Only perfect Christmas is a good Christmas?

Shopping, crowds, and the pursuit of perfection - these are the things Hungarians would let go of the holidays. Costa Coffee is encouraging us to do so this Christmas: stop obsessing over perfection, accept the possibility of making mistakes, be creative and use mistakes as an advantage. The brand has conducted a joint survey with market research company Opinio to find out what we love most about Christmas.

Costa Coffee carries out its end-of-year survey traditionally to discover what puts people in the Christmas spirit. This year, they also asked respondents how much they spend on Christmas dinner, when they buy presents and what kind of gifts they are thinking of buying in 2023.

Christmas dinner

Almost half of the respondents spend no more than HUF 20,000 on Christmas dinner, while 16 percent spend between HUF 20,000 and 30,000, according to the survey by Costa Coffee and Opinio. 6 percent of Hungarians plan to spend between HUF 30,000 and 50,000, and 4 percent plan to spend more than HUF 50,000 on holiday dishes. A quarter of the participants do not spend any money on Christmas dinner, either because they are going out or because they are not the ones paying for it; the latter is more likely to be the case for men than for women (18 percent vs 11 percent).

Gift giving - within certain limits

The research also reveals that Hungarians are becoming more conscious about gifts. Although 35 percent of respondents buy a gift, they do so below a pre-agreed limit. One in four participants will buy presents that are useful and necessary in everyday life, while one in five respondents will not buy any gifts this year.

8 percent of those surveyed spend on premium products, such as high-quality coffee, and the same proportion said that they sometimes get carried away and spend a lot on presents while shopping. It is interesting to note that only 5 percent of respondents are thinking about homemade gifts.

The research shows that men are more likely to treat their loved ones with special treats and overspend, while women are more practical and conscious when they buy presents. The majority, 39 percent of respondents, start Christmas gift shopping at the beginning of December. Last-minute panic buying tends to be more common among men, while women start purchasing gifts in time.

For Costa Coffee it is important to enjoy the happy moments and the little things in life. So, the brand asked Hungarians what are the three things they would gladly leave out of Christmas to make it more pleasant. Top of the list were shopping and crowds (49 percent), extra spending (46 percent), striving for perfection and the stress that goes with it (39 percent) – all echoing Costa Coffee's message this Christmas: there is no need to be perfect, good enough is fine for the holidays.

The 16-19-year-olds – perhaps not surprisingly – would prefer to skip the holiday visits and lots of children from Christmas, while the 50-59-year-olds want to pay more attention to their shape and health and would be happy to skip the heavy meals.

What do the survey respondents want more of? Quality time with their loved ones (36 percent), self-time to sit down with a really good cup of coffee and enjoy the moment (35 percent), while one in three participants would like more time to relax. The 30-39-year-olds are the ones who miss having "me time" the most, they selected this response in a much higher proportion than other age groups.

And the fourth thing that one in three people want more of is the sense of surprise.

Coca-Cola HBC Hungary is the exclusive distributor of Costa Coffee and Caffè Vergnano in Hungary. The company is one of the TOP 3 players on the domestic coffee market in the HoReCa sector and in the retail market of premium coffees. The survey was conducted by Opinio on behalf of Coca-Cola HBC Hungary in December 2023, interviewing 1151 individuals. The sample is representative of the 16-59-year-old Hungarian population using smartphones by age, gender, education, type of residence and geographical location.