Czechs will spend less on Christmas this year, with fewer and cheaper gifts

Czechs on average plan to spend CZK 5,200 on gifts, which is CZK 1,000 or 16 percent less than respondents stated they would spend in 2018. That excludes inflation which in 2019 was 2.8 percent and looks to be about the same in 2020.

A survey by the Czech division of Sberbank shows that 28 percent of Czechs plan to buy Christmas presents primarily from e-shops. Hopefully, they have already done so as many shops say that delivery by Dec. 24, which is when Czech celebrate Christmas, will be difficult for items not already ordered due to excessively high demand for delivery.

“Our survey shows that almost a third of people — 32 percent — have lost their income this year due to coronavirus and related measures. It is therefore logical that this deteriorating financial situation will also have an impact on Christmas,” Sberbank's spokeswoman Radka Černá said.

Some 28 percent of Czechs plan to buy fewer gifts this year than in previous years, while 15 percent will give cheaper gifts. Both of these trends are more pronounced in women.

One in six people under the age of 25 are planning to make some of the gifts, rather than buy them.

“On the other hand, we can see that the coronavirus crisis did not affect all groups of the population in the same way. Over half of Czechs, or 54 percent, do not plan to change their approach to shopping for Christmas presents this year. These are mainly people over the age of 55 and pensioners whose income has not been affected by this year's changes,” Černá said.

The Sberbank survey made in November, before the return to the stricter fourth level of the PES anti-pandemic system was announced.

Christmas markets such as the popular ones at Old Town Square and náměstí Míru did not open this year. Some others that did open briefly have since closed.

People who still haven’t decided that to buy can check out our list of gift ideas. Donating to charity in someone’s name or buying gift certificates for the arts or for restaurants is also an option, and those can often be done online without having to wait for delivery.