• by Sarah Mahoney , 4 hours ago

Economic concerns may be top of mind for many American families, but don't tell the Easter Bunny. Two new reports indicate that this spring, people are in the mood to shop, from new outfits for the kids for Easter and Passover, gifts, entertaining and travel.

The National Retail Federation says it expects Easter spending to reach a record $24.9 billion, passing the 2023 record of $24 billion. On a per-person basis, it anticipates $196, also a record, up from the previous record of $192 in 2023.

"While economic uncertainty remains on the minds of many, consumers are still focused on holiday celebrations like Easter," NRF chief economist and executive director of research Mark Mathews said in the announcement.

In its survey of more than 7,800 consumers, 80% plan to celebrate Easter this year.

While candy is a given, purchased by 92%, spending on clothing (with 51% buying some form of apparel) will amount to $3.7 billion. Spending on gifts, chosen by 64%, will top $3.9 billion. Food continues to be the largest category, purchased by 90% of celebrants, with the category expected to generate $7.5 billion in spending. About 56% say they'll cook a holiday meal.

But even those who don't celebrate regard the season as a good time for deals, with 54% of non-celebrants planning to shop Easter-related sales.

Prosper Insights & Analytics conducted the research for the NRF.

Consulting giant PwC also released fresh data on spring holidays, finding that the biggest spenders are millennial parents, who are likely to spend as much as $1,900 celebrating the season — roughly four times more than childless millennials. That includes an average of $500 on travel.

Social media is shaping many of those purchases. Consumers who use social media for spring holiday inspiration spend nearly three times more than those who don't — roughly $1,517 versus $583. For millennials, the gap is even more striking: social media users in that generation spend an average of $2,190, compared to $761 for millennials who don't use social platforms for product discovery. Roughly 50% of Gen Z now say they use social media to learn about spring holiday products or ideas, up from 43% in PwC's most recent winter holiday research, while 44% of millennials do the same, up from 42%.

And the way consumers discover products is shifting in another notable direction: AI-assisted gift and product discovery has roughly doubled since PwC's last holiday survey, rising from about 15% to 30% among Gen Z, and from 16% to 29% among millennials — a signal that agentic commerce is moving from novelty to mainstream faster than many retailers may have anticipated.