“Expensive Prices and Social Fatigue”… A ‘Quiet Year-End’ Instead of Year-End Parties

Half of Office Workers Choose to Stay Home
“Real Friends” Gatherings Preferred Over Awkward Office Dinners

Baek Jonghyun, a 28-year-old office worker, decided to spend this year’s end quietly. “Since the holiday falls on a Thursday, I have to go to work the next day, so it’s awkward to go out, and with expensive airfare and accommodation, I can’t even think about traveling,” Baek said. “I plan to wrap up the year simply at home, eating warm stew with my family.” Choi Yoonji, a 25-year-old university student, also plans to spend the year-end at her family home. “Rather than doing anything special, I’ll use the time to rest and recharge as usual,” Choi said. “It’s too cold and bothersome to go out, so a ‘homecation’-eating cake and catching up on movies at home-is the best.”

Watching the cafe staff decorating the Christmas tree, I suddenly realize that the year-end has quietly arrived. Each day feels slow, but before you know it, the seasons change and the year comes to an end. Looking back, as always, time flows without stopping. (In Unyang-dong, Gimpo) Photo by Hyunmin Kim

Although it is the time to wrap up the year, more people are choosing a “quiet year-end” instead of boisterous year-end parties. A culture of relaxing at home, rather than attending office dinners or group gatherings, is taking hold. This is due to a stronger sense of individualism, compounded by the economic burden caused by high inflation.

According to a survey conducted on December 27 by the market research firm Embrain Trend Monitor, about 50% of 1,000 adult office workers responded that they plan to “rest at home” for the year-end. In contrast, only 20-30% said they would attend workplace dinners or year-end parties. Sixty percent of respondents said that “year-end gatherings feel financially burdensome due to rising prices.”

The tendency to focus on “deep relationships” rather than large, formal gatherings has also become more pronounced. Some choose to rent a party room with a few close friends or celebrate quietly with a home party. Lee Minji, a 26-year-old office worker, said, “We decided to rent a party room and have a small party with three friends. We set ‘cozy knitwear’ as the dress code to symbolize a warm winter. Each of us will order our favorite food for delivery and enjoy the year-end comfortably.”

Professor Lee Youngae of the Department of Consumer Studies at Incheon National University analyzed, “After experiencing social distancing, people’s preference for large gatherings has decreased, and the tendency toward individualism-avoiding awkward social settings-has grown, making year-end gatherings themselves feel burdensome. With the economic downturn reducing disposable income, more people are making the rational choice to spend time at home rather than attend costly external gatherings.”