Pearl Slack is spending a pretty penny this holiday season, but that doesn’t mean she’s dreaming of a material Christmas.
“I spend a lot on Christmas. I do a lot of shopping, probably about $2,000, at least,” she said inside Park Lane Mall Thursday. “But I think Christmas should go back to the way it was years ago — it should be a big meal and family and friends, it shouldn’t be about presents.”
Atlantic Canadians are in a giving mood this holiday season, spending about $180 more than the national average on presents, two separate surveys revealed.
The NPD Group, a market research company, and Maritz Canada, a customer loyalty firm, released surveys with similar results that showed about $600 to be the average amount Canadians will spend on each other in gifts.
According to Maritz, Atlantic Canadians will spend $782.
Phil Smith said he hasn’t started his shopping yet, but predicts he won’t be hitting the Atlantic average.
“I just have one daughter, so I can’t imagine I would spend that much money,” he said passing through the mall Thursday. “I don’t really go out with an amount of money in mind. I go out with a list in mind of what I want to get.”
Buyers Chime in
Metro asked shoppers in Halifax Thursday how much they plan on spending this holiday season.
“I won’t be spending that much. I think I might be spending around $450.”
– Michaela Eisengruver
“I basically spend around $900 to $1,200. Small family, very greedy.”
– Berry Freeman
“Being a student, I try to make my own gifts anyway … I don’t think I ever spend more than $200 on Christmas gifts.”
– Katie Dorian
“I think I’ll spend around (the average of $782), probably a little more.”
– Charlotte Maclean Cox
