When we think of holidays, especially holidays with gifts and chocolates, we think of Christmas, Hanukkah, Halloween and Valentine’s Day. But don’t let Easter – Sunday, March 31 – fool you. It’s an economic powerhouse for those who love dining, dressing, gift-giving and especially awaiting the Easter Bunny’s hippity-hoppity treats.
Consumer spending is expected to reach a total of $22.4 billion this Easter, according to a survey of 8,372 American adults by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics that was released March 14. The total figure is the second highest in the survey’s history, after last year’s $24 billion when the holiday fell nine days later in the year. (A movable feast, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, or the astronomical first day of spring, which arrived a tad early this year at 11:06 p.m. March 19. With Easter thus coming at the end of March, the earliest it can be, it may be a bit chilly for those Easter bonnets.)
What doesn’t change is the affection for a holiday that is the central holyday of Christianity, celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus.
“Each year, Americans look forward to the celebration of Easter and the renewal of time and traditions with loved ones,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Retailers understand the importance of this holiday and are ready to help their customers find the items they want and need at affordable prices.”
Just like last year, a majority of Americans (81%) plan to celebrate the holiday. They’ll plunk down an average of $177.06 per person, the third highest per-person spend in the survey’s history, after $192.01 last year and $179.70 in 2021.
What will they spend on? Food first and foremost ($7.3 billion), followed by clothing ($3.5 billion) gifts ($3.4 billion), candy ($3.1 billion) and flowers ($1.6 billion).
Speaking of candy, we’re always a bit surprised, though certainly not shocked, to find that Easter is right up there with Halloween and Valentine’s for chocolate, sometimes even surpassing those days in dispensing the sweet treat, an overall $50 billion market. It makes sense since Halloween has other types of candy and Valentine’s, other types of goodies. Whereas the Easter Bunny’s basket is usually laden with chocolates – and, of course, Peeps – though in recent years he has been known to bring healthy snacks and school supplies. (Uh-huh.)
Easter marks the culmination of the chocolate season that begins with Halloween and rolls through Christmas, Hanukkah and Valentine’s – though chocoholics don’t let a calendar get in the way of chocolate ice cream and fro-yo during the summer months, which are not traditionally chocolate’s friends.
So Easter is not only a good time to stroll Fifth Avenue in your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it as Irving Berlin would say, and lean in to those Easter egg hunts and rolls but to choco-frolic as well.
