When the winter holidays come around, most Americans will not only spend time with family and friends, but they’ll also spend a lot of money.
A survey from the National Retail Federation, a trade group for U.S. retailers, found that the average amount each person will spend on gifts, decorations, food, and other holiday-related items this year is $902. This is true for the 92% of U.S. adults who plan to celebrate the holidays.
That’s $27 more than last year, $16 more than in 2019, and the most optimistic guess since 2016. The federation says that this year’s high spending is mostly due to a $21 rise in the amount people are spending on gifts, mostly for family members. This year, about $641 of the $902 total budget is set aside for gifts, up from $620 in 2023.
Although people haven’t finished shopping yet, a separate poll from the federation says that about 157 million people will shop on Super Saturday or Panic Saturday, the Saturday before Christmas.
A real Christmas tree is one of the most expensive things people buy this time of year, and they’re not getting cheaper either. A representative for the National Christmas Tree Association told CBS News earlier this month that the average price of a Christmas tree has gone up from $75 last year to between $80 and more than $100 this year.
Prices for Christmas trees can change based on when and where people buy them. One grower told CBS, “It’s more expensive the closer you get to the city.”
Square, a business that makes software for sales systems, says that most Christmas trees were bought around Black Friday in 2023 and sold for an average price of $112. The two Saturdays after that were also popular for getting trees, even though the average price dropped to $105 and $101 each time. Prices dropped a lot by Christmas Eve, when it was the best time to buy a tree. More than 90% of the season’s trees had already been bought, and the average price of a tree was only $55.
The holiday season runs from November 1 to December 31. The National Retail Federation predicts that spending will hit more than $979 billion and as high as $989 billion, which would be a new record. This is an increase of between 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023.
The main reason given by the union is the rise in online shopping, which is expected to continue to grow this year as it did last year.
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