In search of the perfect gift: what do Canadians give each other for Christmas?

The closer we get to Christmas, the more relevant the question “What gift should I buy?” becomes. Picodi Canada analyst team took a closer look at Google query statistics and created a ranking of the most popular Christmas gifts.

The list of queries we analysed consists of various gift suggestions, ranging from traditional gifts such as chocolate, toys and cosmetics to modern tech, including smartwatches, smart speakers and air humidifiers. We compared how the popularity of these queries changed in December 2022 compared to the average popularity in other months of the year.

Data collected and analysed by Picodi shows that the most popular Christmas gift in Canada is a gift set – the number of Google queries in December increased by 293% compared to the average from the January-November period.

The second most popular gift is a gift card (200% increase), allowing its recipient to choose their gift. Following closely in the third spot is a cosmetics set with a 188% increase.

In the neighbouring United States, the top three gift choices closely align with Canadian preferences — gift sets rank first, followed by gift cards in second place. The third most favoured gift is a beanie. In the UK, gift sets hold popularity alongside beanies as well. Meanwhile, in Australia, besides gift sets, gift cards stand out as a very common Christmas gift.

Methodology

The ranking was created based on the increase in popularity of gift-related Google queries in December 2022 compared to the rest of the year, utilising data collected through Google Trends.

Public use

The infographics and the statistical data in this report can be used freely for commercial and non-commercial purposes. We only ask you to credit the research author (Picodi Canada) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at research@picodi.com.