I’m always very curious and sometimes surprised at how much Americans spend on holiday gifts.
For Christmas 2005, I had a banner year, receiving my very own lap top from my sweet husband. Not only was I thrilled at the gift, but I had to smile at his frugality. The laptop was purchased from Apple reconditioned, which means he saved significant bucks. And, since I use it almost exclusively for my freelance writing, it is a big tax write off. Whoo hoo.
After that splurge, we got back to basics for this past 2006 holiday season, getting things that were wanted, but that were quite a bit less in price. We were being a bit more frugal.
What did you spend on gifts? Did you spend more or less money than you thought you would spend?
American Research Group polled shoppers in November who projected that they would spend about $907 on holiday gifts. That seems awfully high to me! And if it is by person, I would imagine that amount would at least double for a family (guessing at two adults doing the shopping at $907 per person, but of course families come in many shapes and sizes, so it could be even more or maybe less).
That $907 number is less than what Americans said they would spend in previous recent years. In 2005, Americans said they would spend $942, a change of four percent more. In 2004, Americans polled predicted they would spend an average of $1,004.
Hasn’t the media been saying this year was the banner year for gift shopping? That would lead me to think that Americans spent more not less.
While I haven’t found any numbers for the amount that the average American actually spent on gifts this year, I wonder if it came close to the poll predictions. Did people actually spend more than they said they would?
What do you think?
To see the report by the American Research Group, Inc., click here.
Related Articles:
Is Buying in Bulk Bad for Your Budget?