How Much Should I Spend on Groomsmen Gifts? What Our Data Tells Us

by Chris Bajda November 25, 2018

So you're wrestling with the idea of how much you should spend on your groomsmen gifts. We've been through it ourselves and realize a wedding costs a small fortune. By the time you've gotten around to buying groomsmen gifts, nausea typically accompanies the accumulating price tag. With any luck, your fiance has traditional parents that are picking up the tab.

When most grooms ask us how much they should spend on groomsmen gifts, they’re looking for a hard and fast rule of thumb. While there are some standard guidelines, unfortunately, there isn’t a quick and easy answer or magic formula.  We can offer you data below, but no two groom scenarios are necessarily identical.  Typically, what you spend on your groomsmen is all up to your budget constraints and/or the amount you’ve asked your groomsmen to spend to participate in your big day (we’ll get into the specifics of these in a moment).

Groomsmen Gift Statistics (based on over 30,000 customers)

• Average spend on total groomsmen gifts = $250
• Average spend on single groomsmen = $37
• Average number of Groomsmen = 6.7
• Average spend peak months July/Aug = $260
• Average spend off months Dec/Jan = $196

In our not-so-humble opinions, it’s not about the price of the gift as much as coming up with great ideas for your groomsmen gift and how much thought you put into personalizing your groomsmen gifts.  The best groomsmen gift you can give your men is a day of good hanging out and honoring them with a unique "thank you".    

Don’t get us wrong — that doesn't mean it’s okay to skip on the idea of groomsmen gifts altogether or that it’s excusable to pass out cheap, crappy gifts to your best buddies (especially if they’ve spent a small fortune on tux or suit rentals, your bachelor party, etc.) They’ll notice, and they’ll definitely feel slighted.

So How Much Should I Spend on Groomsmen Gifts?

On average, most grooms spend anywhere from $35 to $45 per groomsman.  In fact, we cranked through the numbers of all the products we sold in the last year, and the average spend on a groomsmen gifts was exactly $38.00.  

With that being said, the $38 average spend does not apply to all wedding parties.  Here are some guidelines to follow when figuring out how much to spend on your groomsmen gifts.

 Spend 10-25% of What Your Groomsmen Spent

Again, this isn't a strict rule, but it is a nice and easy guideline to use when determining what’s an appropriate amount to spend on the groomsmen. Here’s how it works: If your asked your friend to spend a total of $300 on your wedding, you purchase him a gift that’s costs anywhere from 10-25% of what he spent. In this case, a groomsmen gift priced somewhere between $30-$75. The more your groomsmen spends, the more you spend, so it’s a more fair way to give gifts that are proportional to the time and money that they put into your day.  But, let’s reiterate this once again — use your best judgment and select gifts that a meaningful and personalized to each groomsman.

Use Your Wedding Budget as a Guideline

 If you’re hosting a wedding that’s on the lower end of the spending scale and you haven’t asked your friends to fork over an arm and a leg to stand by your side, then it’s perfectly acceptable to purchase affordable groomsmen gifts that hover around the $25 price point. On the other hand, if you’re going all out and throwing a ritzy wedding bash, it’s more appropriate to hand our more expensive gifts to the groomsmen. The best advice here: use your judgment, purchase each groomsman a gift that’s similar in price (showing favoritism isn’t okay), and choose gifts that you know each guy will appreciate and enjoy. 

We expect that number to be slightly higher per gift because sometimes a groom will only buy part of the groomsmen gift with us.

Best Groomsmen Gifts Under $40

For $39.99 per groomsmen, the shot glass and knife box set and this personalized cooler are two of our best sellers: 

To the 9's Tri Pack $39.99

Combat Cooler $39.99

Buddy's Buddy $39.99

So, with all that being said, lets get on to finding some cool groomsmen gifts for your fellas. If you are looking to see what are our most popular selling gifts, check out our best sellers page.  

Curious to see what the average spend looks like from the state you reside?  We dissected average spend per state and the results at the top are somewhat surprising.  Who would have the marital high rollers come from none other than West Virginia.   The full list below: