Food, Alcohol Key to Memorial Day Weekend Celebrations

Roughly 57 percent of consumers plan to participate in Memorial Day weekend festivities, with 95 percent of celebrants intending to make related purchases, with the top items being food and alcohol, according to a Numerator sentiment survey of over 5,500 consumers.

Top Memorial Day weekend celebration plans include gathering with family and friends, grilling/barbecuing, cooking/baking at home, hosting others at their homes, and attending a public celebration. Gen X and Boomers are more likely to celebrate Memorial Day than younger generations.

Some additional findings include:

Nearly all celebrants plan to make Memorial Day weekend purchases: Food tops the shopping list (83 percent plan to purchase), followed by alcoholic beverages (44 percent), non-alcoholic beverages (33 percent), decorations (17 percent), party supplies (14 percent), candy (9 percent), and games or activities (9 percent).

Beer remains the most popular alcoholic beverage for the holiday: Among those planning to buy alcohol, the top choice is beer (76 percent), followed by wine (42 percent), spirits or spirit-based drinks (36 percent), and hard seltzers or canned cocktails (35 percent).

Grocery stores will see the most shoppers this Memorial Day: The most popular locations for planned Memorial Day weekend purchases are grocery stores (65 percent), big box stores (47 percent), liquor stores (24 percent), discount or dollar stores (18 percent), and local shops/small businesses (14 percent); compared to other generations, Gen Z consumers are 1.6x more likely to say they will shop at discount or dollar stores.

Memorial Day weekend could see slightly higher spending this year: 68 percent of Memorial Day shoppers plan to spend under $100 on their holiday supplies, though nearly a quarter expect to spend more this year than they did last year.