Is Father's Day getting more respect? Depends on who you ask

Key Points

• Rapper Plies and Reddit users decry Father’s Day as underappreciated, comparing its clout to Groundhog Day and lamenting the lack of corporate freebies.
• Chains like Shake Shack, Wendy’s and Burger King are offering buy-one-get-one deals for Father’s Day, but promotions remain far less widespread than those on Mother’s Day.
• The National Retail Federation and Prosper predict a record-breaking $24 billion will be spent this Father’s Day—an average of $199.38 per person—narrowing last year’s spending gap with Mother’s Day.
• Nevertheless, Mother’s Day still leads with $34.1 billion in spending (an average of $259.04), leaving a $10.1 billion gap, and a RetailMeNot survey even forecasts a drop in Father’s Day spending this year.

Is Father’s Day starting to get a little more attention as a holiday?

Not if you check some social media. In an expletive-filled post on TikTok and X, rapper Plies, best known for his collaborations with T-Pain and DJ Khaled on hits “Shawty” and “I'm So Hood,” complains about how Father’s Day on Sunday carries about as much clout as Groundhog Day, saying it might as well be removed from the calendar.

“ The disrespect to Father’s Day is real ” declares a separate Reddit post, which adds, “We get it, fathers aren’t important to corporations, but damn, can’t I at least get some free donuts or chicken strips?”

Perhaps Shake Shack’s buy one Double ShackBurger get a second one free in stores and on its app through Monday doesn’t count? Or Wendy’s buy one get one free deal on premium sandwiches through its app on Sunday? Or Burger King’s buy one get one free deals on Whoppers through the app?

It’s true the offers aren’t quite as broad as on Mother’s Day.

But the spending disparity with Mother's Day may be narrowing, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The organizations forecast that a record-breaking $24 billion will be spent on Father’s Day this year, surpassing the previous mark of $22.9 billion in 2023. They say consumers plan to spend an average of $199.38 on their dads and father figures this year.

Of course, that still pales in comparison to this year's $259.04 average planned for moms, which totals about $34.1 billion, or $10.1 billion more than Father’s Day spending. That is a 21% smaller gap than the $12.8 billion difference there was between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day spending in 2023.

Other studies disagree, though. RetailMeNot forecasts a $25 drop in spending for dads this year, down to about $232 per shopper, while moms get an average of $360 per shopper, up $43 this year.