It's a new generation of celebration—and you're invited

How people celebrate gives an insight into what’s important to them. And lately, we’ve noticed a big shift in consumer behaviour when it comes to planning celebrations.

Because people use Pinterest to find new ideas, we get an early insight into what people want to try next. Over time, we’re seeing shifts in the types of searches that people are making on Pinterest, as well as the topics and products that they’re engaging with. Their priorities are shifting—and their shopping habits are shifting too.

We wanted to dig deeper into these changes and what they mean for brands trying to reach people on Pinterest. So we partnered with consumer research platform GWI to explore the evolution of celebrations and how brands like yours can get involved.

Read on to see the top themes from the research, including the main reasons to celebrate and how people are budgeting in tighter times. You can also download the full report to get more intel from Pinterest first-party data and findings from GWI’s consumer panel. 

What we learned

As you finalise your marketing plans for the festive season, think about the party guests and hosts that you’re most likely to reach, and how your brand can help them to create a memorable season. 

Here are the top five themes from our research with GWI, plus tips to help you start acting on the insights:¹

1. Less traditional events are putting new motivations on the map

Now more than ever, people are planning events to express their identity, recognise personal achievements and impress others. These events are motivated by things such as social causes and friendships. Think watch parties for sports or cultural moments, or interactive games. Plus, celebrating boosts their mood, so people are leaning into more frequent and less formal occasions.

Act on the insights: Broaden your perspective on why your customers celebrate and make sure that your creative reflects these changing attitudes. Use tools such as Pinterest Trends to stay ahead of the curve on search behaviour and see what’s trending with your audience. 

2. Personal applause: Celebrating just because

People are investing in themselves with special moments for self-reflection and self-care. This emerging type of celebration is driven by solo individuals marking personal achievements and setting aside space for introspection. Think me-time via solo outings or small, cosy moments. 

Act on the insights: Think about how your brand can serve small moments with a big portion of self-love. For the festive season, consider what self-gifts look like. From the small (a special drink) to the singular (a bucket list spa day), people will carve out time and budgets to help give themselves a pat on the back.  

3. Laid-back celebrations as a means of escape

With financial pressures weighing on the world of celebrations, laid-back vibes are trending upwards. Smaller, more casual celebrations give people more outlets to relax and escape their everyday stressors—without adding new stress from planning or executing a big event. 

These smaller events often focus on building bonds in a specific group of friends or community. Over the festive season, this could look like more intimate gatherings and celebrations, including more events hosted in the home rather than outside it.  

Act on the insight: Consider what more intimate gatherings look like, such as events hosted at home, like a cosy games night or bouquet-making party. Emphasise how your brand can make these celebrations more fun, comfortable and relaxed.

4. Commemorating culture: Sensational twists on traditions 

These are the most seasonally-driven moments, often centred on community or cultural groups. Hosts are on the lookout for fresh ideas and unusual twists, blending creativity with nostalgia and pride. 

Act on the insight: Think ahead to big seasonal moments and start reaching people as they’re just beginning to plan. If you reach people early, you can help to shape their plans every step of the way from discovery to action. You can help to lighten their load with your products, event planning guides, bundled services and fun festive season kits. 

5. Joining forces to create meaningful celebrations 

Hosts have a lot to think about—but they don’t have to do it alone. More planners are turning to guests to help co-create the event, from collaborative shopping lists to polls and preference sheets. People are asking others to weigh in creatively and even contribute financially. 

Act on the insight: Highlight the joy of collaborative participation. For instance, if you're an alcohol brand, you could recommend a nice BYOB idea for a cocktail-themed party.

The party starts on Pinterest

There’s a celebration planned every three seconds on Pinterest, with over 14.6 million celebration-related boards created in the past year alone.² As the season goes on, people move from the discovery and inspiration phases into purchasing what they need and bringing projects to life. 

Make sure that you’re ready to reach both party hosts and party guests as they plan and take action throughout the festive season. Start with our festive season guide to learn more about seasonal opportunities and how your brand can reach festive shoppers across the funnel. You’ll see helpful tips for running seasonal campaigns and ways to reach eager festive shoppers. 

Download the full report

This post is just a summary of our work with GWI. To dig deeper into these new kinds of celebrations and who’s planning them, read the full report.