What's happening?
Are we losing faith?
Don't crave chocolate anymore?
Don't want to have family and friends over for a big meal or egg hunt?
Or, all of the above as it manifests itself in a 'can't be bothered' attitude?
A survey released this month indicates only 61.7% of Canadians plan to celebrate Easter this year.
That statistic itself is shocking.
It's even more disquieting when you're told it's considerably less than the 75% who celebrated in 2022.
Those who celebrate are more likely to be people with kids, especially younger children, because the lure of the Easter bunny and his chocolate-hiding prowess cannot be denied.
In the case of this survey, we're not talking going-to-church-and-praising-
Those figures would be even more depressingly low.
We're talking about people who deem Easter, even commercialized and agnostic Easter, is not worth buying and hiding some chocolates or cooking a special meal.
At the other end of the spectrum, I'm sure we're all appreciative of having a statutory holiday and getting a three or even four-day weekend in the name of Easter.
Therefore, Easter is a traditional time for families and friends to gather.
But, presumably, not enough to boost those Easter celebration stats.
This most recent Easter survey was done by www.hellosafe.ca, the website for comparing insurance, credit and investment products.
Besides the financial products comparisons, www.hellosafe.ca explores broader topics related to consumer consumption in an effort to understand consumer behaviour.
Thus, the Easter survey.
As such, spending factored into the poll, as well.
Of the 61.7% who are commemorating Easter in some way, shape or form, 66.2% will buy chocolates, 29.6% will purchase a ham for Easter dinner, 11.3% lamb and 2.8% lenten buns.
That leaves 8.5% spending on other things for Easter, maybe a turkey (the other traditional holiday meat), some booze, flowers or an Easter bonnet (just kidding, do people still do that?)
In all, Easter chocolate buying could hit $237 million in Canada.
The average $54.60 that people will spend on Easter is actually a four-year high after the pandemic hit holiday celebrations hard in 2020 ($30.50), 2021 ($41.70) and 2022 ($48.80).
But it hasn't rebounded to pre-COVID spending of $57.80 and $58.40 in 2018 and 2019.
This year's facts and figures were derived from 892 Canadians responding to the survey on www.hellosafe.ca over three weeks in March.
That's a small sample size, so read into the findings as you see fit.
Plus, people could be now having a last-minute predilection to celebrate Easter in some way and the chocolates, ham and good times could still unfold.
Happy Easter!
