From December 13 to 16, 2024, we surveyed Canadians on the holiday season.
Some of the key highlights of our survey about Canadians’ Perspective on the Holiday Season include…
FEELINGS TOWARD THE HOLIDAYS
- Canadians are divided on the holiday season: 35% can’t wait as it’s their favourite time of the year, while an equal 35% find it fine but are glad when it’s over. Respondents with a household income below $40K are more likely to dislike the commercialization of Christmas (19%) and experience stress during the holiday season (15%). Presence of children in the household makes one more appreciative of the Holidays.
FAVOURITE ASPECTS OF THE HOLIDAYS
- The top joys of the holidays include seeing family (65%), enjoying food (60%) and decorations/lights (48%), followed by seeing friends (42%) and gift-giving (35%).
LEAST FAVOURITE ASPECTS OF THE HOLIDAYS
- On the other hand, gift buying (31%) is the biggest inconvenience, followed by travelling over the holidays (22%) and preparing food (18%).
OBSERVING RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
- A majority (68%) believe Christmas and Easter should remain recognized holidays as part of Canadian tradition, while 18% suggest expanding public holidays to include other religious days. This represents a 10-point increase from when Leger asked this question in 2022.
Methodology
This web survey was conducted from December 13 to December 16, 2024, with 1,515 Canadians aged 18 or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey.
For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size yields a margin of error no greater than ±2.52%, (19 times out of 20) for the Canadian sample.
