Father's Day is on Sunday. Here are nine things you may not have known about the holiday and DAD CULTURE . . .
1. It's written as Father's Day . . . with the apostrophe after the "R".
The holiday's creator wanted it to be Fathers' Day with the apostrophe after the "S" . . . but Congress put the apostrophe after the "R" when they established it as an official holiday. (It also aligns with Mother's Day this way.)
2. It was first proposed by a woman. A woman from Washington state named Sonora Smart Dodd wanted to create a Mother's Day for dads. And because of her, Washington held the first Father's Day on July 19th, 1910.
3. It didn't become an official holiday until 1972. President Nixon was the one who officially declared it a holiday. Mother's Day, on the other hand, was made official in 1914.
4. Father's Day is typically the fourth-most popular holiday for greeting cards . . . behind Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day.
5. The official flower of Father's Day is the rose. And a red rose is supposed to signify that your father is living, while a white rose means he's passed away.
6. Ties might date back to 221 B.C. When China's first emperor and his terracotta army were discovered, each sculpture was wearing a necktie.
7. Only about 50% of all Father's Day cards are purchased for people's DADS. Nearly 15% of Father's Day cards are purchased for husbands. Other recipients include grandfathers, sons, brothers, and uncles.
8. Americans are expected to spend a record $22.9 billion on Father's Day this year. That's more than DOUBLE what we spent just 12 years ago. But that's still LESS than Mother's Day, when we spent an estimated $35.7 billion.
9. Dads overwhelmingly view being a parent as an important aspect of their personal identity. 85% of fathers with children under 18 say being a parent is the most or one of the most important aspects of who they are as a person.
(Wikipedia / The Daily Meal / Education.com / Alder & Cox / NRF / Pew Research)