NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Easter comes early this year, and consumers still feeling the winter blues are likely to spend less money on spring clothes during the Easter holiday, according to a consumer survey.

Consumers will spend $9.6 billion for the March 27 holiday this year, down from $10.5 billion in 2004, according to a survey by conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation. Only 29.4 percent of Easter celebrants plan to buy clothing for the holiday this year, down from 42.2 percent in 2004, causing an overall drop of nearly $1 billion in sales, according to the NRF.

"With Easter falling two weeks earlier this year, Mother Nature will play a part in apparel sales," said NRF president Tracy Mullin, in a prepared statement. "Consumers, many of them still shoveling snow off their sidewalks, are not yet feeling compelled to go shopping for spring clothes."

The average Easter celebrant will spend $96.51 on the holiday, down from $107.17 last year.