For many South Africans, a celebration is not a treat set aside for good times. It is a necessity, a way of holding on to connection and recognition even when money is tight. That tension sits at the heart of a new study from the University of Cape Town’s Liberty Institute of Strategic Marketing, titled The Celebrations Economy 2026, which estimates that more than R500bn is spent on celebrations in the country each year, even as households face growing financial pressure.
The sums involved are striking. Some people are willing to spend up to R1m on a wedding, R70,000 on a homecoming ceremony or initiation, and R140,000 on a tombstone unveiling. During the current festive season alone, consumers are expected to spend R289bn, according to the Wonga Summer Spending Survey.
Behind those figures are families marking the moments that matter to them. One respondent put it plainly: “I don’t think overseas people realise the importance of celebrations to us. It’s a chance to escape our harsh realities.” Another, who has lived abroad, said: “I’ve lived all over the world and there are few people that celebrate like we do.”
The scale of the wedding season shows just how widespread this spending is. A related study found that 9,000 weddings took place over 32 days between April 1 and May 2 across South Africa’s nine provinces. Gauteng recorded the highest number, with 2,070 weddings, followed by the Western Cape with 1,970 and KwaZulu-Natal with 1,200. North West recorded 810, the Eastern Cape 780 and Limpopo 690, while Mpumalanga with 580, the Free State with 540 and the Northern Cape with 360 brought up the rear.
For communities where work is scarce, that spending carries real weight. Prof James Lappeman of UCT’s Liberty Institute said the celebration economy had become an increasingly important source of economic development in a country dealing with high unemployment. The impact is visible in large gatherings such as the ZCC Moria pilgrimage, said to inject R5bn into the economy, of which R2.5bn goes to the taxi and bus industries, R1.5bn to food vendors and retail, and R1bn to church missions and local trade.
The study covered a wide range of occasions, from baby showers, baptisms and birthdays to imbeleko, Ramadan, graduation parties, ukuthwasa, weddings, ulwaluko, intonjane and Diwali. Technology has reshaped how these events come together, with respondents describing how social media and messaging platforms help them find suppliers, share information and organise guests. “I don’t know how people planned parties before WhatsApp,” one said. Another explained: “We shared information on where and when on Instagram.” A third described how her mother, scrolling on Instagram, DMed a woman who recommended an elderly man to conduct an intonjane ceremony.
Paul Egan, managing consultant at the UCT Liberty Institute, said celebrations were about more than money. Beyond being a significant economic driver, he said, they keep people connected, strengthen relationships and provide a release from everyday pressures. “They are also one of the few times when we come together as equals, and social hierarchies temporarily fall away,” he said.
Meanwhile, younger generations are pushing celebrations in a more modern, expensive and stylish direction, often making them bigger and more elaborate and shaped by global trends. Yet the study found that success is rarely measured by how much was spent. What counts is how guests felt and whether they enjoyed themselves. Asked how they felt after their most recent celebration, 66.3% of respondents said they felt pure joy, 57.7% felt gratitude and 55.4% felt excitement, while 41.9% reported a deep connection. Only 16% said the occasion came with some stress.
Dr Tumelo Chaka, chief marketing officer of United Stations, said businesses need to look beyond income and demographics to understand how South Africans spend. “To truly understand South Africa, we need to understand the rituals, emotions, relationships and cultural meanings that influence how people spend,” he said.
Martin Neethling, former chief marketing officer at PepsiCo-Africa and now a consultant, argued that celebrations reflect something deeper about society. “They reflect what people care about. But … celebrations are much more important than that,” he said, inviting listeners to imagine what life would be like without celebrations at all.