Kathy Hart bought a $500 black Coach bag as a holiday gift one recent Christmas. But it wasn’t for her kids, her sister, or her mom — it was for herself.
Hart, a Brookline elementary school teacher, said it’s important to treat yourself while also thinking of others during the holiday season. She even gift wraps her own presents and places them beneath her family’s Christmas tree.
“When we’re doing gifts, I’ll have everyone open theirs,” said Hart, 48. “And then I’ll go, ‘Oh my gosh, Santa brought me something, too!’”
Nearly one in three shoppers in Boston plan to buy themselves a gift this holiday season, according to a survey from Deloitte. Fundamentally, self-gifters say, buying yourself a holiday gift is an intentional act of self-care and appreciation, different from simply picking up something you need while doing your holiday shopping.
This season, Boston-area shoppers plan to spend an average of $176 each on gifts for themselves, according to the Deloitte survey, though, of course, it’s a luxury not everyone can afford. When budgets are strained, many cut back on themselves before spending less on others. And that seems to be the case this year, according to the survey: the number of local people planning to self-gift is down 12 percentage points from last year’s 41 percent.
The survey revealed a deep generational divide on the trend: 54 percent of Gen Z respondents said they would treat themselves, compared with just 13 percent of baby boomers.
“My generation is all about self-love, and I feel like it’s trickling up,” said Alexis Raitt, 24, who plans to self-gift this holiday season. Raitt, a Brookline resident who works in sales, said she buys herself makeup and other self-care products and will sometimes buy these items again as gifts for others if she likes them.
Raitt’s father, David Lieb, 57, an architect from Salem, also said he will buy himself something this year. He said he typically gifts himself clothes and other useful items, while he focuses on more personal, special gifts for others.
“You have to love yourself to be able to love others and want to give to others,” Lieb said.
Sophia Paraskos, 81, of Dover, said she sometimes “gets in the spirit” and will buy herself a gift if she finds something she absolutely loves. But her husband, John Paraskos, said he does not.
“I have a lot of stuff,” he said. “I’m 85 years old. I have everything I need.”
The couple primarily holiday shops for each other, their two sons, and three granddaughters, but occasionally, they’ll splurge on something they both want — maybe something for their house — in a way, self-gifting as a couple.
Hart, the teacher from Brookline, said she might spend a little more on a gift for herself than on one for someone else, although it depends on the person. But if times got tough, the Gen Xer said, she’d likely cut back on spending on herself first.
That’s a common choice, according to the survey: 45 percent said self-gifting is the first place they’d cut back if their budget becomes constrained. This suggests that while many people do shop for themselves during the holiday season, they still prioritize spending on others, said Anthony Jardim, principal in Boston’s retail practice at Deloitte.
“Self-gifting definitely may shrink a little bit this year compared to last year,” Jardim said. “It’s a little bit of that stretching of the wallet and making sure that we’re spending the majority of our spend on the gifts that we need to get for our loved ones versus ourselves.”
Stella Tannenbaum can be reached at stella.tannenbaum@globe.com.