Hallmark holiday

English

Alternative forms

• hallmark holiday

Etymology

From the Hallmark Cards greeting card company.

Noun

Hallmark holiday (plural Hallmark holidays)

1. (derogatory, US) An ostensible holiday, or, by extension, any occasion, invented or popularized for profit.
   • 1999, Karen Rauch Carter, Jeff Fessler, Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 88:

     See? Valentine's Day is not just a Hallmark holiday after all.

   • 2001, Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 224:

     […] that the whole funeral and gravestone thing was just a racket, was this ridiculous tradition, rooted in commerce, a Hallmark holiday sort of thing, […]

   • 2008, Holly Chamberlin, Tuscan Holiday, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 8:

     Honestly, it didn't much matter to me that Marina had forgotten Mother's Day, though I did feel bad on my mother's behalf. As any parent can tell you, what hurts far more than no card on a Hallmark holiday are the casual slights, the eye rolls your child thinks you don't see, the muttered "whatevers," the unasked-for-and-unwanted criticism of your clothing, your speech habits, your existence.