Gift buying in numbers

Are spent hunting down the very trickiest gifts.

The figure comes from DHL's 2022 Great Gifting Survey, conducted by OnePoll among 2,000 adults, which measured how long it takes to choose a gift for different people. The closer the person is to you, the longer it takes. The hardest is the gift for your children at almost three hours, 2 hours and 57 minutes, and for your partner at 2 hours and 44 minutes. From there it falls steadily: mum 1 hour and 44 minutes, dad 1 hour and 28 minutes, siblings and close friends around an hour, and more distant family and acquaintances between half an hour and an hour. Most of the time isn't spent paying, but finding and deciding on the right gift: searching, comparing and making sure it's right. The survey was carried out in the UK around Christmas, so we use it as an international indication, not as a Danish figure. These are also the exact figures we base your time saving on: for each of your gifts we add the time that kind of relationship takes, and show you the total as hours saved.

Feel pressured by gifts, especially busy parents.

In a survey of gift givers conducted around Christmas, 56 percent said they feel pressure around giving gifts. The pressure is greatest among parents, women and younger generations, exactly the groups that already carry many occasions and much of the family calendar. The feeling is not only about money, but about the expectation to get it right and live up to it year after year, and most people know that feeling all year round. It confirms that the burden of giving is real and widespread, not something you face alone.

Stress about whether the gift will hit the mark.

Just over half, 52 percent, say that finding the right gift gives them a fair amount or a little stress over the festive season. In fact, finding the right gift tops the list of the year's stressors, ahead of both travel and spending time with family. It's hardest for adults under 55 with children at home, where 60 percent feel it. It goes to the heart of the problem, because the hard part is not giving a gift, it is giving the right one to each person.

Put off most of their gifts until the last ten days.

Nearly four in ten put off most of their gift shopping until the last ten days before Christmas. Among parents it's even higher: 56 percent wait until the last minute, compared with 37 percent of those without children. The delay is rarely indifference. More often it's being busy, and searching for the perfect gift without being able to decide. The result is a rushed gift with guilt on top, exactly the situation our service puts an end to.