What Is The Going Rate For Gifts These Days?
Empower, a financial services company, surveyed Americans about the "going rate" for various gifts and tips. They're calling generosity an economic indicator, which is a fancy way of saying people spend less when they're broke.
A new survey says people are giving $56 for adult birthdays, $85 for weddings, and the Tooth Fairy's leaving almost $15 per tooth. Also, a third of Americans are adopting "no gift" policies because this is all getting ridiculous.
The Numbers That'll Make You Feel Cheap or Overly Generous
According to the survey:
Birthday gifts: $56 for adults, $83 for kids (because kids' parties are competitive sports now)
Wedding gifts: $85 (half the people still believe in "paying for your plate")
Holiday gifts: $64
Mother's Day: $55
Father's Day: $38
Teacher/coach gifts: $15
The average weekly allowance is supposedly $37 per kid. For doing what exactly, who knows. And the Tooth Fairy's apparently rich now at $14.87 per tooth. Remember when it was a quarter?
Everyone's Over It
Three-quarters of respondents said gifts cost more due to tariffs and inflation. Six in ten said gifting has gotten "out of hand." Almost half have "gift fatigue," which is the polite way of saying they're sick of buying stuff for people.
The smart ones - 33% - are going with "no gifts" policies. Just saying 'don't buy me anything, I won't buy you anything,' we'll all save money and storage space.
Real People Cutting Back
Julia Diaz from New Jersey usually buys for 20 people at Christmas. This year she's spending half her normal $50 per person. Her daughter Oriana has 30 people on her list (including work mentors, which seems excessive) and is switching to smaller handmade gifts.
They thought about doing "no gifts" but couldn't pull the trigger because of family tradition. So instead, they're spending money they don't want to spend on gifts people might not want.
Julia runs a bread business and gave loaves as gifts last year - $15 for the bread, $30 total with fancy olive oil. She hasn't raised prices even though ingredients cost more, which means she's eating the inflation cost.
Tipping Is Also a Mess
The survey found people tip:
16% for picking up takeout (why are we tipping for pickup?)
11% for food delivery
14% for beauty services
10% for rideshare
Everyone thinks their generation tips more than others. Probably because we're all being guilted by those iPad screens that start at 20%.
What This Really Means
Half of Americans don't know the "right" amount to give but feel pressure to spend anyway. So, we're all guessing what's appropriate while secretly resenting it.
Rebecca Rickert from Empower says this gives people "a peek into everybody else's wallets" because nobody talks about what they actually spend. Which is true - we all wonder if we're the cheap one or the sucker.
The fact that 44% would rather give "the gift of time" than money is code for "I can’t afford to get you anything.”
The Bottom Line on Gifts
Inflation's making everything expensive. People are stressed about money. A third are saying no gifts. The rest are spending amounts they can't afford on things people don't need.
Maybe the real gift is admitting this whole system is broken and we should all stop pretending we enjoy it. But we won't, because then Aunt Linda will think we're cheap, and that's apparently worse than being broke.
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