Michigan parents keep Christmas spending flat despite national surge

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(The Center Square) – While parents in many states are seeing significant increases in Christmas spending, Michigan families are keeping holiday costs largely flat this year.

The new study from CouponBirds also found that Michigan parents will spend more per child than the national average.

“Michigan parents will be spending $592 this year,” Caitlyn Bishop, a spokesperson for CouponBirds, told The Center Square.

That is up just 0.68% from last year’s $588. This is significantly less than the average nationally, which was a 13% increase year-over-year. Nationally, the average parent is expected to spend $521 per child on gifts, up from $461 in 2024.

Even though Michigan parents saw minimal increases on spending, they still rank high nationally. In 2025, the state is the 16th-highest spending state.

Across the nation, New York is coming in at the most expensive at $732 and South Dakota is the cheapest at $266.

Parents in neighboring states to Michigan are spending significantly less than their Michigander counterparts. For example, Indiana’s average is $527 and Ohio’s is $516. Those states saw more significant increases in their spending year-over-year though.

This Christmas, debt will play a significant role for many parents with 58% of parents reporting they are anticipating going into debt to pay for gifts. That is up from 49% in 2024.

Most of those will use credit cards to pay for Christmas gifts, while 43% plan to use buy now, pay later services, which have skyrocketed in use over the past few years. That is more than double the just 21% of parents that expected to use those services last year.

This will just add to the growing credit card debit of Americans, with the average household credit card debt coming in at $7,321, up 5.8% from last year.

Only 32% of parents nationally plan to avoid holiday debt entirely, down from 46% last year.

The average parent expected to spend $521 per child on gifts, up from $461 in 2024. That is a 13% increase nationally.

Tariffs and a lack of Christmas savings are the factors having the biggest impacts on parents. Nearly two-thirds of parents (63%) report that tariffs have directly diminished their purchasing power, while only 46% of parents reported saving specifically for Christmas.

Not all states saw an increase in Christmas spending this year though. In fact, six states saw a decrease in spending from last year. Iowa parents led that charge, with the state reporting a 6% decrease in average spending.

Experts are anticipating nearly record overall spending on Christmas this year.

According to the National Retail Federation, consumers in the U.S. will spend an average of $890 on core holiday items including gifts, decorations, food and other holiday-related purchases this year. That is down 1.3% from last year’s holiday budget, which was the highest ever reported.

The NRF study also found that, while the majority of Americans shopping online for the holiday season, 42% also anticipated shopping at discount stores. That is down 3% from last year.