Motherless Day Vancouver Is a Pity Party You Might Actually Want to Attend

In Disney movies, when a parent dies, it happens neatly and quickly between songs to inspire the hero(ine) on to their adventure. But real life skips the orchestral swell and gives you a grief that sucker-punches you over and over, all while you’re expected to continue with your everyday laundry and emails.

“Grief can be messy and weird and unexpected,” says Nikki Lewis, who lost her mom at 18 and co-founded The Parentless Club with Amanda Katz in Toronto before bringing it to Vancouver. “It can hit you on a random afternoon. We’re here for the big moments, the milestones and every day in between.”

Death is something we collectively do not talk about, even though it’s something that will eventually impact us all.

READ MORE: Reason to Love Vancouver #25: Because Death Is Bringing People Together

“It still feels like this taboo topic that people tiptoe around or avoid,” says Lewis. “But it’s not a problem to solve: it’s an ongoing relationship we have with ourselves and the people we lost.”

The Parentless Club is all about that relationship. The community is, as Lewis puts it, “for folks who are navigating life after the loss of a parent… so they can really feel seen and heard.”

Motherless Day at Kou Studio in 2025. Photo courtesy of Parentless Club.

The name is intentionally blunt.

“We always say we’re the club no one wants to be part of,” she says. “But if you are in it, you shouldn’t have to feel alone.”

Lewis and Katz, former summer-camp pals who both lost their mothers earlier than they expected, went looking for support and mostly found groups that felt, as Lewis puts it, “very heavy, like sitting in a circle being forced to share.” So they built the thing they both wished had existed: a space that treats grief honestly but still makes room for dark humour, levity and tiny moments of joy.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Parentless Club (@parentlessclub)

On Instagram (@parentlessclub), the club leans into that balance, sharing crowd-sourced “best things to say to someone who is grieving,” a “Dear Someone Else’s Mom” series for the advice you no longer get at home and painfully relatable memes, which, let’s face it, are doing serious heavy lifting for millennial and Gen Z mental health.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Parentless Club (@parentlessclub)

Its flagship event is Motherless Day, “the pity party you actually want to go to,” held each May in Vancouver. This year’s event takes place on Sunday, May 10, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at La Fabrique St-George Winery in Mount Pleasant. The Vancouver event is expected to grow from roughly 25 attendees last year to about 45 this year, with tickets available through Eventbrite and a wait-list possible if it sells out.

Instead of white-knuckling it through card aisles and brunch menus, guests will move through a more free-flowing day of activities and conversation. This year’s gathering includes collaging with SAD Magazine using vintage frames, charm bracelet making with KL Charmed And Co., intentional breathwork, live typewriter poetry by Poesy, and a flower experience with Flower House Studios, where guests can share a piece of advice their mom once gave them in exchange for stems to take home. Guests can also write something they want to let go of on planted seed cards, a small gesture meant to turn grief into something living.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Parentless Club (@parentlessclub)

There will also be nourishing bites from Anchor Eatery, focaccia from Mimi’s Focaccia, plus wine and charcuterie from La Fabrique St-George. Each attendee receives a curated gift bag with items from brands supporting the event, with this year’s listed partners including Hälsa Spa, Formula Fig, HB Face, Bombas, Poppi and YARD Athletics.

Some people come with a friend. Others arrive solo and end up deep in conversation with someone who understands oddly specific grief math like, I’ve now lived more years without my mom than with her.

“They didn’t know anything else about each other,” says Lewis. “That one line was enough.”

Mainly geared toward people in their 20s to 40s, the event is aimed at those who have lost a mom or mother figure, though plus-ones are welcome with a purchased ticket. And while Motherless Day remains its biggest annual event, The Parentless Club has also been expanding into year-round programming, including things like collage nights, floral workshops and run clubs, creating more ways for grieving people to connect outside the hardest dates on the calendar.

The club’s goal remains simple.

“No one should or will have to go through grief alone,” says Lewis. “We might not be with the parents we’ve lost, but at least now we have each other, and that’s more than we had before.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Parentless Club (@parentlessclub)

Follow @parentlessclub for all the deets and love.

Motherless Day Vancouver 2026

When: May 10, 2026 (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
Where: La Fabrique St-George
Cost: $65 (waitlist if sold-out)
Who it’s for: People who have lost a mom or mother figure, with plus-ones welcome via ticket purchase

Can’t make it but want to support those attending? Why not donate to The Parentless Club in someone’s honour—your mother would be proud!