Gen Z Loves Sweet Treats
For Gen Z, ‘Little Treats’ Are Worth Going Over Budget by Kailyn Rhone (2025) discusses how it has become a trend amongst Gen Z to indulge in small treats often, and how these expenses can add up.
The last thing Naomi Barrales needed was a 30-minute train delay. She had a two-hour commute home to central New Jersey ahead of her. To kill time, she decided to treat herself to two vegan birthday cake cookies.
It became a ritual. Whenever Ms. Barrales, a 25-year-old marketing associate for a fashion label, had a good day at work, like receiving a compliment from her boss or nailing a presentation, she treated herself to the same cookies. Later, she added a $1.50 Poppi drink to her list of sweet treats. Even if the office vending machine was out of Poppi and the local deli charged double, she didn’t mind, she said, because she deserved it.
“It’s something that I can just have and not think about,” Ms. Barrales said. “I don’t have to pinch my pennies.”
She and many others in Generation Z have embraced “treat culture,” the habit of indulging in small luxuries, like a $12 jumbo-size coffee, a $5 baked dessert or a $30 key-ring doll called the Labubu, to reward themselves or practice self-care, even if the treats are outside their budgets. Although many Gen Z-ers do not feel financially secure, more than half say they buy themselves a small treat at least once a week, according to a new survey of nearly 1,000 Gen Z adults from Bank of America’s Better Money Habits team…
What sets Gen Z-ers apart from generations before them is how they have built an online community around the tradition, promoting it on their social feeds as a way to care for their mental health during uncertain times. On TikTok, they have shared their latest “little treat” hauls after failing an exam or doing chores, or just to show off conspicuous consumption.
The TikTok tag “sweet little treat meme” has resulted in more than 23 million videos. It has become a shared, normalized and celebrated experience that encourages others to indulge or at least feel included, said Jason Dorsey, a generational researcher and a co-author of the book “Zconomy.”
With rising costs, a shaky job market and financial milestones like homeownership feeling out of reach for many young adults, small purchases offer Gen Z a temporary sense of control or indulgence, Mr. Dorsey said…
But while these treats can offer quick hits of joy, they also could lead to overspending if budgets are not properly managed. After about a month of treating herself three times a week, Ms. Barrales, the marketing associate, noticed her checking account was around $50 lower than usual. It was enough to ring alarm bells for her…
Of those Gen Z-ers who buy treats, 59 percent say it leads to overspending, according to the Bank of America survey. “Buy now, pay later” apps and instant-delivery services make it easier than ever to spend impulsively, Mr. Stoller said. Often, these “little treats” are bought in the spur of the moment at stores like bakeries or clothing shops, he added. (Rhone, 2025)
This article shows how seemingly “small” and “insignificant” purchases can add up significantly and eat into people’s budgets. This concept applies to saving for a trip. If someone buys a $5 sweet treat 3 times a week, that adds up to $60 monthly, and $720 annually. If the money Gen Z spends on ‘rewarding themselves’ with little treats is instead put away into savings accounts, Gen Z could save hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars annually. This money spent on little treats can instead be allocated towards big treats, like traveling.
This trend of “treats” as rewards can be shifted and applied to travel savings accounts that will ultimately allow Gen Z to work towards a larger “treat.” When Gen Z feels the desire to reward themselves with a little treat, they can instead reward themselves with that same feeling of instant gratification, but towards a much bigger, more meaningful goal.
How can treat culture be shifted so that Gen Z is encouraged to put their money towards more meaningful things, like traveling?
References.
Rhone, K. (2025, August 16). For Gen Z, 'Little Treats' Are Worth Going Over Budget. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/business/gen-z-treat-spending.html
A.I. was not used for this article.
