Here's how to get the most of holiday shopping with AI and credit card rewards

The holiday season, normally a time of gift giving, but increasingly it's a time of uncertainty

inflation, and anxiety. Before you break down, we've got you covered with some tools to help

you maximize your savings. It's very hard for consumers to figure out what's high now

what's low now, and so it's a little bit confusing at the moment for consumers

More than half of consumers are stressed about finances during the holidays

with nearly 70% saying inflation plays a key role. At the same time, they're telling us they're spending

So, you know, it's that quandary we seem to have in our economy right now

Things aren't always very clear. They're a little bit confusing sometimes. To prepare for the holiday season, 56% of shoppers set aside money for gift giving

while 45% have tightened their budgets. We're also going to see some lower inventory on some categories

because retailers did pull back in certain cases when they were placing their holiday orders

We might see slightly lower discounts just because retailers are trying to balance their books with this

with what's going on with the tariffs. For a growing number of people these days, it's not about the presence under the tree

You know, Gen Z doesn't want stuff. They don't have room for it

Some of them are living with their parents still as they're trying to get their footing. People are hungry for these IRL gatherings

and done with spending on material goods and merchandise. They're really excited to get back to the roots of holiday tradition

and go out and experience these nostalgic holiday events. Global events marketplace Eventbrite found searches for Christmas lights events

were up 56% in December 2024 compared to December of 2023. Attendance at wine-related events jumped 25%

and food events saw an attendance spike of 35%. People want to get together around food

and wine experiences were both up These are just the classic holiday If we gonna get together around the holidays it to be over food There are a ton of ways to book an experience for friends and family

Eventbrite distributed tickets to nearly 5 million events last year. Airbnb has also gotten in on the action recently

And Groupon is still out there hooking people up with deals. It's a gift that keeps on giving because you're learning something with your friends, with your family, with your co-workers

that you can then take on and pass on to your family and friends and co-workers

So it really does bring people together. Blair Soden Hanson gets it

Her business is all about the shared experience. Pasta Party Charleston is a hands-on pasta making cooking class

And what's unique about us is we bring the party to you. So we bring all of the tools and ingredients that you need

to learn how to make two different kinds of pasta to your home or your rental

Bachelorette parties are the bread and butter of Pasta Party. But the holidays are a great time to learn together

We did our first pasta party for a family last year. It was two daughters who have a tradition every year

They get a gift for their parents. So it was something that they gave their parents. It gave them something to look forward to after the holidays

It gave them a chance to come back together after the holidays, just the four of them

and have a great time together making pasta and getting a skill that then the daughters could take back

and learn how to make pasta with their families together. Look, there are still people in your life that will prefer a present over quality time with you

I would venture a guess that if I were to enter the right queries with an AI

they could probably tell me better than I could what the right gift is for my wife this year, too

So because I always seem to not get that quite perfect. And what's really cool right now is that these tools will give you recommendations, including the link

And then you could also ask it to do price comparison for you

So you make sure you're getting the best price. Experian found more than 60% of consumers are open to using AI as their holiday elf this year

AI has already been part of our life We just are talking about it differently because of all these new tools popping up You going to be seeing in a lot of the sites that you use day to day from Amazon to Walmart wherever you at shopping you going to see AI recommendations

pop up. So you're going to be using AI to shop for the holidays, whether you like it or not

Pretty much everyone has an AI play this year. FedEx's 2025 holiday season e-commerce trend

report found 97% of U.S. retailers plan to use AI to enhance the shopping experience

But the human brain must remain vigilant. I think the worry is that we have this trust in

these tools to just give us all the right, perfect, honest information. And that might not be the case

So again, I think the best thing is to do your own research, to play around with every tool

see what they say and compare it yourself. Even if AI doesn't make it into Santa's bag

51% of consumers plan to do some holiday shopping online. So why not put your web browser to work

Browser extensions are great. What they are is they're a tool that helps make your browser

smarter. You install it on your computer. It's free to do so. It takes a few seconds. And then

as you're browsing online, the browser extension will pop up with an alert. Hey, there's a cash

back offer here. There's a coupon that you can click on. There's a free shipping offer

So it's basically doing homework for you. There are endless numbers of extensions that can help

with shopping. The Karma extension, for example, helps users compare prices, get coupons and even

price alerts. There are individualized extensions like Keepa, which track Amazon prices. Okay

you've seen this logo before. Rekkonen's extension promotes cash back rewards at 3,500 stores

It allows you to stack benefits on top of your credit card and merchant rewards

That's money that you're saving that and even if it's you know if it's like two bucks here

I mean, I think I made like 88 cents in cash back for something like something small

I purchased a few days ago for our dogs. It 88 cents less and then it really nice because you get a check I believe it once a quarter And I had checks for like 115 bucks depending on like how much shopping I do a quarter

This year, consumers are somewhat split on whether they're going the cash or credit route

for their holiday purchases. So half of people tell us for the holiday season that they're going

to use cash for their expenses, that they're putting money away. But almost half tell us

They're also going to use credit or may use credit. And then about 40%, 45% tell us that they are going to use probably a combination of those things

And if you're in the right situation, maximizing credit card rewards can be a game changer during the season of giving

I think that the holidays is a great time if you are in the right place financially and your spending is going to help you net a welcome bonus or, you know, a little stash of points and miles

It's a great time to open a card. Some cards can be very demanding and expensive

There are cards out there that will give you a huge bonus, with the caveat of spending thousands of dollars in just one quarter

I'll be the first to tell anybody that's a lot of money. $6,000 in three months is no joke

But given that, like, we're hosting Thanksgiving, so I'm, you know, I'm on the hook for a turkey

We're a big family. It's going to be at least 12 of us. So I might even do, like, a turkey and a ham, all the sides and stuff

There are cards, though, for every budget, with varying levels of rewards

But restraint is crucial. Just because you can open a credit card and spend away doesn't mean you should

That's not to say you should manufacture spending and be like, well, it's like tis the season

Might as well just frack up all this credit card debt. Shoppers fall into this one for them, one for me habit around the holidays

which is not a good habit to fall into because it ends up creating too much spending

And then we ended up dragging debt into 2026. Make sure you know how you're going to spend, how you're going to repay the debts you take on

and that will take a lot of stress out of the holiday season for you. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Brent Jabbour

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