Father's Day spending projected to drop

U.S. consumers are projected to spend less on their fathers this year in one of the the smallest American gift-giving holidays.

The average American is forecasted to spend $113.80 on dads this Father's Day, down from $119.84 last year. NRF's forecast comes from its 2014 Father's Day survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. From May 3 to May 13, over 6,500 consumers were polled to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the holiday, according to a news release.

Spending is expected to reach $12.5 billion for fathers on the June 15 holiday, down from $12.8 billion in 2013.

“As we saw with Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day this year, consumers are keeping to a strict budget,” said Pam Goodfellow, Prosper Insight’s consumer insights director, in the release. “Whether they spend $10 or $100, millions of Americans will find creative, affordable ways to show dad how much they care.”

In the survey, 64.1 percent of respondents said they would buy greeting cards, 41.6 percent noted they would purchase apparel such as neckties and sweaters and 42.6 percent said they would buy dinner or tickets to a sporting event. Father's Day spending on electric gifts such as smartphones and tablets is expected to reach $1.6 billion, while gift card spending could hit $1.8 billion, according to the NRF.

An NRF list of holiday spending dollars positions winter holidays as the largest grabber of consumer dollars, at $602.1 billion. Father's Day ranks only above the Super Bowl, Halloween and St. Patrick's Day on the list.