Are You Dreaming of the Perfect Holiday?

Dreaming of a Perfect HolidayIf you were asked to describe the ideal holiday season what would you say? Chances are you would include the company of loved ones, good food, fun and relaxation, and maybe an inch or two of snow. Just the thought of it probably brings a contented smile to your face.

It seems so simple, but for many of us, this could not be further from reality. Too often, the holidays seem to exhaust rather than uplift us. Do you sometimes feel trapped by the shopping, spending, and frenzied preparations? Do you want your holidays wrapped more in meaning and less in stuff? If so, you're not alone. According to a national survey, 70% of Americans would welcome less emphasis on gift giving and spending.

  • Over the 2001 holiday season the average household spent around $1,564 dollars.1
  • Consumers spent a total of $438.6 billion during the 2005 holiday season.2
  • Total U.S. credit card debt is more than 600 billion dollars.3
  • A typical middle income family earning around $45,000 a year saw its debt burden grow by 33.1% between 2001 and 2004, even after adjusting for inflation.4
  • Recent statistics show that in November of 2003 54% of consumers were still paying off credit card debt left over from the previous holiday season.5
  • The amount of household garbage in the United States generally increases by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, from 4 million tons to 5 million tons per week.6
  • 50 million Christmas trees are purchased in the U.S. Of those, 30-plus million get carted to the landfill every year.7
  • The amount of cards sold during the holiday season would fill a football field 10 stories high, and requires the harvesting of nearly 300,000 trees.8
  • The National Mental Health Association cites the financial stresses of the holiday season as one cause of the “holiday blues” which, for many, transforms the holidays into a time of anxiety and depression.9

Footnotes

  1. American Express Retail Index, 2001.
  2. National Retail Federation, January 2006.
  3. Consumer Federation of America survey, quoted in www.cbsnews.com 11/05/01.
  4. Center for American Progress, May 2006.
  5. Consolidated Credit Counseling Services Inc., Holiday Survey 2003.
  6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, December 2005.
  7. Environmental News Network
  8. Use Less Stuff
  9. National Mental Health Association, 2004.

For other statistics, see also the National Retail Federation.