Father’s Day Spending Expected to Hit Record

Father’s Day spending is expected to reach a record $27.9 billion this year, according to the just-released annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. That marks an increase from the previous record of $24 billion set last year.

“Despite economic pressures, Father’s Day [which falls this year on June 21] remains just as important to shoppers as in years past,” said NRF Chief Economist and Executive Director of Research Mark Mathews. “In order to make the holiday fit their budgets, shoppers are pulling back in other spending areas. Retailers continue to meet consumer needs by offering items at affordable prices.”

Major findings of the survey, which drew responses from 7914 consumers (giving it a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points), include:

• In line with previous years, 77% of consumers plan to celebrate Father’s Day this year. On average, consumers expect to spend $226.58, up from the previous record of $199.38 in 2025. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, spending has increased across all categories, except for shoppers ages 65 and older.
• Also as in past years, greeting cards (60%) are the most popular gift for Father’s Day, followed by clothing (58%), a special outing (55%) and gift cards (52%). “While nearly every gift category is seeing an increase in planned spending this year, electronics and personal care items have the largest gains,” said Prosper’s EVP of Strategy Phil Rist. “These items reflect consumers’ focus on giving dad practical and popular gifts, especially products that help make his life easier.”
• Like other holidays, subscription boxes and experiential gifts remain popular options. Nearly one-third of consumers (31%) say they plan to give an experience, while 45% of shoppers are interested in gifting a subscription box.
• Online remains the most popular holiday shopping destination at 38%, followed closely by department stores at 37%. Meanwhile, 26% of shoppers plan to visit a discount store, up from 23% in 2025.

Click here for more from the survey.