Financial concerns impacting Valentine's Day spending

Are you someone who purchases something for your significant other (or maybe even friends, co-workers, etc.) for Valentine's Day? With rising prices across the board, it seems like a lot of people are electing to forego the gifts according to the Job Research Institute at Libo Inc.

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The majority of respondents won't be gifting anything

89.3% of people said they won't give Valentine's gifts this year. The main reason for this was cited as the financial burden of rising prices, which I think many of us can relate to at the moment. Respondents noted that the cost of chocolates and gifts had become too high, with chocolate prices in particular increasing by 25 yen to 390 yen on average due to the rising cost of materials and the weak yen.

For those who are gifting, the average budget is <1000 yen

Among those who still plan to give gifts, the average budget per recipient is 800 yen, and this is typically for store-bought items over handmade ones. I know that for myself personally, it's often easier to just purchase something that's ready to go, because if I was to buy raw materials (e.g. chocolate, chocolate molds, packaging, etc.) it would likely work out to be more expensive.

An opposition to "giri-choco"

61.5% of respondents are against the tradition of obligatory chocolates (giri-choco), citing financial burdens, stress, and uncertainty about the recipients as the primary reasons. I can definitely understand this, since the whole giri-choco concept seems like a waste of money to me.

Do any of the points from the survey align with your thoughts on Valentine's spending?