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Kids' Birthday Industry Canada: Statistics
While there are no definitive sources available in the public domain providing the amount parents spend on average for their child's birthday in Canada, it is estimated that roughly three in five parents spend under $200 for their kid's birthday party. In addition, there were 376,291 children born in Canada in 2017, and the average cost of raising a child in Canada is CAD $17,000 per year.
BIRTHDAY EXPENDITURE PER FAMILY
- On an average, a parent spends between $150-$250 on their kid's birthday party.
- According to a survey conducted by T. Rowe Price in the United States, excluding presents 33% of parents spend less than $100 on a child's birthday party; 26% spend between $100 to $199; 18% spend between $200 to $299; 23% spend $300 or more; 31% spend less than $100; while 28% spend between $100 to $199 on birthday presents; 17% spend between $200 to $299 on birthday presents; and 24% spend $300 or more on birthday presents.
- According to a survey conducted by Baby Center, 26% of parents in the United States spend $500 or more on the first birthday party.
- Baby Centre survey results also revealed that 25% of parents in the United States spend between $200 to $500 on a single party and 11% spend over $500.
- Based on T. Rowe Price's findings, it is calculated that 59% (33%+26%) spend less than $200 on their kid's birthday party.
- According to Baby Centre's estimates, 64% (100%-25%-11%) of parents spend less than $200 on their kid's birthday party. Therefore, the median spend on birthday parties is likely to be in the range of $100-$199.
- A custom birthday cake costs up to CAD 100 ($75) and renting a room for the birthday party costs up to CAD 200 ($150).
NUMBER OF BIRTHDAY PARTIES A CHILD ATTENDS
- Data on the birthday party industry in Canada is "hard to come by". However, The Globe and Mail, Canada makes references to a study done by Lumos, a UK-based research firm, which found that the average child attends five birthday parties a year.
- The average kid's birthday party has 10 guests.
NUMBER OF BIRTHS (2005-2017)
- 2005: 342,176
- 2006: 354,617
- 2007: 367,864
- 2008: 377,886
- 2009: 380,863
- 2010: 377,213
- 2011: 377,636
- 2012: 381,869
- 2013: 380,323
- 2014: 384,100
- 2015: 382,392
- 2016: 383,102
- 2017: 376,291
BIRTHDAY SEASONALITY
- The percentage of births/birthday's in and around summer (June to September) in Canada is 35%; in and around winter (November to February) it is 31.33%.
COST OF RAISING A CHILD
- According to Statistics Canada, the average cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 18 is CAD $253,956 ($190,876). This translates to an average yearly spend of CAD 14,109 ($10,604).
- According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 18 for a middle-income couple with two children is CAD $308,000 / $233,000. This translates to a spend of CAD $17,000 ($12,777) per year.
- The breakup of the expenditure:
- Housing: 27%
- Food: 17%
- Transportation: 14%
- Childcare/daycare: 12%
- Healthcare: 9%
- Extra-curricular: 9%
- Education supplies: 6%
- Clothing: 5%
- First-year cost: 1%
- The Canada Child Benefit, an initiative to encourage Canadians to start families, gives parents benefits of CAD $6,400 ($4,810) for children under six years and CAD $5,400 ($4,059) for children between six and 17 years.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
Research began through reports and studies that cover the birthday party market in Canada. This includes portals on parenthood and parenting such as Today's Parent, BC Parents News Magazine, Six Time Mommy, and City Parent. However, pertinent information regarding the cost of a birthday was not present. Following this, we searched media sources like The Globe and Mail, The Loop, Global News, and CBC for any reports pertaining to birthday parties kids attend and the annual expenditure on gifts given at birthday parties. The more the number of parties attended, the greater the gifting expenditure.
Researched also included any birthday party-specific peer related coverage and social media based reports. While we were able to find related articles to the same, none of them contained the average number of parties attended by kids in Canada or North America. An article in The Globe and Mail pertaining to the birthday market in Canada makes references to a UK study that found that the average kid attends 5 birthday parties a year. While the statistic is dated, it is reasonable to expect the number has not changed drastically. Also, though the article was updated as in 2018, the statistic was not updated.
Also, please note that the most recent north statistic published by Statistics Canada is for the year 2017.
CALCULATIONS FOR AVERAGE BIRTHDAY PARTY EXPENDITURE PER FAMILY
We calculated the average using middle values of the ranges. For example, as 26% parents spend $100-199 on their child's birthday party, we assumed that 33% of parents spend an average of $150 (middle value of 100-199 range) for their kids birthday party.
Therefore, the average birthday expenditure per family = (33%*$50 + 26%*$150+18%*250+23%*$300) = $169.5
As the lower limit of the $300+ range has been used for calculating the average, it is likely that the actual number is higher than what we calculated. While we could not triangulate the average accurately, it helped us define a range. Based on the calculations, the average is likely to be in the range of $150 to $250 per birthday party.