DIY parties sit at the intersection of creativity, celebration, and household budgeting. Recent figures show a large global party-supplies market, strong participation in creative activities, and a measurable interest in making decorations and favors at home. The numbers below focus on the United States where the source is U.S.-specific, while identifying global market estimates separately.
Contents
- Household spending and the place of celebrations
- Creative participation and making at home
- The party-supplies market
- Decorations, prices, and DIY choices
- Hosting and attendance patterns
- Online buying and party discovery
Household spending and the place of celebrations
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported average annual expenditures of $78,535 per U.S. consumer unit in 2024. A consumer unit is the BLS statistical unit used for household spending analysis. Average income before taxes was $104,207, and the survey represented 135,760,000 consumer units. These figures provide the broad financial context in which families decide whether to buy ready-made party goods or create some items themselves. (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024)
Spending differed substantially by income group. In 2024, average annual expenditures ranged from $35,046 in the lowest income quintile to $150,342 in the highest income quintile. That is a difference of $115,296 between the reported averages, but the BLS figures do not identify what portion of either group’s spending went specifically to parties. The comparison does show why DIY planning can have different meanings across households: for some, making decorations may be primarily creative, while for others it may be one way to manage a limited event budget. (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024)
The BLS spending breakdown also shows which large household categories compete for attention. Housing represented 33.4% of total annual spending in 2024, transportation 17.0%, personal insurance and pensions 12.5%, food 12.9%, and healthcare 7.9%. Entertainment accounted for 4.6%. Smaller reported categories included cash contributions at 2.9%, apparel and services at 2.5%, education at 2.0%, miscellaneous spending at 1.6%, personal care products and services at 1.2%, tobacco products and smoking supplies at 0.4%, and reading at 0.2%. (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024)
The BLS tables are available by income quintile, age of the reference person, region, family size, race, Hispanic origin, occupation, education, and urban or rural area. Those breakdowns can help readers put a party budget into local household context, but the figures above should not be read as a dedicated measure of DIY-party spending. (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024)
Creative participation and making at home
The National Endowment for the Arts’ 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts was nationally representative and included 40,718 U.S. adults age 18 and older. In the survey period, 52% of adults created and/or performed art. Making party decorations, invitations, table pieces, or favors can fit within that wider pattern of creative participation, although the survey statistic covers art broadly rather than party projects specifically. (NEA Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
Other participation figures show that creative activity sits alongside several forms of cultural engagement. Fifty-three percent of adults read books and/or literature during the 2022 survey period, and 48% attended at least one arts event in person. In addition, 75% of adults who participated in the arts did so through electronic or digital media. For DIY party planning, that digital figure is relevant as context for how people may encounter ideas, tutorials, templates, or inspiration, but it does not measure whether a particular online idea became a completed party project. (NEA Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
The NEA data also have an important boundary: they describe U.S. adults and arts participation in 2022, not all party hosts and not a specific holiday or celebration. They support the idea that making is a common adult activity, but they cannot establish how many people make party supplies or how much money a handmade item saves.
The party-supplies market
IMARC valued the global party supplies market at USD 16.2 billion in 2025 and projected it to reach USD 28.0 billion by 2034. The report forecast a 6.20% compound annual growth rate from 2026 to 2034. These are global market estimates and a forecast, not a count of household purchases or a measure of DIY activity. (IMARC Party Supplies Market)
The same IMARC report said North America accounted for 30.9% of the global party-supplies market. It also reported that the U.S. party-supply industry held an 81.80% market share in 2024. Because the supplied figures use different years and market definitions, they should be treated as the report’s stated regional and national indicators rather than combined into a new market-size calculation. (IMARC Party Supplies Market)
Balloons were reported as holding 11.7% of the party-supplies market in 2025. Balloons are only one product category, but they illustrate how a familiar decoration can sit within a broad commercial market that also includes tableware, banners, favors, themed goods, and other supplies. The 11.7% figure is a market-share estimate for balloons, not the proportion of parties that used them. (IMARC Party Supplies Market)
Selected party and household indicators
| Indicator | Reported figure | Scope and period |
|---|---|---|
| Average U.S. consumer-unit expenditures | $78,535 | United States, 2024 |
| Global party-supplies market value | USD 16.2 billion | Global, 2025 estimate |
| Projected global party-supplies market | USD 28.0 billion | Global, 2034 forecast |
| Global party-supplies CAGR | 6.20% | 2026–2034 forecast period |
| Balloons’ market share | 11.7% | Party-supplies market, 2025 |
| Adults creating and/or performing art | 52% | U.S. adults, 2022 survey period |
| Consumers considering making party items to cut costs | 23% | GWI party-trends data, 2024 |
The table brings together figures from different sources and periods. It is a compact reference, not a like-for-like trend series.
Decorations, prices, and DIY choices
KPMG’s 2025 holiday survey used 2,021 consumers and was designed to mirror U.S. Census gender, age, and income splits within plus or minus 3 percentage points. In that survey, 57% of shoppers noticed higher holiday-decoration prices. Twenty-six percent said prices had increased significantly, while 31% said they had increased only slightly. Sixteen percent said prices were stable, and 26% had not checked holiday-decoration prices. (KPMG Consumer Pulse Holiday 2025)
The responses describe awareness of price movement rather than a measured price index. The 57% who noticed higher prices includes the 26% reporting a significant increase and the 31% reporting a slight increase. The remaining response categories indicate that not every shopper had the same observation or had checked prices. This distinction matters when interpreting DIY decisions: the survey records what respondents reported noticing, not the material cost of a homemade decoration.
Traditional decorations were the most commonly purchased type in the KPMG survey, with 72% reporting a purchase in 2025. Twenty-seven percent bought themed holiday decor, 24% bought DIY or handmade holiday decorations, 12% bought eco-friendly or sustainable holiday decorations, and 8% bought inflatable outdoor displays. These categories may overlap, so the percentages should not be added to estimate a single total share of shoppers. (KPMG Consumer Pulse Holiday 2025)
The DIY or handmade result is especially useful for readers interested in making: nearly one in four surveyed consumers reported buying that type of decoration. However, buying a DIY or handmade decoration is not the same as making one personally. The KPMG measure therefore points to interest in the category, while another source addresses the intention to create party items.
GWI’s 2024 party-trends data found that 23% of consumers said they would consider making their own decorations, invitations, or party favors to cut costs. The wording measures consideration, not completed projects, and it groups three different kinds of party items together. It nevertheless provides a direct indicator of cost-conscious DIY intent. (GWI Party Trends 2024)
Hosting and attendance patterns
KPMG reported that 59% of respondents planned to host holiday gatherings of up to 10 people in 2025. The figure describes intended gathering size, not the number of total guests across all events. Smaller gatherings can still involve decisions about food, table settings, decorations, invitations, and favors, which are common areas for handmade substitutions.
Respondents expected to attend an average of 7.63 holiday gatherings in 2025, down slightly from 7.68 in 2024. At the same time, they expected to host an average of 4.46 holiday gatherings in 2025, up from 4.37 in 2024. These are survey expectations, not a verified count of events that later occurred. (KPMG Consumer Pulse Holiday 2025)
The reported spending figures also vary by survey panel and event measure. KPMG showed $255 per event for 2024 respondents, versus $207 for one comparison shown in the 2025 survey panel. Separately, the 2024 KPMG holiday survey reported that consumers planned to spend an average of $222 on hosting events. Because the supplied figures use different panels or comparison measures, they should not be treated as one continuous annual spending series. (KPMG Consumer Pulse Holiday 2025; KPMG Consumer Pulse Holiday 2024)
For a DIY host, these figures suggest several distinct budgeting questions: how many gatherings are being hosted, how many people are expected at each one, and whether a reported event budget includes decorations, food, gifts, or other costs. The available statistics do not separate those components, so they cannot establish a typical DIY-party budget.
Online buying and party discovery
IMARC’s discussion described online buying as a USD 6.8 trillion sector and stated that more than 33% of the world’s population purchases items online. These figures are broad online-commerce indicators, not party-supplies-only statistics. They help explain why party hosts may encounter commercial decorations, downloadable designs, craft materials, and handmade products through digital channels, but they do not show how many purchases were party-related. (IMARC Party Supplies Market)
The same discussion said U.S. influencer-marketing expenditure was expected to reach USD 7.14 billion in 2024, up 15.9% year over year. This is a forecast or expectation reported in the market discussion, not a measure of party-content views or DIY conversions. It does, however, place party inspiration within a wider U.S. marketing environment where product ideas and decorating styles can be promoted online. (IMARC Party Supplies Market)
Destination weddings rose from 18% in 2022 to 21% in 2023 and 26% in 2024, according to the IMARC discussion. The statistic identifies a rising share across those reported years, but it does not specify the denominator or define how destination weddings were measured in the supplied material. It should therefore be read as the report’s stated trend, not as a complete description of wedding activity or a direct measure of DIY wedding decor. (IMARC Party Supplies Market)
Together, the market and survey figures show a party landscape with commercial growth, substantial household budget variation, widespread creative participation, and a measurable willingness to consider making decorations, invitations, or favors. The strongest direct DIY indicator is the 23% who said they would consider making those items to cut costs, while the 24% who bought DIY or handmade holiday decorations describes adjacent consumer interest rather than personal production.