It is easy to go overboard in buying gifts for loved ones. The excitement of lavishing loved ones with gifts is great, but spending more than you can afford can make the whole experience counterproductive. First and foremost, the Christmas season is not all about spending money and exchanging gifts. Rather, it is a religious exercise designed to recognize the birth of Christ.
AT&T Business' 2025 Holiday Shopping Survey, conducted by Morning Consult, found that 40% of Generation Z members and 32% of millennials plan to do most of their shopping on Black Friday. Older generations, on the other hand, prefer to shop later in the season, just a week or two before Christmas, the survey found.
Hark, can you hear it? It's barely audible over the sound of a zillion people muttering, "isn't it too early for this?" while sipping holiday lattes, but it's there: the sound of Christmas spending panic. And this year's holiday season approaches amid soaring grocery prices, trade tensions and economic uncertainty. Which is why some people say they're planning a more modest Christmas, whether that involves spending less, giving fewer or more intentional gifts, relying more on charitable services, or scaling it all down.
