Inflation affects Romanians' plans and budgets for the holiday season. According to a recent survey by the online recruitment platform BestJobs, Romanian employees decided to cut their budgets for Christmas gifts and New Year's Eve parties.

Romanian employees' budget for the gifts they plan to give to friends and family for Christmas is roughly 40% lower than last year, BestJobs said. More precisely, 52% of respondents said they allocated no more than RON 300 for this Christmas, compared to a maximum of RON 500 in 2021. In addition, 26% have budgets of between RON 301 and 500, 12% between RON 501-1000, and 10% do not plan to buy any gifts this year.

When it comes to Christmas traditions at work, only 40% said they still organize Secret Santa. Among them, 51% allocate no more than RON 100 for this occasion, 23% plan even a bigger budget, and 27% will not spend more than RON 50.

Although Christmas-themed mugs, warm Christmas sweaters, socks, cosmetics, and personalized items are still popular gifts for Christmas, of those who will give gifts to colleagues/bosses this year, 17% will offer books, 15% Christmas decorations, and 15% sweets.

Christmas remains the holiday that brings family members together, and 75% of respondents to the BestJobs survey said they would spend it this way. Also, 42% will spend New Year's Eve in the same way, while 12% plan to party with friends, 13% only with their partner, and another 14% have not booked anything yet.

If last year the budget of most of the respondents for Christmas gifts and the New Year's party was maximum RON 500 each, this year, almost 38% said that they would have a budget of less than RON 300 for the New Year's party, while 16% will not spend anything for this event.

The BestJobs survey was conducted between November 20 and December 10 on a sample of 1,049 internet users.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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