WASHINGTON 鈥� If the National Retail Federation is right, Father鈥檚 Day spending will set a record this year, but Mother鈥檚 Day聽spending is still a lot higher.
The NRF鈥檚 annual survey, conducted by Prosper Insight and Analytics, says Americans will spend an average of聽$125.92 on Father鈥檚 Day gifts, for a total of $14.3 billion, the highest in the survey鈥檚 13-year history.
That鈥檚 still well short of the $21.4 billion spent on Mother鈥檚 Day gifts this year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 encouraging to see consumers planning to splurge on dads,鈥� said NRF Chief Executive Matthew Shay.
鈥淭his聽increase in spending could be a good sign related to consumers鈥� willingness to spend more as we head into the聽second half of the year.鈥�
About $3.1 billion of that total will be spent on dinners, brunches and other Father鈥檚 Day outings.
Dad always needs a new tie, and clothing and gift cards tie as the second most popular Father鈥檚 Day spending, at聽$2 billion each. And many dads will get gadgets, with consumer electronics accounting for $1.7 billion in Father鈥檚聽Day spending.
Dad also deserves a Father鈥檚 Day card, and greeting card purchases will account for $833 million of the total.
Children aren鈥檛 the only ones from whom dads get gifts. While 53 percent of purchases will be for fathers, 28 percent will聽be for husbands and 9 percent will be for sons.
The NRF survey included 7,200 consumers. The telephone survey was conducted between May 2 and May 10.
Father鈥檚 Day is Sunday, June 19, 2016.
