Here’s what most brands get wrong about Easter: they treat it like a smaller, fluffier version of Christmas, when it’s actually something far more interesting.
Easter is one of the largest seasonal spending opportunities in the retail calendar with spending across food, apparel, gifts, and seasonal essentials. It’s driven by tradition and family occasions, which means the buying psychology is completely different.
The numbers back this up. U.S. consumers planned to spend about $23.6 billion on Easter in 2025, up from $22.4 billion the year before. That’s not people casually tossing a few chocolate eggs into their cart. That’s families making a serious financial commitment to tradition, even when money’s tight and everything else feels uncertain.
But here’s where most brands miss the mark: knowing what people spend money on during Easter won’t help you much. What actually moves the needle is understanding why they’re spending it because that’s the difference between a campaign that converts and one that just looks seasonally appropriate
Easter Consumer Spending Patterns You Must Know
Easter spend is distributed across multiple channels, from food to gifts, candies and clothing. This makes it strategically relevant for a much wider range of businesses.
In 2025, the projection for Easter spend was capped at $23.6 billion, here’s the breakdown of that figure based on statistics:
Food takes the lead at $7.4 billion. This isn’t grocery-run spending. This is “I need to feed 12 people and somehow make it memorable” spending. Families are cooking holiday meals, hosting brunches, and preparing for gatherings where the ham better be good because Uncle Jerry will comment on it.
Gifts account for about $3.8 billion. Nearly $4 billion was spent buying gifts for the season. Let that sink!
Clothing follows closely with about $3.5 billion: This hints that Easter outfits are still a core part of the celebrations. Kids need presentable outfits for shoots, church and the handful of family visitations.
Candy and sweets pull in about $3.3 billion: tradition still drives behavior, and certain categories are non-negotiable.
And while you might think it’s just in the U.S, according to statistics, in the U.K., Easter weekend spending has exceeded £2.3 billion, with noticeable spikes in store traffic and significant increases in food and drink purchases over the holiday weekend.
This means that if your business touches any of these categories, even tangentially, Easter is a viable revenue opportunity. But only if you understand what job the purchase is actually doing for the buyer.
Need help planning your Eater campaign? Contact our seasonal campaign expert.
What Easter Shoppers Are Actually Looking For
Easter is a season with a unique set of expectations from consumers. When you know what drives them, you’ll better understand how to craft campaigns that convert and lead generation becomes easier. Here are 3 distinct things Easter shoppers are looking for in 2026:
- Tradition and Family Activities
58% of consumers plan to cook a holiday meal during Easter with 55% planning to visit family and friends. Family activities and Easter traditions remain a core aspect of the season.
This means that people are preparing for events, not browsing for inspiration. They have a job to do: host a meal, entertain excited kids, look presentable for family gatherings, and they need tools to complete that job.
- Value-Driven Shopping
63% of shoppers are reportedly driven by tradition while 36% are influenced by deals and discounts. This shows that over half of the number look out for discounted offers.
And this isn’t about being cheap. It’s about justifying spending across multiple categories simultaneously. When you’re buying food, gifts and new outfits for the kids, value becomes a decision factor fast.
- Channels and Behavior
Discount stores remain the top Easter shopping destination at 55%, with department stores and online channels including social media follow close behind.
But here’s the nuance that matters: even as online shopping grows year over year and mobile research continues to climb, a huge chunk of Easter shoppers still prefer walking into actual stores for specific categories.
They want to see the ham they’re buying. They want to smell the flowers and touch the fabric on those Easter dresses.
And all these expectations tell you one thing: consumers are not all following a single playbook. While trying to honor traditions, they still look for discounted deals and some prefer in-person purchase.
How to Activate High-Performance Easter Campaigns
Here’s how the best Easter campaigns are actually structured, with tactical reasoning you can apply immediately.
a. Use Case–Centered Offers
Stop positioning products. Start solving situations.
Consumers aren’t browsing Easter sections for fun, they’re preparing for specific activities. Your campaign should answer clear questions:
- What do families need for their Easter meal?
- What do households want for their Easter egg hunt or celebration?
- What clothing or seasonal staples support their holiday plans?
Position your offers as practical solutions for Easter tasks, not just as “holiday products.” The shift sounds subtle, but it changes everything about messaging and conversion.
Example:
Don’t say: “Spring dresses on sale”
Say: “What they’ll wear for Easter brunch, sorted!”
The second version acknowledges the use case. It removes a decision from their mental checklist.
b. Bundle for Value and Convenience
Bundles perform exceptionally well not just during Easter but across several celebrations. This is because bundles help people makes less decisions and feel like they get much more value for their money.
High-converting Easter bundle angles:
Meal kits plus table décor
Kids’ apparel plus accessories
Gift bundles for children plus treats for adults
Bundling does two things simultaneously: it increases your average order value and it reduces decision fatigue by packaging related needs together.
c. Timing Is Strategic, Not One-Day
Easter is not a one-day event. Unlike celebrations like Valentine’s, Easter spans across a couple of days. This means that smart businesses segment the campaigns based on different times during the season.
Related: Crafting Valentine’s Campaigns That People Actually Buy From
The three-phase approach:
Planning phase (3 to 4 weeks before): This is way before the celebration, businesses can soft launch early messaging around meal prep, outfit planning, gift selection and other categories the season cuts across.
Peak week: This is usually close to or during the celebration. Now there’s urgency to get things done and businesses can key into it.
Post-Easter extension: this is the period after the celebration. Urgency has died, and celebrations are winding down. Businesses can offer complementary products in this timeframe (spring refresh, clearance, leftover-friendly items)
d. Promote Across Channels, But Prioritize Relevance
One truth about Easter shopping is that it doesn’t follow one path.
Data already shows that while mobile research and online purchases keep climbing year over year, some Easter shoppers still prefer the in-store experience for specific things like making sure the ham looks good before committing to serving it to 12 people.
So as much as possible, use each channel.
Use the digital channel to help people plan, compare, get inspired and figure out what they need. And make the physical channel available for customers who’d prefer to see and touch before they buy.
The mistake brands make is forcing everything through one channel so they don’t have to do much. Whether customers prefer to buy physical or click”buy now” from their couch at 11 PM, ensuring each channel is available ensures your business is not leaving any money on the table.
What Makes Easter Unique for Brands
Easter touches multiple categories and motivations simultaneously: family traditions, seasonal refresh, community and social gatherings
This means businesses across industries, not just traditional retail, can participate meaningfully.
- Restaurants can offer family meal packages.
- Service businesses can create spring promotions.
- Home goods brands can lean into seasonal refresh.
The opportunity isn’t limited to obvious Easter products. It’s about aligning your offer with what consumers are actually trying to accomplish during this period.
And if you are wondering what consumer expectations are, they are:
- Clear value: justify the spend, especially across multiple categories
- Convenience: reduce complexity in an already busy planning period
- Timing: be there exactly when they’re ready to buy
- Quality: quality cannot be overemphasized especially when it involves children.
Meeting these expectations isn’t complicated. But it does require actually designing your campaign around buyer needs instead of your internal calendar or creative preferences.
Takeaway
The difference between brands that run high-converting Easter campaigns is the fact that one category treats Easter as a promotional one-day sale event and the other treats it for what it is, a traditional consumer season that has a specific timeframe.
It’s not about slapping bunny graphics on your homepage and calling it seasonal marketing, it’s actually about understanding that for millions of families, Easter represents traditions, obligations, and purchasing needs, and your role is to give them convenience during that season.
So the businesses that will craft converting campaigns as opposed to those who would miss it will do these things consistently:
- Understand how spending actually distributes across categories
- Map their offers to real use cases, not abstract holiday themes
- Time their campaigns strategically across the entire preparation-to-celebration arc
- Leverage actual data on channels and value expectations
When you do this, you’re not just running an Easter sale. You’re earning sustained revenue and building customer trust by showing up when it matters, with what actually helps.
And in seasonal marketing, that’s the only strategy that compounds year over year.
FAQs
What sells most during Easter?
Chocolate dominates Easter sales, especially mini eggs, seasonal packs, and speciality blocks. Home and lifestyle items, such as pastel kitchenware, floral decor, and trendy ‘flocked’ bunnies, are also popular. Digital goods and personalised Easter-themed apparel are strong online sellers.
How to advertise for Easter?
Effective Easter marketing includes interactive virtual egg hunts, short-form themed video content, early teaser campaigns, and user-generated content contests and utilizing social media to boost engagement and social sharing.
Do companies do Easter sales?
Yes. Brands run direct discounts, release limited-edition products, and hold flash sales to treat Easter as a “mini Black Friday,” driving both online and in-store traffic.
What are some unique Easter fundraising ideas?
Experience-based fundraisers are often the most effective: egg drop challenges, themed basket raffles, “blind date with a book,” and story walks. For digital campaigns, Text-to-Give services increase small holiday donations.
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