A Bit Less Green in the Till

St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Monday this year, which might put a damper on some celebrations. (Beware too much green beer/corned beef and cabbage; tomorrow’s a workday – and just a Tuesday at that!) That situation, combined with today’s turbulent economic times, may well be reflected in the somewhat muted spending plans consumers outlined for the March 17 holiday in a survey compiled by the National Retail Federation.

Here are some major findings from that effort:

• 61% plan to celebrate, down a percentage point from 2024. (Even those planning to wear green is down slightly, from 82% last year to 79% in ’25.)
• Per-person spending is expected to total $43.64 per person, down from $44.40 last year
• Total spending is expected at $7 billion, down from $7.2 billion last year.

The survey also asked where respondents said they planned to do their shopping for the holiday; here are the responses:

• Grocery Store: 39%
• Discount Store 27%
• Bar/Restaurant 19%
• Department Store 17%
• Online 14%
• Local/Small Business 11%
• Specialty store (greeting card/gift store, etc.) 8%
• Specialty Clothing Store 7%
• Drug Store 6%
• Other 2%
• Catalog 1%

The 2025 survey drew responses from 8568 consumers aged 18-plus from January 31 through February 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

Click here for more from the NRF survey.