Trend to watch: self-gifting during the 2024 Christmas season

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Today, the holiday season is not just about giving to others, but perhaps also about giving to yourself. CivicScience has been tracking the self-gifting trend for several years and has seen it become increasingly popular during both the winter holidays and Valentine's Day. As we enter the final quarter of 2024, we're looking ahead to the holiday shopping season and getting an early glimpse of what self-gifting will look like this year. Here are three key takeaways about what to expect:

1. Self-surrender wins with Generation Z

Currently, 32% of U.S. adults plan to buy themselves a Christmas present (excluding those who are undecided). That's two points less than December 2023 and 2022, although it's still early in the season and many are unsure whether they will buy something or not (21%).

Last year, 25- to 34-year-olds were most interested in treating themselves for the holidays, followed by the 18- to 24-year-old age group. In 2024, Generation Z, similar to previous years, will be most likely to jump on the self-gift bandwagon. When broken down by gender, women are more likely to participate in this trend than men.

Join the conversation: Planning on getting gifts this holiday season?

2. Spending plans

As the data shows, self-gifters are the holiday spenders who spend more money. They plan to spend “more” rather than “less” on the holidays this year, far outpacing those who don’t buy a gift.

Despite the relatively high percentage of self-gifters who expect to spend more on their holiday shopping, the total amount per personal gift purchase could be lower this year compared to 2022. Those planning to spend up to $200 on themselves have since increased, while those planning to spend more than $200 have decreased. The largest percentage (42%) spend less than $100 on gifts they give themselves.¹

Let us know! Do you usually treat yourself during holiday sales?

3. Discounters, specialty chains and online shopping

When it comes to where they spend their money, a high percentage plan to do the majority of their gift shopping at major retailers (35%), while this is significantly lower than those who don't shop for themselves (43%) ). This group is almost twice as likely to make a holiday purchase as non-self-gifting shoppers Specialty stores (10% vs. 6%), like GAP, Sephora or Best Buy, causing these retailers to take notice. They are also much more likely to shop there deep discount retailers, like dollar stores (13% vs. 9%).

However, not everyone will shop in person. Self-gifters in particular shop most often online: 47% say they make the majority of their purchases online. Online retailers may get an extra boost if these holiday shoppers add something special to their shopping carts.

With so much changing this year — from economics to politics and everything in between — it's perhaps not surprising that self-gifting might look a little different in 2024. Despite the slight decline in self-endowment, the trend remains and has room for growth in the coming months. It's particularly popular with younger adults who want to spend more money overall on holiday shopping at a variety of stores.

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