Welcome to exhausted America 2025: Most adults are more than a little fine with doling out cash as gifts, and many plan to be asleep before midnight on New Year’s Eve, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
About 6 in 10 Americans say cash or gift cards are “very” acceptable as holiday presents, but they’re much less likely to say that about a gift that was purchased secondhand or re-gifted, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
“Cash is OK for the grandkids I guess,” said Nancy Wyant, 73, in rural central Iowa. “But I’m a gift giver.”
Come New Year’s Eve, she’ll be fast asleep before 2026 rolls around. “At our age, we don’t do anything,” the retired bus driver said with a laugh of herself and her live-in partner. “He’s set in his ways.”
They’ll be joined by the 44% of Americans who say they won’t stay up to greet 2026, according to the poll. About half of U.S. adults age 45 or older won’t make it to midnight, compared with around one-third of adults under age 45.
Consider 23-year-old Otis Phillips in Seattle, an outlier for his age. He, too, will turn in early. “It’s one of the holidays that doesn’t really feel special to me,” said the master’s student.
Most say cash makes an acceptable holiday gift
Cash is a safer gift for younger adults. The poll found about two-thirds of Americans under 45 say cash is a “very” acceptable holiday gift, compared with 55% of adults age 45 or older.
