Half of Albertans will make homemade gifts due to inflation: survey

With the holiday season around the corner in Canada, a survey says over half of Albertans are thinking of giving homemade gifts this year due to inflation.

According to a national survey conducted by Rakuten, it says 82 per cent of Canadians cite at least “one economic factor that will impact their holiday spending this year,” and inflation leads the way at 61 per cent.

Jennifer LaForge, General Manager at Rakuten, says that 41 per cent of Albertans say they will re-gift at least one item during the holidays and more than half at 53 per cent will opt for homemade gifts.

“The majority of the respondents in the Prairies (82 per cent) say they will try to shop for gifts during sales with Black Friday leading the way at 67 per cent, followed by Cyber Monday at 51 per cent, then Boxing Day at 44 per cent,” LaForge said.

Canadians can expect to spend $600 on gifts this year, compared to $466 in 2020 during the pandemic, according to LaForge.

LaForge says shoppers that are worried about inflation will try to target sales this year.

The survey also revealed Albertans are feeling the highest impact from inflation at 70 per cent compared to Ontario at 59 per cent. Thirty-two per cent of Albertans say they will drop some people from their holiday list this year.

Moshe Lander, a Concordia University Economist, who moved to Alberta from Ontario, laughs at this and says, “It’s typical Prairie behaviour.”

“The cosmopolitan Ontarians and Quebecers would never steep to such lows of re-gifting or making something homemade,” Lander said. “I think that just maybe kind of hints at the prairie mindset, and even for people who have emigrated to the prairies.”

“That just speaks to the heart of the prairies that when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and you just find a way to deal with it,” Lander said.

Lander says he adapted to the lifestyle of the province, and that people have a different outlook due to being community-focused along with life moving a “little bit slower, a little bit easier paced.”

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Some Albertans say it’s an opportunity to save money, but also that they may not have a choice in making homemade gifts.

“It is so expensive for me, so I will definitely look to save my money that’s why I will go for the homemade gifts and I will make some sweets to give,” said Chahalpreet Kaur, an international student in Calgary.

Manpreet Singh, another Calgarian, says the same thing.

“Maybe I can save some money from my salary. I know it’s too expensive right now, but I do have some gifts that I would want to re-gift to my friends.”

The survey also says that 73 per cent of Albertans will use loyalty programs to get Cash Back for their holiday gift shopping.