J’Nae Phillips is a freelance London-based editor, fashion columnist, trend analyst, and cultural researcher. She has previously worked for 

, Hearst Magazines UK, The NET-A-PORTER Group, Selfridges, Burberry, and Canvas8. She has been published in 

People are redefining status for themselves using a broad range of factors beyond solely economic ones. This new iteration of status is often based around increasingly niche and local signifiers, and status is becoming a mode of belonging and connection with like-minded people.

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While much of the market is tightening its belt, affluent Americans seem to be doing the opposite. As economic pressure reshapes festive spending for the majority, high-net-worth households continue to fuel growth across luxury goods, premium travel, and exclusive experiences, with the US leading the world's largest luxury market by sales. 

The Wall Street Journal

McKinsey & Company

In 2025, the ultra-high-net-worth travel market was valued at $48.6 billion and is projected to reach $92.3 billion by 2034, with North America accounting for 28.3% of the global market. 

Market Intelo

Recent spending patterns reveal a distinctly ‘K-shaped Christmas’, where higher-income shoppers are increasing expenditure as others become more price-conscious. 

The Guardian

 Rather than scaling back, wealthy households are becoming more than just participants in the annual Christmas economy, but rather one of its primary growth engines.

This pattern of behavior reflects more than financial capability; it signals a cultural shakeup in how affluence is expressed as the holiday season rolls around. In a survey of 2000 Americans, 49% said their household income had increased in the year leading up to 2025, while spending rose 9% among households earning over $200k. 

KPMG

Against a backdrop of mass-market austerity, luxury is increasingly expressed through highly personalized celebrations, exclusive travel, private dining, and thoughtful gifting that communicate taste, discernment, and status. Brands are responding by turning festive occasions into curated experiences: Auberge created destination-specific festive culinary events with designers and tastemakers, St. Regis partnered with Ladurée to elevate its traditional afternoon tea into a season of festive programming, while The Little Nell in Aspen built its festive offering around dining, skiing, and exclusive events, becoming the setting for an entire lifestyle. 

Auberge

PR Newswire

Luxury Travel Magazine

 In this context, affluent Americans are seeking festive moments that feel rare, culturally relevant, and difficult to replicate.

More broadly, this highlights a widening cultural divide in what Christmas looks and feels like across different income groups. While many are redefining festive traditions around value, practicality, and restraint, HNWIs are using the season as a canvas to go bigger and better. “For affluent households, a successful Christmas is measured less by spending and more by frictionless experiences,” says Laura Romanin, award-winning fashion and beauty creative and podcast host. “Luxury increasingly means private access, seamless hospitality, personalized service, time with family, privacy, and convenience. The greatest expression of wealth is no longer ownership. It is the ability to protect time.” 

Interview with Laura Romanin conducted by the author

 For this particular cohort, the festive period is moving towards curating moments that reflect individual identity, taste, and social standing. For brands, the opportunity lies not in amplifying luxury for luxury's sake, but in recognizing that today's high spenders are seeking cultural relevance, emotional meaning, and a sense of distinction that extends far beyond the products they buy.

For high-net-worth individuals, Christmas gifting is becoming more intentional rather than more extravagant. While gift-giving remains a central festive ritual, affluent shoppers are showing early signs of restraint, not by abandoning luxury but by becoming more selective about how and why they spend. “While luxury expenditure remains resilient, purchasing decisions are increasingly filtered through emotional value, provenance, and longevity. Luxury is becoming less transactional and more autobiographical,” notes Romanin. 

 Economic uncertainty has turned people into deal seekers, compelling them to spend less overall. But as the number of global HNWIs purchasing luxury goods and experiences as gifts has declined year on year, 59% of HNWIs in North America are still likely to purchase luxury goods and experiences as spontaneous gifts. 

Forbes

 The emphasis is moving from giving more to giving better, with value measured by thoughtfulness, relevance, and emotional significance rather than price alone.

This evolution reflects a broader cultural redefinition, in part, of luxury itself. Among affluent earners, status has become more discerning, where it's demonstrated through careful curation rather than conspicuous excess. Christmas rituals are now centered on selecting fewer, more meaningful gifts that reflect personal relationships, shared experiences, and individual identity. Tiffany & Co.’s 2025 Love Is a Gift campaign responded to this shift by centering its jewelry around intimate expressions of love, while Saks Fifth Avenue’s Holiday Your Way campaign focused on curated edits and individual tastes rather than a one-size-fits-all luxury approach. 

Tiffany & Co.

 Considered luxury is starting to replace maximalism, as restraint itself becomes a new status marker.

Social expectations around wealth and consumption are also changing as conspicuous displays of affluence feel increasingly out of step with the wider cultural mood. This is happening at a time when 72% of Americans believe the wealthy hold too much of the country's wealth, and 52% say the gap between rich and poor is a very big problem. 

The New Republic

YouGov

 As a result, HNWIs are starting to embrace quieter expressions of luxury that feel more authentic, intentional, and emotionally resonant. “The surface-level 'status game’ seems to be dying out with the younger generation who value personalization over defaulting to the same provider out of habit/name recognition,” explains freelance fashion, beauty, and luxury brand messaging strategist Elisa Lewittes. “As options increase rather than consolidate, relationships and a human touch will dominate.” 

Interview with Elisa Lewittes conducted by the author

 For brands, this signals that relevance will come from enabling thoughtful, highly personalized gifting rituals that help affluent earners express care, taste, and individuality, rather than simply offering more ways to spend.

For affluent spenders, travel, gatherings, and experiences define their festive season. Even as retail gifting begins to stabilize, high-income households prioritize spending on travel. The top 10% and top 1% of American households now account for more than half of all shopper spending in the US, with their collective leisure spending expected to reach $544 billion in 2026. This concentration is particularly evident in travel: the top 10% take an average of 4.3 leisure trips a year, while the top 1% take six, more than double the national average of 2.8 trips. 

Hotel News Resource

Research found that 50% of global HNWIs liked to travel to celebrate success in 2024, a figure which rose to 64% in 2025. 

 Travel is now one of the top ways big spenders choose to celebrate success, with preference rising year on year. Rather than accumulating more things, HNWIs are investing in moments that create memories, strengthen relationships, and deliver offline enrichment.

Behaviorally, this shift extends beyond travel to the home itself, where entertaining has become an important expression of luxury. Affluent households are transforming their homes into immersive festive destinations through private chefs, bespoke decor, event stylists, and personalized entertainment. Recent examples include AERIN’s 2025 transformation of Connecticut’s Mayflower Inn & Spa into an immersive holiday setting with private dining and curated gifting, Pacaso’s private-chef experiences in luxury vacation homes across the US, and 

s personalized Santa services for private family events. 

Town & Country

Pacaso

 Romanin says that “the brands winning Christmas today are creating emotional ecosystems—not simply selling products”. 

 The home is no longer simply the backdrop for Christmas; it’s the main stage. New HNWI holiday rituals engineer occasions that feel exclusive and emotionally resonant, elevating hospitality into an at-home luxury experience in its own right.

Taken together, these signals are shaking up what festive luxury looks like. For HNWIs, Christmas is about the theater of the season rather than the transaction. Whether through a once-in-a-lifetime trip or an impeccably curated gathering behind closed doors, value lies in creating stories remembered long after the decorations come down. Christmas is shifting from a season of consumption to one of production, in which the wealthy are actively designing and directing festive traditions. Lewittes cautions that wealthy shoppers parting with their money for the name prestige alone will continue to wane. “However, the reliability of these destinations/retailers often comes from existing patron-client relationships, so essentially the quality of service/relationship-to-virality ratio will make this answer nuanced and highly case-by-case dependent.” 

The traditional idea of Christmas as a single, high-intensity moment is giving way to something far different. For high-net-worth individuals, the festive season has evolved into a carefully designed program of experiences that unfolds over several weeks. “The festive calendar is expanding. Rather than beginning in December, many affluent households now start planning Christmas in November through private shopping appointments, bespoke gifting, destination travel, curated entertaining, and family experiences,” says Romanin. “The season increasingly extends into January through skiing, longevity retreats, and wellness travel. For brands, Christmas is becoming a multi-touchpoint relationship rather than a single campaign.” 

 December is now structured around a sequence of travel, hosting, social engagements, and gifting moments, each with its own purpose and atmosphere. The luxury of Christmas is no longer just in what happens, but in how seamlessly the entire season is choreographed.

Behind this more expansive approach is a growing need to manage complexity. As festive calendars fill with family commitments, social gatherings, travel plans, and entertaining, HNWIs are turning towards private concierge-style planning and personalized support to coordinate it all. 

The New York Times

Christmas is no longer a standalone celebration, but an extension of a broader lifestyle ecosystem spanning relationships, leisure, hospitality, and personal expression. The ability to anticipate needs, create effortless experiences, and navigate multiple commitments has become part of the cultural code of affluent living, where organization itself is a form of luxury. Increasingly, ultra-wealthy families are hiring house managers or a ‘chief of staff for the home’ to stay on top of the details. 

The Atlantic

Concierge services such as Quintessentially, Velocity Black, and Knightsbridge Circle tap into this demand, offering hyperpersonalization support tailored to clients’ individual quirks, tastes, desires and needs. 

The changing rhythm of Christmas is also part of a broader cultural shift towards earlier planning and a longer period of seasonal engagement, with 21% of American shoppers beginning in October or earlier and 22% in early November. 

TGM Research

 For affluent households, this extended timeline allows greater opportunity to build a holiday season that suits their evolving needs as they seek to avoid pressure and create more considered celebrations. The result is new festive moments defined less by urgency and more by anticipation, where the experience of preparing, hosting, and celebrating over a prolonged period of time becomes just as meaningful as the day itself. “Luxury brands that can curate Christmas gift offerings, vacation wardrobe edits, in-room beverage and scent preferences, seamlessly integrated personalized services, etc., ahead of time will set them apart from the crowd of high-end venues and retailers,” suggests Lewittes. 

Move from traditional retail to a curation model

“Christmas is no longer the pinnacle of luxury consumption – it has become the pinnacle of luxury curation,” explains Romanin. “The festive season is evolving from a retail event into a six-to-eight-week lifestyle ecosystem spanning travel, hospitality, wellness, gifting, and multigenerational connection.” She further adds, “For luxury brands, the opportunity has shifted from selling products to designing rituals.” 

 In a festive landscape where abundance can feel overwhelming, HNWIs are placing greater emphasis on meaning. This appetite for considered curation extends to the content they consume, too: 70% of HNWIs value easy-to-read storytelling while 66% look for a human element and 62% value real-life expertise. Travel and luxury are also key areas of interest, with 54% seeking travel content and 51% looking for luxury. 

Brands are responding by acting as curators as much as retailers: Aman’s personalized travel experiences combine destination expertise, private access, and tailored itineraries to create journeys that feel highly individual rather than off-the-shelf. 

Aman

 The opportunity is to become trusted curators of significance, using accessible storytelling, human insight, and authentic expertise to help HNWIs celebrate meaningfully.

For HNWIs, powerful luxury expressions are found in the moments that surround ownership, from an intimate gathering at home to a personalized journey or a carefully crafted celebration. This reflects a wider shift towards experience-led living, where brands are expected to play a role in shaping how people spend their time. It also presents an opportunity for challenger brands: in the US, 68% of luxury shoppers say newer or disruptive brands better reflect their identity, compared with 63% who say the same of established luxury houses. 

Brands are already moving in this direction as LA-based Wild West Social House combines luxury fashion rental with a private social club, while Vacheron Constantin has built an invitation-only space bringing together access, hospitality and cultural connection. 

Vogue

Brummell

 “A ‘successful’ Christmas is more perceived as a continuation of an annual ritual,” says Lewittes. 

 The opportunity for luxury and lifestyle brands is to become experience architects, embedding themselves into the broader ecosystem of affluent life. Those that do so successfully can become part of the experiences people remember, rather than simply the products they purchase.

Christmas is becoming less of a single shopping moment and more of a season-long program of travel, entertaining, gifting, and social connection. “The opportunity is no longer to own Christmas,” says Romanin. “It is to become part of the rituals people choose to repeat every year.” 

 The scale of the occasion remains significant: 88% of Americans celebrate Christmas, with participation remaining high across generations, from 85% of 18–34-year-olds to around nine in ten of those aged 35 and over. Gift exchange (96%) and getting together with family and friends (95%) remain near-universal traditions, reinforcing Christmas as a season rooted in both giving and connection. 

Gallup

Brands are responding by extending their festive presence across the season, such as Neiman Marcus using its Christmas Book to build anticipation around gifting, experiences, and fantasy escapes, creating reasons to engage beyond the point of purchase. 

 By building a continuous festive presence through staggered launches, phased storytelling, appointment-led retail, and concierge-ready services, brands can align with how HNWIs live the season, rather than competing for a single moment of spend.

 of American shoppers begin shopping in October or earlier, and 

Travel and luxury are key content areas of interest for HNWIs, with 

 of Americans celebrate Christmas, with gift exchanges (

) and getting together with family and friends (

HNWIs are moving away from volume-driven consumption towards curated gifting, meaningful experiences, and considered expressions of taste

Travel, hosted gatherings, and immersive celebrations are redefining festive luxury, with affluent households investing in memories, connection, and exclusive moments

Success will come from moving beyond seasonal retail peaks to create personalized, culturally relevant touchpoints that integrate into the wider lifestyle rituals of HNWIs

Laura Romanin is a creative strategist and award-winning expert with a deep passion for sustainability in fashion and beauty. She champions circularity through innovative campaigns and thought leadership, collaborating with top brands to drive positive change. As the host of the 

 podcast, Romanin explores circularity and innovation at the forefront of the industry.

Elise Lewittes is a freelance fashion, beauty and luxury brand messaging strategist with a background in tone-of-voice development, narrative systems, copywriting, journalism and editorial commerce. She’s worked in various capacities with PANGAIA, Lyst, Dossier, Miaou, Moon Boot, Davines, With Jéan, eBay and more. She’s been published in outlets including 

 among others. Her research focuses on the evolution of the new luxury shopper, particularly how brand storytelling influences Gen Z and Gen Y customer journeys, market perceptions and retail habits.

United States

Luxury

Travel and Leisure

Affluent Christmas is evolving from a season of excess into one of curation, experience, and intentionality. HNWIs are prioritizing meaningful gifting, travel, hosted experiences, and carefully orchestrated rituals. But how can brands make themselves an intentional part of these moments?

Analysis

J’Nae Phillips

Laura Romanin

Elisa Lewittes

Related Macro Behaviours

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