American Christmas Spending Trends to Look Forward to in 2013 (Infographic)

It's a little late in the day to feature the holiday shopping and spending habits of our friends over on the other side of the Pacific Ocean...but this infographic on American Christmas spending is something I'm sure you'll find right handy when you start planning this month for 2013's holiday offerings.

Last time, I shared something on the online shopping habits of our friends in America. This time, the Christmas gift giving opportunity for businesses focuses on overall spending.

Some things to think about when designing your holiday offers for the coming Christmas 2013:

On average, parents spend more than 35% of their total spending money on their kids.
Biggest portion of Christmas spending money goes to gifts, particularly presents to family.
Serious holiday shopping starts in October, and peaks in November (probably on Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
More than half of holiday shoppers will buy their gifts online.
And people would rather receive gift cards more than anything else. (No more frowning over gifts they'd rather not have, heh.)