We asked 1000 13-34-year-olds what they’re going to buy for Valentine’s Day this year…
Today we published three new Topline Reports, including one on young consumers’ Valentine’s Day plans and attitudes. We found that Millennials and Gen Z are taking a different approach to the holiday—for these generations, who we once pointed out a tendency to have a sense of humor about Valentine’s, it’s not necessarily a day devoted to romance. Instead, they’re taking February 14th on as an opportunity to celebrate the people in their lives they appreciate. And the pressure isn’t on to have the perfect romantic day: The majority say they don’t really care about Valentine’s Day, and that they don’t feel pressure to be in a relationship for the holiday.
But just because they’re not thinking about romance doesn’t mean they’re ignoring the holiday. Half of 13-34-year-olds—and almost 60% of 30-34-year-olds—plan to give someone a gift. Millennial parents are even more likely to buy Valentine’s presents, with 73% reporting they plan to buy a gift. (Lucky kids.) In our January survey, we found out all about their gifting plans, including who they’re giving too, and how much they’re planning to spend. To find out what they’ll be shopping for, we asked 1000 13-34-year-olds what they’re planning to give as a gift this Valentine’s Day. The results are in, and while they might not have a wholly conventional approach to the holiday, their top 20 responses show that they’re sticking with some gifting traditions:
*These were open-end response questions to allow us to capture the full range of the kinds of gifts that 13-34-year-olds are planning to give their Valentines. As with any qualitative question, the responses include those that are top of mind and those that are most highly thought of. The lists are ordered according to number of responses received, and alphabetically when ties occurred.
What Are They Planning to Give As a Gift For Valentine’s Day?
13-34-year-olds
Candy / Chocolate
Jewelry
Clothes
Flowers
Dinner / Date
Card
Gift Card
Food
Something small
Watch
Teddy bear / Stuffed animal
Game / Video Game
Love / Affection
Technology / Electronics
Handmade gift
Experience
Book
Cologne / Perfume
Shoes
Alcohol
Staying consistent with 2016, the traditional candy / chocolates, jewelry, clothes, and flowers top the list of gifts that Millennials and Gen Z plan to purchase this Valentine’s Day. Dinner / date comes in fifth on the list, but even those who aren’t thinking of that as their gift might have plans for it: according to the survey, 45% of 18-34-year-olds, and 53% of 30-34-year-olds, say that they’ll be going out for a nice dinner on Valentine’s. Gifting plans did not differ too much among age and gender groups. Not too surprisingly, males were more likely to plan to buy jewelry as a gift than females, and Millennials were more likely to plan to buy clothes and dinner than teens, who have cards and teddy bear / stuffed animal on their top five.
Further down on the list, some potentially less expected items do appear. Several respondents plan to give video games, and food and alcohol both made the top twenty as well.
To download the PDF version of this insight article, click here.
