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SYDNEY — This holiday season, take a moment to ask yourself, “Does this person really want what I’m buying them?” A new survey finds the answer is likely no! Researchers have found that more than half of Americans (53%) will receive a gift they don’t want.
As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy go looking for waste in Washington, it turns out that everyday Americans are throwing away tons of money too. According to the new forecast from Finder, unwanted presents will reach an all-time high in both volume and cost this year, with an estimated $10.1 billion being spent on gifts headed for the regifting pile.
Overall, the annual holiday spending forecast finds that roughly 140 million Americans will receive at least one unwanted present in 2024. Shockingly, one in 20 people expect to receive at least five gifts they won’t want to keep. The average cost of these unwanted items is expected to rise to $72 this holiday season, up from $66 last year. That represents a billion-dollar surge in wasteful holiday spending.
Saying “you shouldn’t have…” might be a more truthful statement than ever when it comes to certain gift ideas. Clothing and accessories top 2024’s list of the most unwanted gifts people receive. Specifically, 43% hope to avoid these personal items. However, that number is actually down from the 49% who didn’t want clothes for Christmas in 2022. So, maybe some Americans need a new pair of socks this year.
Household items follow clothing as the least popular holiday gifts (33%), while cosmetics and fragrances round out the top three at 26%. Interestingly, technology gifts are skyrocketing in unpopularity. Since 2022, the dislike for tech gifts has risen by a whopping 10%, going from 15% in 2022 to 25% this holiday season. So, maybe think twice before getting your friend their eighth pair of headphones.
The season of re-giving
So, what happens to all these well-intentioned but unwanted presents? The survey found that regifting is the most popular solution in 2024. Nearly four in 10 Americans (39%) plan to pass their unwanted gifts along to someone else. That’s the most popular option this year, surpassing the awkward choice of keeping a bad gift. Interestingly, a staggering 43% of Americans kept their unwanted presents in 2022, but that number has now fallen to 35%.
Another 32% take advantage of post-holiday exchange policies to swap their unwanted items for something more desirable. However, more and more people are just opting to sell their sub-par presents for cold hard cash. Over one in four (27%) plan to sell unwanted gifts after the holidays, up significantly from 17% in 2022.
So, if you’re still looking for last-minute gifts this holiday season, choose wisely. There’s a very good chance the person you’re buying for won’t like your choices anyway.
Methodology
Finder was unable to run a survey in time for the 2024 holiday season. However, since they had figures from two previous survey runs, researchers were able to forecast the 2024 numbers based on the previous results. The previous results were calculated from surveys of 2,033 American adults (2023) and 2,112 (2022) commissioned by finder.com and conducted by global research provider Qualtrics/SAP as part of Finder’s Consumer Confidence Index. The spending figures were calculated using the trim mean function to remove the outliers. Researchers define generations by the age of participants at the time of the survey:
- Gen Z — any adults born post-1997
- Millennials — 1981-1996
- Gen X — 1965-1980
- Baby boomers — anyone born pre-1964
The finder team defined geographical regions according to the divisions of the US Census Bureau.
