Christmas Study: Children, Gifts, and Traditions in Brazil 2017

After Carnival, Christmas is perhaps the second most beloved time of the year for Brazilians. Spending time with family following Christmas traditions, often leading into well-deserved vacations, is the best end of the year many can imagine. But how do Brazilians celebrate this holiday in 2017? And more importantly, what is the role of our children in all this?

To answer these questions and the habits related to beloved Christmas gifts, Trocando Fraldas conducted a study with more than 10,000 users of its portal across the country between November 24 and 29, 2017, through a questionnaire survey. Internet users answered freely and spontaneously, also indicating their place of residence to allow comparisons between regions and states.

Questions

The following questions were asked:

  • Did you know that Christmas gifts are a religious symbol of the three wise men in the Bible?
  • Does your child (or children) ask for Christmas presents?
  • What kind of gift does your child (or children) want for Christmas?
  • If you could, would you buy all the gifts your child (or children) ask for?
  • Will your child (or children) get the presents they want?
  • Why aren’t they getting them?
  • Do you give Christmas presents to underprivileged third parties?
  • Will everyone in the family get presents?
  • Will you have a Christmas tree at home?

Results

For the purpose of comparison between regions, states, and capitals, affirmative answers were converted into numbers, 1 for "Yes" and 0 for "No". This allowed calculation of averages which served as the basis for various graphs and rankings in the results below.

Knew about the
religious meaning of
gifts?

 

Meaning of Christmas

  • 30% of Brazilians no longer know the meaning of the three wise men
  • The origin is more widespread in the South region where 76% know it, and less so in the North with only 67%
  • In Roraima, Amapá, and Alagoas, less than two-thirds are aware
  • Natal is the capital most familiar with the origin of the holiday with 87% followed by São Luís and Brasília with 85%
  • In Macapá, Maceió, and Porto Velho, less than 70% know and 75% in São Paulo capital

Do your children
ask for gifts?

 

Gift Requests

  • 68% of Brazilian children ask their parents for presents
  • 71% of children in the Southeast want presents, while only 61% do in the Center-West
  • Amapá (78%) and Rio Grande do Norte (73%) are the states where children ask for gifts for Christmas the most, followed by Paraná, São Paulo and Minas Gerais (all 72%)
  • The most modest children are in Roraima (56%), Mato Grosso (57%) and Piauí (58%)
  • In the northern capitals Macapá, Porto Velho and Rio Branco, more than 3 out of every 4 children ask their parents
  • In Palmas, less than half express their wishes, followed by João Pessoa and Boa Vista with 52% and 55% respectively
 

Would buy all the
wished-for gifts
if you could?

 
  • 3 out of 4 parents would fulfill every wish for their child’s presents if they could
  • In the North, the percentage reaches 83% while in the Center-West only 69% would do so
  • Parents from Amazonas and Pará (89%) followed by those from Rio de Janeiro and Paraíba (84%) would most like to buy everything
  • In Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, Alagoas and Tocantins, at least 1 out of every 3 mothers and fathers would not buy everything even if they could
  • Parents in Porto Velho, Palmas, and Belém would like to buy almost everything, while in Florianópolis (56%) and Campo Grande (62%) only just over half feel that desire

Presents in 2017 – Who Will Get Them and Who Will Not

  • 3 out of 10 Brazilian children will go without gifts at Christmas 2017
  • While 78% in the South will receive presents, only 65% will in the Northeast
  • In Sergipe, gifts will not reach every other child, and in Rio Grande do Norte, Tocantins and Amazonas not even 3 out of 5
  • The luckiest children are in Amapá, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul
  • In Curitiba (80%), Rio de Janeiro (76%), Brasília (73%) and Belo Horizonte (71%), children receive presents above the national average, while in São Paulo (69%) it is exactly at the average
  • In Palmas, Aracaju, Manaus and Maceió, more Brazilian children will be left without presents
  • For 76% who will not give gifts to their children, lack of money is the main reason, while only 6% of requests are impossible
 

Desired Presents and Reality

  • Only 6 out of 10 children who receive gifts will get what they asked for
  • In the North, 65% of parents fulfill their children’s dreams, and in the Center-West only 54%
  • In Amapá, Alagoas and Acre at least 3 out of 4 children will get exactly what they wished for
  • In Goiás, Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Bahia, half of the children will open presents different from what they initially wanted
  • Cuiabá (41%), Teresina (47%) and Curitiba (49%) top the capitals where parents give other gifts, while those in Rio Branco, Maceió, Macapá and Aracaju (all above 75%) try the hardest to respect children's wishes
  • In 2 out of 3 gift cases, lack of resources explains the divergence from the wish list, but 16% also give less to be able to give to others and 12% of children simply want too many gifts

Charity at Christmas

  • 38% of Brazilians will make a sacrifice and give presents to less fortunate third parties in Christmas 2017
  • The most generous people live in the North and Southeast with 40% of the population respectively
  • In Sergipe, more than half give presents to third parties, followed by Piauí (47%), Tocantins (44%) and Pará (42%)
  • The least generous are Paraíba where only 2 out of 7 people give to third parties, followed by Mato Grosso (30%) and Espírito Santo (32%)
  • In Recife (46%), Salvador (44%) and the major capitals of the Southeast (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte 43%) people are more generous than the national average
  • Aside from João Pessoa, the underprivileged in Porto Velho (28%), Palmas (32%) and Vitória (34%) can count less on gifts from strangers
Generosity Ranking – Gifts for Third Parties – by State
1.Sergipe
2.Piauí
3.Tocantins
4.Pará
5.Rio Grande do Norte
6.Rio Grande do Sul
7.Minas Gerais
8.Rondônia
9.Amapá
10.São Paulo
11.Pernambuco
12.Bahia
13.Acre
14.Maranhão
15.Goiás
16.Rio de Janeiro
17.Roraima
18.Ceará
19.Amazonas
20.Distrito Federal
21.Mato Grosso do Sul
22.Santa Catarina
23.Paraná
24.Alagoas
25.Espírito Santo
26.Mato Grosso
27.Paraíba

Will everyone in the family get presents?

 

Will there be a tree
at home
for Christmas?

 

Christmas Tree Presence in Homes

  • Practically half of Brazilian households will have a Christmas tree at home in 2017
  • In the South, up to 3 of every 5 homes will have one, while in the North region only 38%
  • For two-thirds in Rio Grande do Sul, the tree is a must-have decoration, followed by Santa Catarina (62%), Rio de Janeiro (56%) and Paraná (55%)
  • It's less present in Acre (30%), Roraima (33%) and Rondônia (36%)
  • In Belo Horizonte, 58% can't do without the tree, and 55% in São Paulo or 51% in Recife