The numbers behind the gift hunt

Are spent finding the most demanding gifts, including children and partner.

The figure comes from the DHL Great Gifting Survey from 2022, 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 goes not into paying, but into finding and deciding on the right gift, that is searching, comparing and making sure it lands. The survey was done around Christmas and in the UK, so we use it as an international indication, not as Danish fact. These are also exactly the numbers we base the time saving on: for each of your gifts we add the time that kind of relation costs, and show you the total as hours saved.

Feel pressured by gift giving, most of all busy parents and women.

In a survey of gift givers conducted around the holidays, 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.

Find it stressful to get the right gift for each person.

Just over half, 52 percent, say that finding the right gift gives them a fair amount or a little stress over the holidays. In fact, finding the right gift tops the list of the year's stressors, ahead of both travel and spending time with family. It is hardest for adults under 55 with children at home, where 60 percent feel it. It hits the core 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 gift shopping until the last ten days and end up rushing.

Nearly four in ten put off most of their gift shopping until the last ten days before the holiday. Among parents it is even worse, where 56 percent wait until the last minute, against 37 percent among those without children. The delay is rarely indifference, more often it is busyness and looking for the perfect gift without being able to decide. The result is the rushed gift with a guilty conscience on top, exactly the situation the service removes.