Christmas time is not just family reunions and decorating the Christmas tree. The last few weeks of the year are also a big burden on our home budget since we have to accommodate additional expenses, such as Christmas gifts, food and sometimes even elegant outfits
Picodi.com Analysis Team decided to find out what Christmas expenses look like, what gifts Romanians usually buy and how much it costs to put food on the Christmas table.
During Christmas we want to make our family and friends happy. 85% of respondents buy presents for their relatives. For 27% it’s a good opportunity to give their friends a gift. However, our survey results show that only 14% of Romanians decide to buy gifts for their colleagues. And 3% of respondents declare that they help charities or make Christmas donations, e.g. a food drive.
What gifts do we usually buy? According to our respondents, the most popular categories are clothes (49%), toys (37%), sweets (35%), electronics and accessories (24%), perfumes (21%) and cosmetics (20%).
An interesting fact is that many Romanians (75%) leave Christmas gifts until the last moment—December. Christmas ornaments in shopping malls and special sales like the famous Black Friday ones manage to convince more than quarter of Romanians (17%) to buy Christmas gifts earlier, in November. Only 8% shop for gifts in advance—before September.
When choosing Christmas gifts most Romanians try to find out from mutual friends what the receiver would like to get (50%). Fewer people ask directly what someone likes (11%) and 27% buy gifts on a hunch.
As the survey results show, the most desirable gifts of 2018 are electronics and clothes (45%), money (35%) and jewelries (32%). Sweets (44%), toys (35%), books (33%) and Christmas cards (33%%) were voted the least desirable gifts to receive. We spend 560 LEI on average on gifts.
Most Romanians (80%) spend Christmas at home and 15% visit their friends.
Romanians still buy Christmas food the traditional way: 60% shop in brick and mortar stores and markets. The remaining 27% use shop in both traditional and online stores. An average Romanians spends 442 LEI on Christmas food.
Is Christmas a reason to wear spick-and-span clothes? 34% of our respondents declare that they do not need new clothes and prefer those they already have in their closet. 46% of Romanians say that they buy brand new clothes and 20% content themselves with new accessories like jewellery or ties.