4 in 10 Grandparents Save for Christmas All Year Round

A third of grandparents have been forced to cut back on gift giving due to the need to save, while four in ten can only afford to save money for presents during the year, according to Provident's research into the Advent period.

According to the responses, the relative majority of respondents can spend between HUF 5-15,000 on gifts for a grandchild this year.

The relative majority of respondents (30%) expect to spend more than 25,000 HUF to buy presents for their grandchildren this Christmas. Nearly half (47%) plan to make their gift choices based on tips from grandchildren. That's according to a survey of people aged over fifty conducted by Provident Financial Services over the Advent period.

When asked the basic question of how and from what they cover the cost of gift-giving, over four-tenths (41%) said they save up over the year, bit by bit - the opposite approach, "money is less important at this time of year, I can afford it once a year", was only 8% of the responses, mostly from men, i.e. grandparents. 11% of respondents said that they do not plan ahead and use their December spending to buy presents, and slightly more (13%) would use credit to cover Christmas spending – no significant difference between grandmothers and grandfathers in this respect.

However, nearly one in five (18%) said they do not spend on gift giving, and six per cent of respondents said they do not spend more in December than in other months of the year. The lessons from the responses suggest that the older someone is, the more likely they are to have to save for Christmas all year round, and that they have been forced to cut back on their Christmas spending in recent years.

The survey also asked about changes in gift-giving habits, knowing that these decisions can be influenced by the economic situation. Just over a third (34%) of respondents said they intend to spend less this year because they need to save. In contrast, only 9% said they would spend more to brighten up the festive season – an approach that is particularly common among grandparents. 6% of respondents would give gifts of experiences – particularly women, i.e. grandmothers – and 26% (also mainly grandmothers) would give money, leaving the choice to the grandchildren who receive the gifts. One in five grandparents (19%) said that practical gifts have recently become more important - in practice, this means that if a grandchild outgrows his or her shoes or needs a suit for prom/graduation, he or she will receive it as a gift.

The survey questions also included specific amounts and thresholds to give the most accurate picture possible of how grandparents' peers spend their money at Christmas. In relative terms, most people (36%) plan to spend between HUF 5 and 15 thousand per grandchild, but nearly one in five (18%) can stretch to HUF 5 thousand forints or less. 17% of respondents said they could afford more than HUF 25,000 per person.

The main source of inspiration when choosing gifts is the grandchild themselves (47%), but this does not necessarily mean that the grandchild will get what they ask for. In fact, only one in four respondents (25%) clearly stated that they would give the gift that the grandchild had chosen. More (30%) end up listening to the parents' opinion or actually leave the decision to the grandchild by providing the funds for the purchase within a certain limit.

Almost a third of respondents think that the cost of the Christmas menu will be more than HUF 30,000, and 21% think that the budget for a Christmas party will be somewhere between HUF 20,000 and HUF 30,000. 3% of respondents can spend no more than HUF 5,000 on festive treats even at Christmas.

The results of the survey highlight both that Christmas and giving presents to grandchildren and family is a key event of the year for the 50+ age group, and that the state of the economy also strongly influences gift-giving habits. For us, the most important lesson seems to be the importance of financial awareness and planning: Christmas is typically a life event with predictable costs, and the financial burden can be eased by preparation, saving in advance and spreading the costs over time. In the coming years, we expect the role of planning to increase among grandparents, to which Provident itself is trying to contribute with its own tools, with financial education aimed at the given age group," according to Márta Pálfalvi, Provident's Director of Communications and Corporate Relations.