The first no-holds-barred weekend is upon us, but this year the challenges take on a new dimension due to the socio-economic context in which our country finds itself.

• 5 out of 10 Romanians are preparing to spend the holidays at home, and 9 out of 10 Romanians will spend them with their family

• Online stores have not maintained their popularity since the pandemic. This year, 75% of Romanians prefer physical stores

• 49% of the holiday budget will be spent on food, 34% on gifts and 17% on decorations.

This year, Romanians are looking forward to the holidays more than last year

This year, Romanians are happier during the winter holidays than last year. When asked how they felt about this year’s holidays, 65% of Romanians mentioned positive feelings, compared to only 53% in 2021. The most popular positive feelings are good (18%), excitement (17%) or happiness/joy (15%).

At the opposite pole, 34% of Romanians have a negative attitude towards the holiday season, and this year as well. Although the percentage is decreasing compared to last year (40%), feelings of stress/anxiety (8%), indifference (7%) or disappointment (6%) are still present in the lives of some Romanians.

As this is the first Christmas without restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the mood that has seen the biggest increase since last year is excitement. If in 2021, only 7% of Romanians said they were happy about the winter holidays, then this year 17% of respondents felt this feeling.

What gifts do Romanians want to receive and where will they spend their vacations?

40% of Romanians say it doesn’t matter what they get for Christmas this year. This percentage is down from last year, when half of Romanians said they had no preference for gifts.

Clothes are the most desired gift, with 31% of respondents saying they wanted clothes for Christmas, while 27% mentioned perfume, compared to last year when the percentage was 24% for both categories.

Jewelery is also seeing significant growth this year. If in 2021 13% of respondents said they wanted to receive jewelry for Christmas, then this year 21% of them hope for it. A significant difference emerges if we analyze gender, while men equally say they want jewelry (9%), in the case of women, this percentage increased from 18% in 2021 to 30% in 2022. So, a third of women expect to receive decorations for Christmas this year.

This year, most Romanians will spend the winter holidays at home, but to a lesser extent than in previous years, when the pandemic influenced this choice. If in 2020 85% of Romanians stayed at home for Christmas, and in 2021 this percentage was 57%, then in 2022 51% of respondents said they would spend the holidays at home. For people over 55, this percentage reaches 73%, while among young people under 24, only a third will stay at home.

However, Christmas remains a holiday spent with family, with 85% of respondents saying they will spend it with family, either at home or with relatives in the area (19%), or with relatives outside the city (14 %). . To a much lesser extent (70%) young people aged 18 to 24 will spend their holidays with their families. The percentage of those choosing to stay in or out of the country is 9%, up 3 percentage points from last year.

What budget did the Romanians allocate for the Christmas holidays?

Romanians will spend most of their Christmas budget on food. In percentage terms, 49% of the holiday budget will go to food, 34% to gifts and 17% to decorations.

The average amount Romanians will spend this year is 1,350 lei, which is slightly more than last year, when they spent 1,315 lei on Christmas. If you think about the rate of inflation, which has exceeded 15 percent this year, Romanians will practically save money this Christmas, given the significant increase in daily living costs.

In terms of age difference, the food budget is directly proportional to age and the gift budget is inversely proportional. Over-55s are far more likely (56%) than 18-24-year-olds (44%) to spend their holiday budget on food, while the same young people will spend 40% of their budget on gifts, compared to just 31% for people older than 55 years.

Romanians still prefer to do their Christmas shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, to the detriment of online stores. Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2022, the share of those who will shop online is the lowest, Romanians are happy to leave the house to buy gifts for the first time in 3 years. 75% of respondents say they will shop brick-and-mortar, up from 64% last year and 69% in 2020.

Methodology: Reveal Marketing Research was conducted online between 13 and 18/12/2022 on a representative sample of the universe of Internet users aged 18 and over. The sample size was 1012 respondents, and the maximum sampling error is +/-3.1% at a confidence level of 95%.