Father’s Day spending is expected to reach $22.4 billion this year, according to an annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. That’s down slightly from the record i$22.9 billion spent for the holiday last year.
Similar to 2023, three-quarters of consumers plan to celebrate Father’s Day, which falls on June 16 this year. On average, those shopping for Father’s Day plan to spend $189.81 on gifts and celebrations, just shy of last year’s record of $196.23. Consumers ages 25-34 are the biggest spenders this year, at an average of $275.67.
Of those taking part in the holiday, half plan to purchase a gift for a father or stepfather, followed by those purchasing gifts for a husband (26%), son (10%), brother (8%), friend (8%) or grandfather (6%).
Greeting cards remain the most popular Father’s Day gifts, with 58% of shoppers planning to purchase one, followed by clothing (54%), a special outing (52%), gift cards (48%) and personal care items (31%).
“While spending on these gift categories is mostly in line with last year’s record numbers, they are still significantly above pre-pandemic spending,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “This is especially true in clothing, personal care, tools and appliances, electronics, home improvement items, gift cards and special outings, which have all increased by half a billion or more since 2019.”
Over a quarter (27%) of Father’s Day shoppers plan to give a gift of experience, such as tickets to a sporting event or concert, down slightly from 29% last year.
Also, 42% of consumers are interested in gifting a product subscription box, up from 34% in 2019 when NRF first started asking this question.
Online continues to be the most popular shopping destination for Father’s Day gifts at 42%, in line with 43% last year. Other popular choices include department stores (38%), discount stores (24%), specialty stores (22%) and local/small businesses (19%).
The survey drew responses from 8580 consumers between May 1-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
Click here for more from the survey.