Easter 2023 Celebrations: Inflation Impact, Less Church, Lots of Crying

• 68% say inflation is impacting how much they plan to spend on Easter products this year.
• 38% of respondents say they disliked Peeps marshmallow chicks the most of all Easter candies when they were growing up,
• About half of those who have participated in an Easter egg hunt with their children say their kids have become upset or cried at Easter egg hunts.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Prodege, a cutting-edge consumer marketing and insights platform, today released the results from its annual Easter survey of consumer plans and activities. Among 69% of Americans who plan to celebrate Easter this year, 53% plan on celebrating by buying chocolate, 52% plan on preparing a meal at home, and 44% plan to go to church.

Key Findings:

• 68% of Easter celebrants say inflation is impacting how much they spend on Easter-related products this year with 40% saying they plan to spend less because they have less to spend and 28% saying they have to spend more because costs are higher.
• Pass the potatoes, please! 52% plan to prepare a meal at home and Easter chefs say they’ll spend an average of $56 on their home-cooked Easter meal, an increase versus last year for 42% of the home cooks. The Easter meal will most likely consist of potatoes (71%), bread/rolls (68%), and ham (62%). A third plan to serve alcoholic beverages, preferring wine (72%) slightly more than beer (66%).
• Mmmm, chocolate.  Of those planning to make Easter baskets this year (43%), chocolate is by far the number one item to include, according to 91% of respondents. Other top items are non-chocolate candy (68%), arts and craft supplies (35%), coloring books (35%) and gift cards (31%).
• Peeps forever? 38% of respondents say they disliked Peeps marshmallow chicks the most when they were growing up, followed by sour candy (21%) and jelly beans (15%).  However 10% say they now love Peeps while 11% say they now love jelly beans and 12% now love sour candy.  Peanut butter eggs (55%) are the most popular Easter confection, followed by jelly beans (49%), solid chocolate bunnies (42%), and chocolate mini eggs (42%). A third of shoppers say they’ll be buying Peeps this holiday season  … no word on the purchase intent for Pepsi Peeps.
• Easter baskets are for adults too. While 58% of Easter baskets will be made for children younger than 13, 33% of respondents say they will make a basket for themselves and 46% say they will make a basket for an adult. Those who make Easter baskets make an average of three for the holiday.
• Photos with the Easter Bunny? Maybe not.  23% of Easter celebrants say they plan to take their kids for pictures with the Easter Bunny this year, a drop from 33% who took their kids last year.  
• Creepy Easter Bunny. 27% found the Easter Bunny (EB) creepy when they were young with 16% saying they were afraid of EB. 26% still find the EB creepy now. At least EB is doing better than leprechauns. Prodege’s St. Patrick’s Day survey showed 32% feared them.
• Real Easter eggs?  Nope.  Just 14% of Easter celebrants say they have only used real eggs in past Easter egg hunts with 38% only using plastic eggs and 7% saying they have never participated in an Easter egg hunt.
• Egg hunt meltdowns!  A whopping 49% of Easter celebrants say their children have  cried or become upset at Easter egg hunts because “they couldn’t find any or enough eggs before other kids snapped them all up.”  More children prefer Easter egg hunts at home than at a family or friend’s home or at other organized events. So the annual White House Easter Egg roll may be the rule, not the exception, when it comes to crying children.
• But Easter is one of the least stressful holidays … for adults.  Just 1% of respondents called it the most stressful major holiday.  Respondents said Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s were the top 3 most stressful holidays.

Prodege conducted an online survey using their AI-Enabled DIY programming solution, Pollfish on March 14 – March 20, 2023 among 1,000 respondents representative of US Gen Pop with +/-3% margin of error. 

About Prodege, LLC

Prodege (pro-dé-gée) is a cutting-edge marketing and consumer insights platform that leverages its global audience of reward program members to power its business solutions. Bolstered in 2021 by a major investment by Great Hill Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm and three strategic acquisitions in 2022, our innovative offerings will continue to enable leading brands and agencies to gather insights and market to their target audiences. Through deep consumer profiling, our clients can more effectively acquire new customers, boost engagement, increase revenue, and drive brand loyalty and product adoption. Visit www.prodege.com to learn more about our solutions.

Read the full release here.