When it comes to Christmas, there are three types of people:
1. There are those who did all their gift shopping months ago, have stocked the freezer with everything they need for the main meal, and, as the frantic run up to the big day continues apace, can smugly congratulate themselves they don’t need to panic about anything.
2. In the middle, we have those who don’t give it much thought until well after Thanksgiving, but who then get their act together and head to the stores before things get too crazy busy.
3. And then there’s the other extreme: those who leave everything until the last minute.
They walk amongst us, but how many are there? Smart coupon, promo codes and deal finder, CouponBirds, decided to find out and surveyed 3,150 respondents to find out just how many people wait until Christmas Eve to buy their partners a gift for the next day. And, perhaps shockingly, they found that over one-fifth of men in Georgia (22%, or extrapolated to over 415,000 men) wait until Christmas Eve to complete their purchases of gifts for their partners. On the other hand, 10% percent of women were guilty of the same festive panic buy.
Infographic illustrating survey results
The survey also found that 54% of us admit that buying our partner’s Christmas gift causes anxiety – What if they don’t like it? What if it’s the wrong size/shape/color? If it’s a fragrance, what if they don’t like the smell?
1 in 3 admit they have secretly returned a gift their partner gave them for Christmas. Which is quite enterprising, we have to admit — but better to have the money to buy something you really want than pretend you like what you were given.
Over half of Georgians say they self-gift at Christmas. At least that way, you definitely know what you’re getting, you definitely know that you’ll love it, and, hey, it’s been a tough year — you’ve earned it.
24% of couples say they keep a mental note of how much their partner spends on them at Christmas compared to how much they spent on their partner. This sounds a little bit joyless — after all, it should be a gift from the heart, not a gift of equal value — but at least if your partner regularly spends under $30 on you when you’re splashing out several times that, you can amend your spending habits accordingly. And couples say they spend on average $141 on their partner at Christmas — which sounds like a decent amount, enough for something they’ll hopefully appreciate. Although a thrifty one-third say they will delay their partner’s Christmas gift shopping til the post-holiday sales start.
Finally, high inflation means 52% say they will be spending less on their partner this Christmas.
“You don’t need to spend a lot to make your partner feel treasured. Sometimes it really is the little things that count” says Tricia Smith of CouponBirds.
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