Is Creativity Becoming a Luxury?
Who can afford to be creative in a hyper-expensive world?
I love scrapbooking and crafting. I’ve been scrapbooking since I was 11, and have been crafting for as long as I can remember. To me, there’s something peaceful about the process of creating something that’s your own. And growing up, a lot of my friends had craft supplies (paints, markers, paper, stickers, posterboard, etcetera) lying around their houses. But with the increasing cost of craft supplies, will that still be the norm in the future? Or is crafting turning into a luxury only the wealthy can afford?
Lately, prices on supplies that I’ve never found expensive in the past are skyrocketing. When I ordered a set of paints and a small pack of 8x10-inch canvases, it cost me about $40. My last scrapbooking purchase (an album, a paper pad, and some sticker sheets) cost me well over $100. According to an article from the Digital Journal, there are currently 71% of consumers in the United States that identify as crafters. (Insights News Wire, 2025). While this is an increase seen since 2020, will it start to die down now that craft supplies are getting so expensive, with crafters spending an average of $3200/year on craft supplies (Daily Insights Wire, 2025)?
While craft sales have shown increases since 2020, are these supplies still accessible to low-income families whose jobs have been either eliminated or decreased since COVID? Many who are low-income struggle to find the time and the money or resources to be able to engage their children in arts and crafts, due to their lower wages and decreased amount of time spent at home.
Parents and crafters aren’t the only ones spending money on craft supplies, though. Teachers and educators also spend money on craft supplies for their classrooms and students. According to the Association of American Educators, “97% of teachers purchase their own classroom supplies, including arts and crafting materials, with their own money, spending an average of $673.00 per school year” (Yahoo.com)
It is so important to maintain a sense of creativity in our world, and especially to build a love for creating and crafting in our future generations. An article by Tiffany Spire states that there are many benefits to doing arts and crafts. These benefits included muscle and brain development, reasoning skills, confidence building, as well as math, science, engineering, pre-writing, and writing skills. Additional skills included those that strengthen character, such as flexibility, perseverance, and patience, as well as social skills (Spire, 2025).
Unfortunately, we live in a world where revenue reigns over creativity and recreation, and the companies making and selling craft products care less about helping people to access the tools they sell, and more about how much it makes them. If this inclination for expensive craft supplies keeps trending upwards, will crafting and creativity still be available to everyone? Or will it gradually become something only the wealthy have access to?
Sources:
Choi, M., Tessler, H., & Kao, G. (2020). Arts and crafts as an educational strategy and coping mechanism for Republic of Korea and United States parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. International review of education. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Erziehungswissenschaft. Revue internationale de pedagogie, 66(5-6), 715–735. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09865-8
Insights News Wire. (2025, November 17). U.S. craft industry revenue surges to $51 billion as DIY movement reshapes consumer spending habits. Digital Journal. https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/news/insights-news-wire/u-s-craft-industry-revenue-surges-178843421.html
Shelton, S. (2024, July 19). 97% of teachers buy classroom supplies out of pocket. Yahoo! News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/97-teachers-buy-classroom-supplies-192522233.html
Spire, T. (2025, March 10). Why it’s important to do arts and crafts with kids. The Budding Artists. https://www.thebuddingartists.com/tips/why-its-important-to-do-arts-and-crafts-with-kids
https://www.yahoo.com/news/97-teachers-buy-classroom-supplies-192522233.html
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