-to-you messages in the form of greeting cards. Today, there are cards for every relationship, every occasion, every ethnicity, every age group, every gender and every special interest group. Greeting cards are available for more than 20 different holidays, including holidays of specific ethnic origins. Greeting cards are being sold in more outlets than ever before, as well as being purchased and sent over the Internet. A single greeting card has the power to touch more people in more ways than any other form of communication, while conveying or eliciting a wide range of emotions.