I attended a wedding this summer — as many people do this time of year — and buying wedding gifts is a big part of the event.
While we spent what I considered to be a reasonable amount of money, I was a little surprised to learn that men spend more on wedding gifts than women do, according to a survey by Ebates, a cash back and coupon website. I’m frugal, and I’m not fond of shopping. Am I more likely to spend more on wedding gifts than my wife? I don’t think so.
Men spending 2X on wedding gifts
The survey found that a majority of women said they spend $25 to $100 on wedding gifts, or about half as much as the $50 to $250 that men said they spend.
Women, however, shop smarter than men, with 32 percent of women using coupons and cash back to buy wedding gifts, the survey found.
Other ways survey respondents said they save money at weddings include restyling dresses and suits (21 percent), and teaming up with a friend to split the cost of an expensive gift (19 percent).
Most Americans (59 percent) said they will attend at least one — and as many as five — weddings this year.
Weddings full of stress
That’s a lot of gifts to buy, and a lot of stress to deal with. Finding the right outfit is the biggest stressor for women, while men are more concerned about running into people they dislike.
Here are the biggest causes of anxiety that the survey found:
Stressors for women
- Finding the right outfit: 44%
- Losing weight: 28%
- Spending too much money: 28%
- Seeing people I dislike: 27%
- Finding the right gift: 24%
Stressors for men
- Seeing people I dislike: 31%
- Spending too much money: 29%
- Finding the right outfit: 27%
- Finding the right gift: 24%
- Losing weight: 21%
Men are also three times as likely as women to feel stressed out about finding the right date to a wedding — 14 percent of men vs. 5 percent of women, the study found.
While the survey didn’t get into how men and women feel about going into debt to buy costly wedding gifts, we can only imagine the stress that’s added to attending a wedding when that gift is sitting on your credit card and waiting to be paid.
I always set a budget for a wedding gift from $25 to $50 and haven’t used a coupon. The next time there is a wedding I would use a coupon. I couldn’t agree more to the results of the survey as I can really relate to them especially the stress in finding the right outfit.