Parents with children are the most likely to say they want a large family gathering
The holidays mark a time of year when family and friends have a chance to reunite with one another. The holiday party – whether planned with loved ones or colleagues – can be the best time to catch up with someone you haven’t seen in awhile. YouGov Omnibus data reveals that this holiday season, most Americans (65%) will attend a party with family members, some (29%) will be seeing friends at a holiday party, and a few (13%) will be going to their office parties.
Research from YouGov reveals that a majority of Americans (47%) will have a small family gathering, while nearly one in five (18%) say they’ll attend a large one. The presence of children may be a major reason to host or attend these parties, as the data shows that parents with children under the age of 18 are the most likely to be attending a family gathering, especially a large one (29%).
When it comes to which kind of party people would like to attend, the answers fall in line with what many already have planned. Given a preference though, a majority would still want to go to a small family party (35%) or small gathering with friends (21%) than go to a large party of any kind. Again, parents with children under 18 (21%) are likelier than people without kids (12%) to say that they would like to go to a large family holiday party.
Feelings surrounding family holiday parties are generally positive. Over a third of Americans (39%) say they enjoy their holiday parties “always” or “often” and a little over a quarter (27%) find joy in them “sometimes”. A close look at answers from Americans over the age of 55 shows that they’re the most likely to “always” enjoy holiday parties (22%) while just 15% of millennials say they same. As a whole, few say that they “rarely” (13%) or “never” (2%) enjoy their time at a holiday party.
While small family parties are popular, the low enthusiasm for large family gatherings may stem from all those relatives being in one place. For those who do not always enjoy a family holiday party, a quarter say it’s because they don’t like some or all of their relatives. This feeling is particularly strong among women (30%) compared to men (17%) and among age groups, millennials (31%) are the likeliest to say so, compared to Gen Xers (24%) and Americans over 55 (17%).
Other reasons that Americans don’t always enjoy their family gatherings during the holidays include how tiring (22%), boring (16%) and awkward (16%) some of these holiday parties can be.
Read more results from this poll here
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