Posti and IRO Research have interviewed 1,000 Finns to find out the ways people spend Christmas in Finland. According to the survey, the best things about Christmas are spending time together (70%) and Christmas food (70%). The Christmas vacation came second (42%). The most beautiful Christmas carols (39%) and Christmas sauna (39%) came joint third. In general, the open-ended responses focused on the peacefulness and spirit of Christmas.
When it comes to the Christmas meal, people wished for their loved ones to be there. 39% of the respondents felt that it is fine to occasionally spend time on social media at the dinner table, whereas the views on using social media at the Christmas table were more critical. 76% of the respondents who were for using social media at the dinner table thought that it was not OK to use social media at the Christmas table. Only 14% agreed to using social media at the Christmas table. The views on using social media at the Christmas table were negative across all age groups.
Printed Christmas cards are appreciated
Writing Christmas cards is an important part of Christmas for many. For the majority (71%) of the respondents, writing Christmas cards was a familiar tradition from their childhood home, while the tradition brought the Christmas spirit for approximately half (51%) of the respondents. Writing Christmas cards has become a specific Christmas task for many, because the majority (67%) of the respondents write all of the cards at once.
A printed Christmas card still plays an important role as a Christmas greeting. 40% of the respondents also send a printed Christmas greeting to people who can be reached via social media. In 2014, the corresponding result was 54%. On the other hand, 4% of the respondents only send a Christmas card to people who do not use social media. The result is the same as in 2014.
Charity is part of Christmas
Most (60%) of the respondents aim to give to charity this Christmas. The most popular form of charity is donating money or goods for a good cause (31%). The second most popular form is buying charitable organizations’ Christmas cards (27%). 21% of the respondents are planning to engage in other charitable activities, and 9% are going to buy charitable organizations’ products or services as Christmas presents.
Last mailing dates for Christmas greetings
Domestic Christmas greetings (EUR 1.10) with a Christmas no-value indicator stamp must be dropped off in a mailbox by midnight on Wednesday, December 11 or at a Posti service point by closing time on December 11.
Christmas greetings with a domestic no-value indicator stamp (EUR 1.60) will be delivered by Christmas if they are mailed according to the mailbox emptying times by Tuesday, December 17. If you add a Plus Sticker next to the domestic no-value indicator stamp, the last mailing date is on Thursday, December 19.
The mailing dates for Christmas greetings to recipients outside of Finland can be found on Posti’s Christmas website at posti.fi/joulu.
More information on the survey:
The survey on the ways of spending Christmas in Finland involved information gathering online via the national online consumer panel provided by IRO Research Oy. The materials were gathered from 1,000 Finns during October 24–November 1, 2019. The survey sample is selected on the basis of age, gender, type of place of residence and county of residence to be representative of the population of Finns at the national level. The survey’s statistical margin of error is approximately +3.2 percentage points at most.
