This year, American children had a full extra month to dream of rainbow bunnies and Easter Egg Hunts; while parents used that time to plan and spend money on their Easter celebrations. According to the recent National Retail Federation's annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, Americans this year are expected to hit an all-time high on spending this Easter holiday. The survey showed 81.3 percent of consumers that are planning to celebrate Easter this year are expected to spend $152 per person on candy, food, decorations, gifts and other Easter items.
A breakdown of the predicted high spending figure reveals that $2.6 billion, 89 percent, will go towards candy and $5.8 billion, 87 percent, will be spent on holiday food.
Thank goodness for credit cards
Further study of the survey showed that $3.3 billion will be spent on clothing, 2.9 billion on presents, and 1.1 billion on Easter decorations. This is an astonishing amount of money being spent on one holiday, considering that many consumers are complaining of high product prices, low wages and high taxes. It appears that with an extra month to shop for Easter a lot of consumers have engaged in impulse buying and find it far too easy to add purchases to their credit cards. And it does give a complete understanding on why credit card debt studies show that by the end of 2017, American consumers could have a record high of about $100 billion in outstanding credit card balances.
Food, family and friends -- a big part of Easter
When asked where people will spend their money, the surveyed showed 58 percent will head to their nearest discount store, 46 percent will do their shopping in department stores, while only 26 percent will shop at local small businesses. The NRF survey showed that Easter is still centered around Family And Friends (61%), and over 50 percent plan on sharing a home cooked meal.
Consumers are expected to spend almost $6 billion on food alone, that will include Easter favorites like; Hot cross buns, babka, ham, lamb, wine and other beverages, and of course eggs; not only for decorative and colored eggs but for cooking a wide variety of Easter delicacies. Only a mere 18 percent of consumers surveyed plan on saving their money and have no intention of celebrating the holiday.
Instead they plan on watching TV, doing yard work if weather permits, sleeping, or just enjoying time with family.
Tradition stands
The tradition of celebrating Easter still remains one of the favorite holidays in America, no matter how much it costs. Most consumers stated, whether celebrating as a religious holiday or a day that officially welcomes Spring, they enjoy the time off from work to relax and spend time with family and friends.
