Holiday Shopping and Spending

• Rising chocolate prices are reshaping Easter shopping habits, but most Americans are still celebrating — just more strategically.

• Simple savings tactics like stacking discounts, timing purchases, and using leftover gift cards can help cut costs without sacrificing traditions.

• Beyond candy, expenses like clothing, décor, and hosting extras can quietly drive up your total — making them key areas to scale back.

Easter may be a little pricier this year, but for most Americans, it’s still very much on the calendar. 

New data from RetailMeNot shows that while rising chocolate costs are forcing shoppers to rethink how they spend, they’re not giving up the holiday altogether. In fact, more than eight in 10 consumers still plan to celebrate — they’re just getting smarter about it. 

From hunting for deals to rethinking what goes into baskets, shoppers are finding ways to hold onto traditions without overspending. ConsumerAffairs spoke with RetailMeNot’s Retail Insights Expert Stephanie Carls, who explained that the focus isn’t on cutting Easter out — it’s on making it work within today’s tighter budgets.

Easter savings strategies

Like any holiday, there’s ways to make the most of your budget – even as prices in nearly every category continue to increase. 

Carls shared her top three savings strategies consumers can employ as they prepare for Easter weekend: 

• Stack savings, but do it in the right order. Start with the sale price, stack a promo code on top, then activate any cash back offers before you check out. Most people stop at the sale price and call it a day. All three stacked together is a different final number. 

• Know what you’re shopping for before you decide when to shop. If selection matters, shop before the holiday. If price is the priority, the deepest discounts show up after Easter Sunday, not before it. Those are two different strategies and they’re both right, just for different things.

• Use what you already have. Gift cards, reward points, store credit collecting dust in an app since December. Leftover gift cards are still in circulation and ready to stack on top of already-discounted products. Easter is low-stakes enough to actually use them. 

The priciest categories this Easter

If you’re preparing for Easter, here the top three categories that Carls said are likely to run you a higher bill this year: 

• Spring clothes. Outside of chocolate, spring apparel is the category most people aren’t thinking about but should be. Twenty-one percent of shoppers in our data plan to buy clothing or seasonal apparel for Easter. Pre-Easter is the best window for spring clothing. Department stores are discounting spring dresses, kids’ Easter outfits, and pastel basics in the weeks leading up to the holiday, and popular sizes move fast. If the outfit is happening either way, buy it now. 

• Chocolate specifically deserves its own conversation this year. Our data shows 26% of shoppers plan to spend less on chocolate because of rising prices, and another 37% say they’ll look for deals or cash back before buying it. That’s nearly two thirds of shoppers changing their behavior around one category. 

• Skip anything marketed as an Easter-themed version of something that exists year-round. The bunny on the packaging is not a selling point. You are paying for the label. 

Balancing Easter shopping in your budget

Carls explained that Easter baskets aren’t the only place where the holiday gets expensive. 

“RetailMeNot's data shows the average Easter spend this year is $88, and candy and chocolate top the list at 68% of shoppers planning to buy it,” she said. “That’s not the budget problem. 

“The creep happens in the categories people don’t think about until they’re already in the store. Decorations and hosting supplies, floral arrangements, restaurant brunches. Those add up fast and they’re a lot easier to cut than the chocolate bunny.” 

Her best advice: 

• Keep the traditions that matter to your family. 

• Set a per-basket number before you shop, not after. 

• Deciding the number upfront means you stop justifying each small purchase on its own and start making real tradeoffs. 

“The pressure to spend big is mostly manufactured,” Carls said. “Shoppers have more room here than the seasonal marketing wants them to think. Timing and a short list usually get the job done.”

• Unwanted gifts and gift cards don’t have to go to waste — with the right timing and strategy, you can return, resell, exchange, or even donate them.

• Understanding return policies is key — missing deadlines, removing tags, or accepting final-sale items can limit your options and cost you money.

• Gift cards are easiest to deal with when you act quickly — selling, swapping, or repurposing them early helps preserve their value and avoids letting them sit unused.

The holidays are full of good intentions — but let’s be honest, not every gift hits the mark. 

Maybe it’s the sweater that’s not quite your style, a gadget you already own, or a gift card to a store you never shop at. Whatever the case, unwanted gifts are far more common than most people like to admit.

The good news? You’re not stuck with them. 

Between extended holiday return windows, resale platforms, and creative ways to exchange or reuse gift cards, there are plenty of options to turn an awkward present into something you’ll actually use. The tricky part is knowing where to start — and what pitfalls to avoid — especially as retailers tighten return policies or attach fine print to gift cards.

To help consumers navigate the post-holiday gift shuffle, ConsumerAffairs spoke with Bobby Ghoshal, CEO of Dupe.com, an AI-powered shopping platform designed to help shoppers find similar items at better prices. Ghoshal shared insights on how to handle returns smoothly, why gift cards often go unused, and how smarter shopping tools can reduce the chances of needing a return in the first place. 

The best and worst ways to offload unwanted gift cards

If you end up with a gift card to a store you never shop at, it can feel disappointing. But it doesn’t have to! 

“The best way to offload an unwanted gift card is to sell it or exchange it on a reliable platform like Gift Card Granny or Raise,” Ghoshal recommends. “Just know that you will not receive the full value of each card as the site does take commission. The more popular the store, the higher the value of the card.

 “If you received a gift card to a supermarket or store that sells gift cards like Walmart or Target, you can also buy another gift card through those sellers for a store you’re more inclined to shop at. This will help you retain the full value of the gift card.” 

 A final tip: donate unused or unwanted gift cards to teachers for school supplies or charities of your choice. 

On the other hand, the worst thing you can do with an unwanted gift card is forget it exists.

“It’s estimated that Americans hold billions in unused gift cards, which is pretty insane if you think about it,” Ghoshal said. “Yes, it may be a hassle to sell or use them, but at least share it with someone who will.” 

Things to think about before you return

If you end up with a gift you want to return, it may not be as easy or straightforward as you think to bring it back to the store and get something you want. Ghoshal shared some of the biggest pitfalls consumers often face when it comes time to return: 

• You missed the deadline for return. It’s crucial to understand each retailer’s return policies. Yes, a gift receipt is great to have, but many gift-givers don’t share those with their recipients. In order, to have a successful return, make sure you’re acquainted with the retailer’s policies and that you return the item by deadline. Oftentimes, you will simply get a gift card for an item with no receipt, but the key is to ensure you’re getting the highest value for the item. If you procrastinate and your item goes on sale, the store will only give you the value of the item at its current rate.

• You opened the box / removed the tag. If you’re not certain that you’re going to keep your gift, do not unbox it or remove any tags. There are certain items that absolutely cannot be returned or exchanged without these intact. They also may deduct a percentage of the value of the item if the box has been tampered with. If you want the full refund, and an easy return, don’t be impulsive when ripping your gifts open.

• You received a final sale item. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do if the item you received was purchased through a final sale. If that’s the case, regifting or reselling makes the most sense. I would suggest to gift-givers that they avoid purchasing these items as gifts just in case your recipient doesn’t fall head over heels for the items you selected.

Common gift-giving mistakes to avoid

Ghoshal said that the two most common gift-giving mistakes we often make are: getting the wrong size and getting something the gift recipient doesn’t actually want. If you keep both of these in mind, you’re less likely to unintentionally give someone a return mishap after the holidays. 

“If you don’t know your recipient’s exact sizing and overall preferences, I highly recommend a gift card to their favorite retailer,” Ghoshal said. “Sure, some think it’s impersonal, but you can never miss if you know them.” 

• Use AI to set spending caps. Split your budget by category and add rules like “no gifts over $40”

• Add hard-stop banking alerts. Turn on every-transaction notifications and a “holiday” spending cap

• Shop on a schedule. Plan your buy windows and stick to 1–2 purchase days to avoid impulse spending

If your December routine often includes a weekly “why did I even buy that?” panic, you’re not alone. Holiday overspending has a way of sneaking in through dozens of small purchases. But new data suggests that one group is actually getting better at dodging the overspend trap and it just might surprise you, it’s Gen Z.

TD Bank’s 2025 Merry Money Survey found that 88% of Gen Z respondents are considering ways to limit holiday overspending. And the modern twist is that more than half (51%) of Gen Z budgeters are using AI to help build that holiday budget.

So, what are the lessons we can take away from Gen Zers? The bottom line is you don’t need to be born between 1997-2007 or an AI power user to copy what they’re doing.

The Gen Z holiday spending playbook you can steal

1. Use AI to plan the budget, not to “shop smarter”

AI is great for helping you plan and coming up with a shopping list full of gift ideas that are within your budget. Consider these prompts that Gen Z is taking full advantage of:

• “Make me a holiday budget for 12 people with a $600 cap, including stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, and wrapping.”
• Then ask for a budget breakdown with what percent should go for gifts, food, travel, etc.
• Example: “If my holiday budget is $1,000, tell me what percent (and dollar amount) should go to gifts vs. food vs. travel vs. donations.”

Then take the output and put it somewhere like your notes app, a spreadsheet, or your banking app’s budgeting tool. The point is not the AI specifically, but getting an actual number you will follow.

Pro tip: If you want AI to actually help you save money, tell it your specific rules. Examples include: “No gifts over $40. Two gifts max per kid. Include three backup gift ideas under $25.”

2. Set “hard stops” with alerts

Let’s face it, most budgets fail because they don’t have enough 'tough love' built into them. To that end, it’s time to use some techy options that most banking and credit card apps have built into them.

Consider setting up these automatic tripwires:

• Set a spending alert on your card for every purchase over, say, $50.
• Set a monthly cap alert for your total “holiday” category.
• Turn on notifications for every transaction for the month of December so you can better track your spending.

3. Time your shopping like Gen Z

The survey found young shoppers are intentionally planning around big deal days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

That doesn’t mean you should buy everything on Black Friday next year. It means you should decide when you’ll buy each category:

• Tech and appliances: you can often find deals before Black Friday and in the last week before Christmas.
• Toys: buy them earlier than you think, starting in late October, keep in mind that the hot toys of the season tend to vanish come December.
• Stocking stuffers: great deals can be found last-minute.
• Gift cards: only from secure displays and only when you know you’ll use them soon.

Pro tip: If you’re the type who keeps browsing “just to check,” you’re paying the scrolling tax. Consider having just two planned purchase days and stop shopping in between those days.

4. Copy the “set aside money all year” trick

The survey also reported that Gen Z is more likely to stash money earmarked for the holidays throughout the year.

While it may be a little too late for 2025, you can easily set this up for next December:

• Open a separate savings bucket labeled “Holiday.”
• Auto-transfer a small amount daily or weekly.

Even a few bucks a day will become a significant amount of money come next holiday season. Money you can use for gifts, travel, and decorations. Plus, you’ll completely avoid that January credit card bill moment of panic.