Have you ever struggled to think of a gift to get someone? That might explain the top item on this list.

Answer:

1. Gift cards (55%)
2. Clothing or accessories (49%)
3. Books, video games, and other media (28%)
4. Personal care or beauty items (25%)

Questions:

• Why do you think gift cards are the most popular gift option?
• Discuss how trends and marketing influence consumer spending on any of the categories in this list.
• How might advancing technology impact consumer spending on items a category like books, video games, and other media?
• Are there any categories you were surprised to see didn’t make the top 4? Explain why or why not.

Here are the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Investopedia):

"Many of these gifts will be purchased over Thanksgiving weekend by a record-estimated 182 million shoppers. This is 15.7 million more people than in 2022 and is the highest estimate since NRF began tracking this data in 2017.

NRF expects online and other non-store sales to increase between 7% and 9% to between $273.7 billion and $278.8 billion over the holidays. This figure is up from $255.8 billion in 2022, which saw significant growth in digital channels during the pandemic as consumers turned to online shopping to meet their holiday needs."

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Want to access more Budgeting-focused activities and resources? Check out the Budgeting unit page.

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About the Author

Ryan Wood

Ryan grew up with and maintains a love for learning. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a degree in Business Administration and worked in sports marketing for a number of years. After living in Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Minnesota, the call of education eventually brought Ryan back to his home state of Wisconsin where he was a Business and Marketing teacher for three years. In his free time he likes to spend time with his wife and daughter, play basketball, read, and go fishing. Now with NGPF, Ryan is excited to help teachers lead the most important course their students will ever take.