Festive term map

Most and least popular aspects of Christmas

During our analysis, we found a few notable trends when it comes to Christmas-related searches online. Two New England neighbors, Maine and Vermont, loved looking up information on advent calendars the most. Advent calendars have German roots; they were a fun way for 19th-century Protestants to mark down the days until Christmas. These calendars eventually made their way to the U.S., and in the 1950s, they took on a new look with the addition of chocolates.8 These days, advent calendars don’t necessarily have just small chocolates to open each day leading up to Christmas. Retailers have become increasingly creative; you can find everything from socks to beauty products, LEGO, and more in these festive calendars.

When it comes to popular Christmastime characters, the devotion of two states stands above the rest. While Alabama wasn’t the Grinchiest state, it sure loves the Grinch! Out of all the states, it searched for this beloved Dr. Seuss character more than any other. Similarly, Pennsylvania is the only state enamored with Rudolph this year. Whether it’s the character himself or the 1964 stop-motion Christmas special, Pennsylvanians love the red-nosed reindeer.

Despite a bit of a drop in popularity from last year, ugly Christmas sweaters are still in our top five terms this holiday season — and they’re particularly popular in California, Maryland, and Texas. Ironically, California and Texas have some of the warmest winters in the country, so we hope those are some lightweight sweaters they’re buying.9

Lastly, as for trends across the country, we found that more folks in southern states searched for Christmas Eve than any other region, with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia all searching for it more than any other holiday-related term. And residents of the Midwest — particularly South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska — are on the hunt for the perfect stocking to hang over the fireplace this year.

While “ugly Christmas sweater” was our study’s most popular search term last year, “Santa hat” came out on top this time around. However, the term “ugly Christmas sweater” is still on our list, so maybe we’ll see a rise in pairing the two together this holiday season.

Here are the top five most-searched Christmas terms on our list:

• 1. Santa hat
• 2. Christmas Eve
• 3. Wrapping paper
• 4. Christmas tree
• 5. Ugly Christmas sweater

Despite being the most popular aspect of Christmas this year, only Nevada and New Mexico searched for “Santa hat” more than the other states. But, if you remember, Nevada was the third least festive state in the country. Maybe those Santa hats will help to spread a little more Christmas cheer.

Overall, excluding ugly Christmas sweaters, these top terms are staples of the Christmas season — and they have been for decades. It’s wholly unsurprising to see terms like “Christmas tree” and “Christmas Eve” make our top five list. In fact, most of them may make the list again next year.

Outside of the current top five, however, there were some interesting shakeups. For example, Christmas movies and Christmas songs both fell from grace; the former actually wound up on the least popular side of things.

Gift exchanges are also an interesting topic. Though gifts are a major tradition of the holiday season for many, the terms “gift exchange” and “white elephant” landed on the top 10 least popular list. Nonetheless, some states searched for these and related terms more than any other, including:

• Gift exchange: North Dakota and Alaska
• White elephant: Utah
• Secret Santa: District of Columbia and Rhode Island

Speaking of traditions, “Elf on the Shelf” declined for the second year in a row — going from 17th last year to 24th this year. Based on the 2005 book The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition, this Christmas craze consists of a toy “scout elf” watching over the children in a household (both naughty and nice) and reporting back to the North Pole at night. While fun for kids of all ages, there’s one drawback for parents — the elf must be moved to a new location every night in preparation for the next day. If you find yourself scrambling for a new hiding place idea at midnight, you aren’t alone; however, Pinterest is a treasure trove of ideas, as is the Elf on the Shelf website.

But, coming in dead last this year is “Christmas drinks.” This could be, in part, due to Gen Z’s increasing avoidance of alcohol. About a quarter of Gen Z “never” drinks alcoholic beverages, and they’re 31% more likely to be interested in low or no alcohol. This is in stark contrast to previous generations, and it may shape how future generations view things like holiday-themed drinks.10

That being said, here are the top five least popular aspects of Christmas this year based on search trends:

• 1. Christmas drinks
• 2. Winter Wonderland
• 3. White Elephant
• 4. Gingerbread House
• 5. Christmas Snowman

We used Google Trends search term data to assess which U.S. states were the most and least festive about celebrating Christmas, as well as the most popular aspects of the Christmas season across the country. To accomplish this, we used a list of dozens of search terms pertaining to Christmas festivities during the month of December 2023. We determined which terms were most frequently searched in each state and used the data to analyze the relationships between these search terms and the states. We also discovered which states were the most festive based on the sum of their search values for all the included terms.