Looks like Santa’s sleigh is running on plastic.
A new holiday spending survey finds parents are shelling out more than ever to fill stockings — and nobody’s splurging like New Yorkers, who plan to blow a whopping $732 per child on Christmas gifts this year, the highest in the nation.
Nationwide, parents expect to drop an average $521 per kid — up 13% from last year — turning holiday cheer into what feels like a second rent payment, according to CouponBirds’ annual Christmas Spending & Savings Survey of 2,500 parents.
To afford it, families are charging first and worrying later.
A staggering 58% expect to go into debt, mostly via credit cards and Buy Now, Pay Later plans — and only 32% feel confident they’ll escape the holidays debt-free.
And a whopping 43% of parents are using services like Klarna and Afterpay this year, more than double last Christmas.
Spending varies wildly by state. Next in line after New York is New Jersey ($728) and Texas ($722), while families in West Virginia, South Dakota and Nebraska are trying to keep costs closer to $300 a child. Just 3% believe they can pull off Christmas on under $100.
Even worse, most households aren’t prepared. More than half (54%) don’t save for Christmas at all, leaving December to hit like a financial ambush.
Just 7% of parents start saving early in the year — meaning most don’t think about Christmas until their bank accounts are already on life support.
And the squeeze isn’t just survey speak.
One Pennsylvania mom recently went viral for embracing “Thriftmas” — scooping up second-hand toys, sweaters and décor for her four kids on a $100 budget so she wouldn’t go “into debt” under the tree.
“Call me cheap, whatever. I don’t care,” she declared, explaining she’d rather save for a family vacation than swipe her way through Christmas.
She proudly flashed her haul of Christmas goodies — a chic jewelry box, alphabet letters and a cuddly unicorn hoodie — all scooped up at a local thrift shop on a tight $100 budget.
Her frugal move sparked a fiery debate online. While some viewers applauded her bargain-hunting hustle and praised her as savvy, others slammed the move as “cheap” and unfair to her kids, blasting her as a grinch.
But with wallets under pressure, more parents may soon be following her lead.
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