People are commiserating over ‘Maycember’: Why this month has families feeling financially strapped

Have you heard of “Maycember”? According to social media, it’s a term that describes the hectic nature and mounting expenses families face around May, particularly parents with children, due to the increased cost of everything from graduation gifts to summer camps and family vacations, which combined with inflation (and tariffs), have made May feel extra expensive, just like the winter holiday season.

That’s as total spending for college and graduation gifts is expected to reach a record $6.8 billion in 2025, up from $6.1 billion in 2024, according to the National Retail Federation. And U.S. consumer spending was up in May 2024, even as prices remained stable; the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index was unchanged last May but still marked a 2.6% year-over-year rise, according to financial news site Finimize. (On the consumer side, spending increased by 0.2%, maintaining momentum from April’s 0.1% rise, aided by a 0.5% bump in personal income.)

“May often feels like a second December because so many expenses pile up at once,” Isabel Barrow, executive director of financial planning at Edelman Financial Engines, told CNBC.

Some of those expenses include graduation, Mother’s Day, camp, summer travel, and weddings. Some families might also have higher grocery bills when children come home from college to visit for July 4, or throughout summer until Labor Day weekend. And the end of spring brings a flurry of activities that mark the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, which can often require paying up for tickets, gear, or other related expenses, including school events like dance or music recitals, kids’ sports tournaments, field trips, and end-of-year projects.

But just where exactly did the term “Maycember” come from, anyway? The word got out after the Holderness family, popular on social media, posted a funny YouTube video that went viral, garnering 270,000-plus views. The family has since posted another Maycember parody. Meanwhile, a number of parents have also taken to social media to post and commiserate about Maycember; a recent Instagram post from Scary Mommy got more than 23,000 likes and even more shares.

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