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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Americans Plan To Spend A Record Amount On Gifts Household Total Should Hit $465 This Holiday Season

Marthe Fourcade Bloomberg News

U.S. households will spend about $465 on Christmas gifts this year - or $15 more than last year and the largest amount ever - as job prospects and incomes are stronger than last year at this time.

The Conference Board, a New York research group, found that shoppers, on average, plan to spend more this year than at any time in the past. That should add 3.5 percent to 4 percent to U.S. retail sales during the shopping season, the Conference Board estimated.

“While this Christmas doesn’t appear to be a blockbuster, it doesn’t look to be an unsuccessful one either,” said Lynn Franco, associate director of the Conference Board’s consumer research center.

It’s difficult to tell how accurate the group’s retail forecasts are because government and industry reports don’t break down spending on gifts, as the Conference Board attempts to do. At this time last year, the Conference Board estimated that gift-buying would add 5.5 percent to retail sales, though Franco said there’s no way to know if that estimate proved accurate.

About 34 percent of the 5,000 households surveyed by the Conference Board plan to spend $500 or more on Christmas gifts. And fewer than 30 percent intend to spend $200 or less for the holidays.

Among those who plans to splurge this holiday season, New England residents will spend an average $593 on gifts - almost 30 percent more than the national average. Next come Middle Atlantic shoppers, who earmarked $514 for the holidays. Residents of the West-North Central region will be the nation’s stingiest, with plans to spend an average $395 this season.