With energy and food prices soaring, many people are looking to save on Christmas presents this year. In a representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency at the beginning of November, more than half of the consumers surveyed stated that they wanted to spend less on gifts this time or they even announced that, unlike in the past, they would not give gifts at all . Postbank’s current “Mood Barometer 2023” came to a similar conclusion.
Around a fifth of those surveyed (21 percent) announced in the dpa survey that they wanted to spend “significantly less” money on Christmas presents this year. Another 22 percent plan to spend “slightly less”. At least 8 percent stated that, in contrast to the past, they even wanted to do without gifts altogether. Only just under a quarter of those surveyed (23 percent) do not want to change anything about their gift behavior.
But it’s not just about presents, many want to tighten their belts around the festival too. A quarter of those surveyed said they would reduce Christmas lights. One in five (18 percent) wants to do without a Christmas tree this year or at least buy a smaller one. Around 17 percent of those surveyed want to spend less on Christmas dinner.
The results are similar to a poll YouGov conducted a month earlier for Postbank’s “2023 Mood Barometer.” At that time, around 60 percent of those surveyed stated that they wanted to limit their spending on Christmas presents this year.
The Postbank mood barometer also made it clear how much the financial situation for many households has deteriorated since the beginning of the year. In January, 11 percent of those surveyed stated that they could hardly pay for their own living expenses because of the increased prices. In September, this proportion had already risen to over 18 percent.
Almost two thirds of those surveyed (62.1 percent) expect their financial situation to deteriorate in the coming year. For comparison: a year ago it was only 26 percent. Such a level of pessimism has never been observed since the start of the Postbank survey in 2015, the pollsters reported.