American adults’ holiday gifting habits continue to lean on traditional gifting methods.

New survey reveals American adults’ holiday gifting habits continue to lean on traditional gifting methods. Despite the emergence of digital payment methods, adults continue to show preference toward gifting or receiving cash, gift cards, or physical gifts to and from family members and friends. Preference towards cash in gifting service workers also surpasses any other methods.

Topline Findings

December 8, 2025 – A new Wells Fargo survey, with data collection provided by Ipsos among U.S. adults 18 or older, finds most intend to give service workers a holiday bonus/tip/gift, intending to give about the same dollar amount as they gave last year, primarily through cash. When gifting, physical gifts are the preferred option but when receiving, gift cards and physical gifts are equally preferred.

Digital payment methods including Zelle®, Venmo®, PayPal®, and Cash App® are underused methods of money-giving, relative to other options; however, adults’ sentiment is strong with high levels of agreement towards freedom to purchase what is really wanted, convenience in gifting, and taking guesswork out of gifting.

Detailed Findings

• Service Worker Gifting: Six-in-ten (60%) American adults consider giving a holiday bonus/tip/gift to service workers.
  • Three-in-ten (30%) consider gifting to personal service providers. A similar percentage of adults consider gifting delivery and transportation providers. Other service providers that adults consider giving a holiday bonus/tip/gift are household help (20%), education providers (17%), child/family care providers (16%), and building and community service providers (9%).
  • Among adults who consider giving a holiday bonus/tip/gift, a median of $25-$55 is typically given to service workers. Two-thirds (67%) are expecting to give the same amount as last year, one-in-ten (11%) plan to give more, and only 8% plan to give a lesser amount.
    • Child/family care providers ($55), household help ($50), and building and community service providers ($50) are expected to receive the highest median bonus/tip/gift.
  • Half (50%) of adults who consider giving a holiday bonus/tip/gift, intend to give cash. One-quarter (26%) will give gift cards, 11% digital payment such as Zelle®, Venmo®, PayPal®, and Cash App®, and fewer than one-in-ten (5%) plan to give a check.
• Gifting Preference: American’s preferences differ depending on their role as a gift receiver or giver.
  • Roughly half prefer to receive gift cards (56%), physical gifts (55%), or money in cash or check form (48%) during the holiday season. Around one-in-three (29%) prefer to receive experiences such as travel and events, or money through digital payments including Zelle®, Venmo®, PayPal®, and Cash App®.
  • Roughly two-thirds (65%) prefer to give physical gifts, half (54%) prefer to give gift cards, 34% money through cash or check. Less than one-in-five prefer to give experiences (19%) and money through digital payments (18%).
• Ways Money Received: Over two-thirds of adults have received cash (68%), three-in-ten (28%) have received checks, and three-in-ten (28%) received a digital payment during the holiday season. One-in-six (17%) have never received money as gift during the holiday season.
• Digital Cash Perceptions: About two-thirds (65%) of adults surveyed agree (agree strongly / agree somewhat) with the statement “I appreciate receiving a digital cash gift because it gives me the freedom to choose something I really want”. 65% also agree with “Gifting digital cash is convenient – I don’t have to worry about things like gift wrapping, postage, or shipping”, and 62% agree with “Giving digital cash takes the guesswork out of gift giving”. These three statements receive the highest levels of agreement, more than other statements.
  • Around half of adults surveyed agree (agree strongly / agree somewhat) with:
    • Sending a digital cash gift feels impersonal – like I didn’t put any effort into the gift (57%)
    • I worry about the gift arriving late or getting lost or stolen if I send it through the mail or other delivery service (52%)
    • I would appreciate receiving digital cash as a gift, but feel weird telling that to the gift giver (49%)
  • Roughly one-in-three Americans agree with the following statements:
    • I appreciate receiving a digital cash gift because I do not like most of the physical gifts I receive during the holidays (36%)
    • I’d like to give money digitally as a gift, but I don’t know if that’s socially acceptable (32%)

These are findings of a Wells Fargo survey, with data collection provided by Ipsos, conducted between October 30-November 3, 2025. A sample of 2,010 U.S. aged 18 and older were surveyed online in English, as part of Ipsos Omnibus shared survey program. The results of this research have a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for all respondents. Further details about the methodology can be found below.

 For full results, please refer to the annotated questionnaire. 

About the Study:

These are findings for research that was conducted between October 30 and November 3, 2025, by Ipsos. For this survey, a sample of 2,010 American adults aged 18 and older were interviewed online in English. Surveys were collected as part of a multi-client omnibus program, where questions on various topics are included in one interview and clients share demographic information collected.

The sample was randomly drawn from Ipsos’ online panel, partner online panel sources, and “river” sampling and does not rely on a population frame in the traditional sense. After a sample has been obtained from the Ipsos panel, Ipsos calibrates respondent characteristics to be representative of the U.S. Population using standard procedures such as raking-ratio adjustments. The source of these population targets is U.S. Census 2021 American Community Survey data. The sample drawn for this study reflects fixed sample targets on age and gender. Post-hoc weights were made to the population characteristics on age, gender, region, and household income. 

Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online non-probability surveys. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the survey has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for all respondents. Ipsos calculates a design effect (DEFF) for each study based on the variation of the weights, following the formula of Kish (1965). This study had a credibility interval adjusted for design effect of the following (n=2,010, DEFF=1.5, adjusted Confidence Interval=+/-4.0 percentage points).