Photos by Dana Rene Bowler / Star staff Owner of Ventura's Trufflehounds Fine Chocolates, Claudia Gilman, left, and manager Meghan Madrid make a batch of truffles Wednesday. Gilman expects business at the Ventura store to pick up for Mothers Day, but she says it's her slowest holiday.

Trufflehound's owner Claudia Gilman says she expects to be busy the day before Mother's Day, selling about twice as many sales for Mother's Day.

Vonder Gray knows she's lucky.

For Mother's Day, the Ojai artist has been spoiled by her grown children, who in the past two years have taken her to Hawaii and given her a laptop. This year, they took her on a five-day vacation to Mexico.

Gray, who has worked in retail, says Mother's Day is not a big holiday for most stores. It's not so much about buying gifts as it is about spending time with loved ones, she said.

Roughly 84 percent of consumers will celebrate Mother's Day this year, spending an average of $138.63 — down only pennies from $139.14 last year — according to the National Retail Federation. Sales are expected to total $15.8 billion.

"It's not surprising that we didn't see an increase in consumer spending this year," given rising costs for food and gas, and weakness in the housing sector, said Kathy Grannis, spokeswoman for the NRF.

Survey results were mostly unchanged from last year, save the types of purchases that consumers plan to make. The poll found consumers are more interested in quality, not quantity.

Instead of purchasing a combination of, for instance, flowers, a book and gardening tools, many consumers are investing in one bigger item, such as a camera or digital photo frame, Grannis said.

"Being they are stretched a little thin right now, it's important to still buy mom something, but they want it to be of lasting quality," Grannis said.

The survey indicates there will be a significant jump in spending on electronics and jewelry, with projections of $1.2 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. Spending in other categories is expected to be flat or down.

Ceci Lopez, an Oxnard florist, doesn't expect Mother's Day sales to make much of a dent compared to other holidays.

"Mother's Day is a big day, but you can't compare it to Valentine's Day," said Lopez, owner of Flowers by Ceci in Oxnard.

She spent $2,000 on flowers for Valentine's Day and sold out. For Mother's Day, she plans to spend about $700, mostly for carnations and Gerber daisies.

Since January, her flowers sales are off 50 percent from last year. "The economy is killing us," Lopez said.

At Trufflehounds Fine Chocolates in Ventura, Mother's Day is the slowest holiday, said owner Claudia Gilman.

"I think some people are still trying to figure out what month Mother's Day is," she said.

The shop, which sells freshly made, natural sweets with no preservatives, will be busy the day before Mother's Day, fetching twice the number of sales than on regular days. People often wait until the last minute to buy, so they aren't tempted to eat the gifts themselves, she said.

Customers will probably buy smaller items, spending a maximum of $20, Gilman said.

"Customers say, It's mom, she doesn't expect much,' " Gilman said.

Still, Gilman expects sales for the holiday to be up from last year, unshaken by the economic downturn.

"My business is considered somewhat of a luxury," she said. "It still falls under a price point that people can handle. It's a nice gift, but it doesn't break the bank."

That appeals to shoppers who want to treat the women in their lives to something special without busting their budgets.

Ventura resident Steve Perren said he planned to purchase for his wife "candy and a card, as a matter of self-preservation."

Christine Dahl of Santa Barbara said she will spend less this year, and plans to send her mom a bouquet of irises.

"After a while, what do you get them, when they already have everything?" she asked.

Westlake Village residents Nadine Larson and Shoshana Brower agree that it's not about receiving, but about spending time with family. Mother's Day is the one time a year that Brower, a vegetarian, will eat meat, because it's tradition for her family to barbecue filet mignon.

Last year started off disappointingly for Larson because her out-of-state son told her he wouldn't be able to make the trip. On the way to dinner with her other son, she saw a man holding a cardboard sign that said something like, "Please take me to dinner." It was her out-of-state son, who had flown in to surprise her.

"That was awesome," she said.

The holiday might be bittersweet for those whose mothers have passed away. Briana Traylor of Ventura lost her mother eight years ago, but said she will give flowers to her grandmother and make jewelry for her mother-in law.

She's not sure what her family will do for Mother's Day, but they'll spend less than in previous years. As opposed to splurging on a spa day, she said they'll probably have a picnic or go to the beach.

"The economy sort of has you in that position," she said.

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