What do consumers actually want at Christmas?
Most of the answer is the same every year. The interesting part is the build on top.
The honest answer to what consumers want at Christmas is unromantically stable. They want it to feel like Christmas. They want the people who matter most. They want abundance. They want some evidence the day was worth it.
The annual hand-wringing about whether Christmas will look different this year mostly misses the point. The bedrock doesn’t move much – it never has. What moves is the specific layer that sits on top of it, and that’s the bit planning teams brief wrong, because it’s the bit that needs fresh data each summer.
Konfidant’s weekly tracking sees both. The piece below sets out the bedrock first, then uses the 2025 Christmas Predictions to show what a year-specific build looks like in practice – by way of a worked example, not a forecast for the next one.
The short answer
| What people always want | How brands should respond |
|---|---|
| Familiar rituals | Build around old favourites, not forced novelty |
| Togetherness | Help people gather with the ones who matter most |
| Abundance | Signal plenty, warmth and generosity |
| Thoughtful gifts | Help gifts prove care, not just spend |
| Permission to enjoy | Make space for laughter, indulgence and switching off |
| A version that fits this year | Track the live mood before deciding tone and emphasis |
The bedrock: Christmas is Christmas
The data here is uncomfortably consistent. 96% of UK households associate Christmas with chocolate. 93% with abundance. 90% with famously-Christmas foods. The single most-used source of Christmas recipe inspiration is “old favourites I know” (32%), followed by recipes passed down through the family (27%). Cooking shows, food blogs and social media trail far behind.
The things people want from Christmas haven’t moved much in years. Tradition. Family. Abundance. Child-centred wonder. Generosity. Ritual. The brief that arrives at a creative agency asking for a “fresh take” on Christmas is fighting the customer. Tradition isn’t a fallback – it’s the actual product.
The bedrock also holds two less obvious universals. The first is that people want to enjoy themselves. The polite answer is that Christmas is the season of giving. The actual answer is that Christmas is the season of giving while also having a proper time. 67% want brands to “make sure I enjoy Christmas too.” 63% want brands to “help me forget my worries.” The second is that joy and melancholy sit side by side. 71% are happy to see everyone together. 51% are sad about people who aren’t there any more. Both feelings are constants. Brands that pretend the second one doesn’t exist read as tone-deaf.
The brand role on the bedrock is preserver of the familiar, with a small twist on top. The reliable losers are brands trying to replace the familiar with something cleverer.
The annual build: a worked example from 2025
Konfidant’s 2025 Christmas Predictions, drawn from weekly tracking through that year, show what a year-specific build looks like in practice. The 2025 layer arrived in three parts, each one sitting on top of the bedrock rather than replacing it.
Mood
Households entered Christmas 2025 in cocoon mode – shutting out a difficult news year, looking inward, ready to enjoy themselves but doing so deliberately. Net spend intent hit +16% (the highest since the pandemic) and net excitement tipped positive for the first time in years. The spending was disciplined, not reckless. The same households building healthier savings buffers wanted to nail Christmas without the January guilt-hangover. The brand position that worked was indulgence framed as deliberate, earned and worth it. The position that didn’t was indulgence framed as escape from reality.
People
62% hoped for a “be close” Christmas, up seven points on the previous year. 58% were staying in because going out was too expensive. 52% would only give cards to close people, up from 47%. Adult-friend gifting barely moved. The Crew-only Christmas pulled in tightly – people were protecting their bandwidth for the few who mattered most and quietly editing out the rest with mutual relief. A long-list strategy aimed at the extended circle was fighting the direction of travel.
Proof
Fewer, better gifts. 51% loved walking into a decorated home, up five points. 36% saw food as the star of Christmas, up from 29% in the pandemic years. The wow food shot, the festive backdrop, the nailed-it tree – not vanity, evidence. The post-Christmas question, “what did you get up to?”, is one of the most quietly stressful conversations of the year, and people were preparing answers in advance.
Three different layers, all sitting on top of the same bedrock. Tradition still the product. Family still the centre. Abundance still the benchmark. The 2025 build changed how people delivered Christmas – not what they wanted from it.
Why weekly tracking matters
Most Christmas commentary arrives too late. It explains what happened after the campaign window has closed.
Konfidant tracks mood, confidence and behaviour every week, then builds a fresh Christmas Predictions read each summer. That gives brands two things: a clear view of the durable Christmas needs, and a live read on the mood building around them. Households entered 2025 cocooning. Whether they enter the next Christmas in the same mood, more outward, or somewhere new is a data question, not a guess.
The useful brief doesn’t start with “what do consumers want at Christmas?” in the abstract. It starts with “what do consumers always need Christmas to do – and what does this year make them need more of?”
That’s the planning edge. Christmas is Christmas. Every year asks brands to prove they understand what that means now.
