St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Monday this year, which might put a damper on some celebrations. (Beware too much green beer/corned beef and cabbage; tomorrow’s a workday – and just a Tuesday at that!) That situation, combined with today’s turbulent economic times, may well be reflected in the somewhat muted spending plans consumers outlined for the March 17 holiday in a survey compiled by the National Retail Federation.
Here are some major findings from that effort:
- 61% plan to celebrate, down a percentage point from 2024. (Even those planning to wear green is down slightly, from 82% last year to 79% in ’25.)
- Per-person spending is expected to total $43.64 per person, down from $44.40 last year
- Total spending is expected at $7 billion, down from $7.2 billion last year.
The survey also asked where respondents said they planned to do their shopping for the holiday; here are the responses:
- Grocery Store: 39%
- Discount Store 27%
- Bar/Restaurant 19%
- Department Store 17%
- Online 14%
- Local/Small Business 11%
- Specialty store (greeting card/gift store, etc.) 8%
- Specialty Clothing Store 7%
- Drug Store 6%
- Other 2%
- Catalog 1%
The 2025 survey drew responses from 8568 consumers aged 18-plus from January 31 through February 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
Click here for more from the NRF survey.
