Atomik’s “Bad” Research Santa: How Holly Jolly are Americans Feeling about Gift Giving this Holiday Season?

At Atomik Research, sometimes we like to have some fun. After all, not all research can or should be for stats on the state of the world, right?! As important as facts are − and of course they are(!) − giggles are proven to be good for your mind, body and social well-being.

For the upcoming holiday season, we decided to play “bad” research Santa and ask questions about how people really feel about gift giving during the holly jolly month of December. It turns out more than half of shoppers surveyed intend to wait for post-holiday sales when it comes to gift buying this year. Fifty-three percent (53%) of adults in the U.S. admit they are likely to delay purchasing presents until post-holiday sales or discounts in order to save money.

As for gifts that are shared during the festive weeks of December, not everyone is honorable with their gift giving intentions. Nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) said they have given their boss a present to “suck-up”!

Closer to home, the tried-and-true gift of new sleepwear may elicit strong, yet negative reactions, with one in five (20%) respondents agreeing to hit the exit if their spouse or partner gets “me pajamas as a gift one more time.” Thankfully, many respondents − a hearty 63% − appear to either love their annual jammies-refresh or their partner.

Friendships (or more likely, frenemies) are in danger of receiving more than a trusty lump of coal this year (too expensive or inappropriate in these fuel-fraught times?). Thirty-nine percent (39%) say they have “at least one friend who deserves a pile of dog poo for a holiday gift.” Our only hope (aside from hoping we aren’t on the receiving end) is that it doesn’t come in a pie or on fire!

Looking ahead to 2023, to be resolute or not to be resolute…is not so much a question as a near draw. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of respondents “believe the idea of New Year’s resolutions are stupid,” while their more resolution-friendly counterparts, at 34%, disagree.

For fun or fact-finding survey stats, let our researchers conduct your next PR survey for 2023. We resolve to ask the right (or if asked, plain absurd) questions on your behalf!

Fieldwork for the survey took place online between October 21 and October 24, 2022 with 1,004 adults throughout the United States. The margin of error for the overall sample is +/-3 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95 percent.