Facebook kicks off Mother’s Day weekend with flower reactions, cards, stickers, masks and more

You may have noticed the purple flower reaction has returned to Facebook, allowing you to respond to posts with a “thankful” sentiment instead of a Like. As it turns out, the addition is only one of several features Facebook has planned for this Mother’s Day weekend here in the U.S., and throughout the month where the day is celebrated elsewhere in the world.

The purple flower was introduced last year around Mother’s Day – only a few months after Facebook expanded the Like button to include a further range of reactions, such as love, haha, wow, sad, and angry. Initially only tested in a few markets before a wider rollout, the flower was also the first time the social network tried out the idea of using temporary reaction like this.

This year, the flower reaction is again being made broadly available and it will have a special effect. On mobile, when you tap on “thankful” when reacting to a post, more flowers will appear to wrap themselves around the post in an animated sequence.

In addition to the reaction, Facebook is adding Mother’s Day-themed masks and frames to its Facebook Camera, available when you swipe right on the News Feed. These will be live on Mother’s Day, Sunday May 14th. Instagram users, however, can decorate their photos now with a new set of Mother’s Day stickers, which work through direct messaging (Instagram Direct) and Instagram’s Stories.

Also on Sunday, Facebook’s News Feed will remind you that it’s Mother’s Day, and offer you the option to send a digital greeting card through the network.

Facebook had first introduced a program in December that places these sorts of informational greetings at the top of the News Feed, alerting you to holidays and other historical or cultural events. The program kicked off with a set of holiday cards aimed at those who celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or just the winter season in general.

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Facebook said users should expect to see the option to send cards for other holidays in the future, too, and made good on that promise with Valentine’s cards in February. The new Mother’s Day cards will also go live on Sunday, and some can be personalized with your own photos.

Finally, Facebook is allowing users in the U.S. to start fundraisers to donate to favorite causes in honor of your mom. You can raise funds for nonprofits, friends, or anyone or anything else that’s not on Facebook. This last one is live now.