American households are expected to spend an average of 466 dollars on gifts during the holiday season, down moderately from last year's estimate of 476 dollars, says The Conference Board's latest report.

This survey of holiday gift spending intentions covers a nationally representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. It was conducted for The Conference Board in November by TNS, the world's largest custom research company.

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"Consumers appear to have less Christmas spirit heading into Thanksgiving this year than last year," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "This cautious attitude will have consumers shopping for bargains this season. Retailers will need to offer discounts and promotions to get shoppers into their stores."

The top holiday spenders will be New England households (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) who intend to spend 568 dollars. Lowest holiday spending will be in the East South Central (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi) and West South Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas) regions where households expect to spend 423 bucks. Both these regions were hard hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Slightly more than 32% of all households will spend 500 dollars or more on holiday gifts, with 37% spending 200-500 dollars and the remaining 30% planning to spend less than 200 dollars.

About 34% of all consumers will buy holiday gifts on the Internet, up from 33% a year ago. Books top the list of online holiday buying, with nearly 45% saying they will buy books as gifts. Clothing and shoes rank next as online holiday buying choices, followed closely by toys.

Of the 33% who said they purchased holiday gifts last year on the Internet, 94% said they were satisfied with their online buying experience.

Other key findings:

Households headed by individuals 45-54 intend to spend the most this year, with 505 dollars the average expenditure.

Households headed by those aged 35-44 represent the second largest spending group. For them, average expenditures are expected to reach $477.

Households whose incomes top $50,000 intend to spend $657 for holiday gifts.