Mother's Day 2026 is closing in fast, and restaurants and fast-food chains are leaning into the holiday with a mix of free items, discounted meals and gift card bonuses tied to Sunday, May 10. The offers run from breakfast stacks and doughnut boxes to brunch menus and bonus cards, with some deals live only for a few days and others limited to dining in or online orders.
One of the clearest bargains comes from Arby's, which is celebrating Mother's Day with its latest Meat & 3 Box for $7.99. The meal includes a choice of entrée, curly fries, mozzarella sticks, peach cobbler and a drink. The Capital Grille is taking a more formal route with a special Mother's Day brunch on Sunday, May 10, offering a two-course prix fixe meal with cocktails and a menu that includes blueberry bread, smoked salmon and avocado toast, New England clam chowder, field greens salad and a choice of lobster frittata, filet mignon or pan-seared salmon.
Gift card deals are part of the push too. The Cheesecake Factory offered a Mother's Day gift card promotion from April 27 through May 10, giving shoppers a complimentary $10 bonus card for every $50 in gift cards purchased online. That bonus card can be used from May 11 through June 3. IHOP is also leaning on the holiday with Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pancakes, a stack of four chocolate chip pancakes topped with creamy cheesecake mousse, chocolate sauce, fresh strawberries, whipped topping and chocolate chips. For every $25 in gift cards purchased, customers get a $5 bonus card.
Other chains are keeping the offers short and targeted. From May 7-10, Krispy Kreme is selling Minis for Mom, a limited-time collection of mini doughnuts that mixes two new flavors with two fan favorites in a 16-count box. Maple Street Biscuit Company brought back its fan-favorite Five & Dime deal on May 9, putting a biscuit sandwich with hand-breaded chicken, bacon, cheddar, an egg and gravy on a scratch-made biscuit at $5.10. Moms dining in on Mother's Day will receive $5.10 to put toward a future visit.
Denny's is running one of the most time-sensitive promotions. From May 9 through May 11, customers can get $10 off a $30 breakfast order when they order online or in the app with the code MOMDAY. During the week following Mother's Day, moms can also bring in a hand-drawn IOU coupon from a loved one for a buy-one-entrée, get-one-free deal in restaurant only. Another limited offer comes from a coffee chain serving a free 7 Brewsie, a custom koozie designed to keep a drink cold all day, when customers buy any two medium or large drinks on Mother's Day.
That patchwork of promotions is what makes this year's round-up useful: the deals are spread across chains, but the rules are not the same. Some require gift card purchases, some are dine-in only, some are app or online orders, and some only last a single weekend. For families making brunch plans or looking for a last-minute present, the window is now.
