To be honest, I can't really tell how much money Italians spend on gifts for the holidays. I'm sure they spend less than a few years ago, but Christmas is the one holiday that will make everyone's heads spin and the possibility to go overboard is pretty high 
According to the Consumers Association, the typical Italian spends around €125 on gifts for Christmas (these are just statistics). Most people I talked to are indeed not happy about spending a lot of money on gifts
I'm not either, in fact, I only buy presents for the people who actually matter to me, for all the rest a phone call will suffice 
What surprises me the most is that, even on the news, everyone complains about how the economic situation is so awful, yet each year, on TV, everyone is running around the shops, buying tons of stuff and they even show it to the camera crew responsible for the reportage
According to the Consumers Association, the typical Italian spends around €125 on gifts for Christmas (these are just statistics). Most people I talked to are indeed not happy about spending a lot of money on gifts
I'm not either, in fact, I only buy presents for the people who actually matter to me, for all the rest a phone call will suffice What surprises me the most is that, even on the news, everyone complains about how the economic situation is so awful, yet each year, on TV, everyone is running around the shops, buying tons of stuff and they even show it to the camera crew responsible for the reportage
