Consumers will be approaching holiday gift-giving with more restraint than last year.
According to the latest Holiday Spending Survey from The Conference Board, the average consumer plans to spend about $990 on holiday-related purchases. This figure represents a 6.9% decrease from $1,063 in 2024 and is close to holiday spending plans from 2023.
The decline is particularly noticeable in both gift budgets, which fell 3.9% to $650, and non-gift items such as food and decorations, which dropped by 12% to $340. After adjusting for inflation, these figures are at multiyear lows, according to a press release issued Tuesday (Nov. 11).
“Several years of relatively high inflation have raised price levels and squeezed consumers’ wallets,” commented Conference Board Senior Economist of Global Indicators Stephanie Guichard in the release.
What’s interesting to note is that younger and wealthier consumers are cutting back the most on holiday spending. Contrast that with those over 65 and households earning under $50,000 expecting to slightly increase their spending compared to last year.
Per the release, online shopping remains a popular channel for holiday purchases, with 43% of consumers expecting to buy at least half of their gifts online. This remains unchanged from the previous year.
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What gifts will be in demand? Conference Board data indicates that product preferences show a rise in buying toys and games, travel packages and gift cards. Less favored compared to last year are books, music, DVDs, tools and sporting goods.
And when it comes to holiday travel expenditures, only about 30% of consumers plan to travel during the season, the press release said. This is a slight decline from 2024 and indicates more people plan to either stay home or close to home for festivities.
Additionally, consumers are highly price-conscious about new tariffs being imposed on imported goods, with many intending to either buy fewer items or seek out discounts or promotions if prices are inflated by tariffs.
The overall conservative spending trend should come as no surprise. A PYMNTS Intelligence study from this spring, “Shoppers Pull Back as Half of US Consumers Expect Tariffs to Raise Prices at Double the Rate of Inflation,” found that more than 8 in 10 consumers are either buying less, “trading down” or stretching out payments.