Taking mum out for lunch on Mother’s Day remains the most popular way to show her you love her, new research shows.

Australians will Spend $1.36 billion celebrating Mother’s Day this year, with an average mum having $88 lavished on her, according to IBISWorld research.

Total Spending is forecast to rise 3.9 per cent compared to last year, but the nature of gifts appears to be changing.

“While Mother’s Day is certainly an occasion to spoil mothers …there’s a feeling that to spend money on something materialistic is not as meaningful as taking mum out or buying some flowers or making her a card,” said Naren Sivasailam, an economic analyst with IBISWorld.

“I think consumers are generally quite reticent to spend on things that are not particularly necessary.”

The research found that eating out will account for 21.6 per cent of Total Spending this Sunday, with Australians expected to fork out $294 million in total.

Mr Sivasailam said despite the turbulent world economy consumers were still prepared to splash out on Mother’s Day, but they have changed what they spend their money on.

“Over the last three years in the global economic climate, I think it’s fundamentally altered the way people are thinking about spending money.”

Consumer spending has jumped significantly for items such as gift certificates and online vouchers, with sales up more than 10 per cent from last year at $166 million.