How Much Did You Spend for Holiday Gifts?

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

13 Jan 2007 07:23 AM

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.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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Julie Gentry (5915) 14 Jan 2007 03:32 AM

We always promise ourselves that we're going to cut back. Ha! We actually did cut back on the NUMBER of presents. Last year, they actually got BORED with opening presents. I did things pretty frugally, but we still spent quite a bit. The Wii was a big purchase, but I got it at cost (no markup) by sleeping on the Wal*Mart sidewalk (that's another story!). The iPod we got cheaply by using Foohy points. We had to bite the bullet on the DS Lite because there were no deals. Most of the other stuff, we bought online using Google checkout. They had a $10 off $30 deal, and a lot of companies were sweetening it (Buy.com upped it to $20 off $30!). Overall, I think we spent about the American average *s*. But we ended up with some incredible presents.

Mary Ann Romans (26791) 14 Jan 2007 04:49 AM

Julie,

It sounds like you got some great deals! Please be my mentor!

Julie Gentry (5915) 14 Jan 2007 05:56 PM

LOL! YOUR mentor? I read your blogs for ideas!

Mary Ann Romans (26791) 15 Jan 2007 06:12 AM

Oh no, the pressure! Seriously, I love all of the deals you have posted.