How a religious holiday became a $24.9 billion retail event

Easter Sunday has always carried profound religious weight for Christians, a day commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, rooted in centuries of sacred tradition. But walk into any big-box retailer in late February, and you’ll find pastel-colored aisles stocked with chocolate bunnies, foil-wrapped eggs and stuffed animals well before Holy Week arrives. The holiday’s commercial footprint has never been larger.

According to the National Retail Federation, consumer spending on Easter is expected to reach a record $24.9 billion in 2026, surpassing the previous record of $24 billion set in 2023. On a per-person basis, shoppers are budgeting a record $195.59 this year, up from the previous high of $192.01 in 2023 — roughly in line with what Americans planned to spend on Valentine’s Day. For context, total Easter spending stood at $16.4 billion in 2015, according to a National Retail Federation survey, meaning the holiday has added more than $8.5 billion in projected consumer spending over the past decade.

That trajectory reflects a holiday that has, over roughly 150 years, transformed from a solemn religious observance into one of the most significant retail events on the American calendar.

From dyed eggs to chocolate empires

The commercialization of Easter did not happen overnight. In 1828, Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten patented a cocoa-press process that separated cocoa butter from ground cacao, a development Britannica credits as foundational to modern chocolate production. The later breakthrough of solid eating chocolate, using cocoa butter and chocolate liquor, is attributed to Fry and Sons in 1847, setting the stage for mass-produced confectionery across Europe.

John Cadbury began selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate in Birmingham, England, in 1824, and his sons Richard and George eventually built the company into a dominant force in British confectionery. It was not until 1875 that the first Cadbury Easter eggs were made. 

By the turn of the 20th century, industrial production had scaled the Easter candy market dramatically. Easter candy as a commercial institution is largely a product of industrial-age confectionery — manufacturing advances made it possible to produce novelty shapes in chocolate and sugar at scale, and the timing was built right in: Easter traditionally marks the end of Lent, when many observers give up sweets. Cadbury, Mars, founded in the 1910s, and Nestle all expanded their seasonal ranges as production costs fell and mass advertising took hold. By the early 20th century, improvements in equipment and increased demand led candy makers to produce Easter candy on a much larger scale — moving beyond handcrafted eggs to molded rabbits, birds, nests and other chocolate designs. Jelly beans became strongly associated with Easter by the 1930s, according to candy historians, as the basket tradition took firmer commercial shape.

What families are actually spending

Today, Easter is far more than a candy holiday. Food spending is expected to reach $7.5 billion nationally, followed by gifts at $3.9 billion, clothing at $3.7 billion, candy at $3.5 billion and flowers at $2.2 billion. 

Candy remains the top shopping category, with 92% of consumers planning to purchase sweets, while food is close behind at 90%. Decor has emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories in recent years: according to NRF’s own trend analysis, 51% of those celebrating planned to purchase decorations in 2025, up from 41% in 2019, with total spending on those items rising from $1 billion to $1.7 billion over that period. 

Even Americans who do not celebrate Easter are contributing to the total. In 2025, NRF found that 54% of non-celebrators still expected to spend an average of $25.43 per person on holiday-related items, totaling roughly $800 million. The 2026 NRF survey found a similar pattern: 54% of consumers who do not plan to participate in Easter festivities still expect to shop holiday-related sales, particularly for candy, food and apparel.