New Surveys Show Home and Housewares at Heart of Consumers’ Plans for Entertaining and Celebrating Life Moments in 2026

IHA releases annual Occasions and At-Home Entertaining Surveys, offering an in-depth look into consumer behavior and home and housewares purchasing

Home and housewares products will play an increasingly important role in consumers’ lives in 2026, according to newly released results of the 2026 International Housewares Association (IHA) Occasions and At-Home Entertaining Surveys. These two reports were published today on IHA’s independent news and information platform, HomePageNews.com.

The Occasions Survey demonstrates how home and housewares items are gaining momentum as preferred gifts across key life events. The At-Home Entertaining survey shows how hosting at-home gatherings – whether to celebrate life moments or for no reason at all – continues to gain momentum, especially among younger generations.

“In the midst of economic uncertainty and dissonance in the larger world, our homes are becoming an even more valued refuge,” said Derek Miller, IHA president and CEO. “These surveys demonstrate the increasing appeal of hosting at-home gatherings and how home and housewares are becoming more prominent as gifts to celebrate key moments.”

The surveys reveal consumers’ housewares purchase and entertaining intentions for 2026, in addition to key motivators and the types of support and information they’re seeking as they select gifts and plan gatherings.

Occasions Survey

The 2026 Occasions Survey shows home and housewares gaining momentum as preferred gifts across eight key life events. Those events include: engagements, wedding showers, weddings, new home purchases, new pet ownership, baby showers, college-bound students and retirement.

For example, 42 percent  of consumers said they would consider giving a home and housewares item as an engagement present, up from 21 percent  in 2025. When it comes to gifts for college-bound students, 38 percent  said they were likely to give a home and housewares gift, up from 17 percent  a year ago. Those numbers are similar to those considering baby shower gifts: 43 percent  said they were likely to purchase a home-focused item, up from 24 percent  last year.

Occasions Survey data is broken down by the eight key life events and details the expected prevalence of those celebrations in 2026, the types of housewares products respondents are most likely to purchase and significant demographic differences.

Other key findings include:

• New pet celebrations are becoming part of American life. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they were likely to attend a friends-and-family new-pet event in the next 12 months (up from 31 percent in last year’s survey).
• Whether it’s optimism or based on actual pending home purchases, all income groups – except the highest earners – are more likely to celebrate a housewarming or new-home occasion in 2026.
• Kitchen items remain the top housewares category for wedding gifts (selected by 51 percent of respondents). That’s followed by organization and home décor (34 percent ) and bedroom items (33 percent ).

At-Home Entertaining Survey

The 2026 At-Home Entertaining Survey shows that bringing people together in familiar spaces continues to grow in appeal, even after recent year-over-year increases. Twenty-eight percent of respondents anticipate hosting more at-home gatherings in 2026, compared to 24 percent  in last year’s poll. (50 percent  said they plan to host the same amount, while 19 percent  thought it would be less.)

Younger consumers are leading the momentum: Gen Z tips the scales with 47 percent  planning to host more at-home gatherings; Millennials are close behind at 39 percent . Gen X’s at-home entertaining intent declined by four points, while Boomers’ remained relatively stable.

The desire to spend more time with friends and family tops the list of motivations (51 percent ) but having a specific event to celebrate is also a factor (37 percent ), as is the fact that entertaining at home tends to be less expensive than holding an event at a restaurant or other public venue (31 percent ).

Other key findings include:

• Clean-up is the biggest challenge for at-home hosts (31 percent ). That’s followed by preparing everything at the same time (22 percent ), cooking (15 percent ), planning (9 percent ) and keeping food warm (7 percent ).
• Half of consumers say they occasionally purchase products to create a certain aesthetic. (23 percent said usually, 15 percent  said always and only 10 percent  said never.)
• When asked what would inspire them to host more at-home gatherings, budget-friendly party ideas or tips topped the list (46 percent ). Recipes were almost as popular (45 percent ), with party-specific theme ideas (32 percent ) and general entertaining tips (30 percent ) coming in next.

MethodologyThe 2026 IHA Occasions Survey was conducted by Morning Consult between Nov. 1 and 3, 2025, among a sample of 2,200 US adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data was weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age and race by education attainment. Results from the full survey have a margin of error plus or minus two percentage points.

The 2026 IHA At-Home Entertaining Survey was conducted by Morning Consult between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, 2025, among a sample of 2,226 adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data was weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age and race by educational attainment. Results from the subset have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, depending on the audience.

The complete reports on both surveys can be found on HomePageNews.com.