Yahoo Finance Brits set to spend more than ever on Christmas this year
British families are set to spend more than ever on Christmas this year, seemingly defying talk of a squeeze on finances.
The average household will splash out £821.25 – up from £809.97 last year – and almost £300 more than their European counterparts.
It’s been estimated that Britons will spend some £78.7 BILLION on presents, food, decorations and all the associated wrapping paper and cards during the festive season.
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Each Brit is set to personally splash £244 on gifts, up 1.3 per cent on last year (£240.41), and 51.5% more than the European average of £160.82 (€185.28).
Breakdown Christmas Spend Per Household
Gifts | Food & Drink | Christmas Travel | Decorations | Total | |
2017 | £475.51 (+0.3%) | £225.02 (+0.6) | £89.52 (+7.2%) | £31.20 (+6.9%) | £821.25 (+1.3%) |
2016 | £473.83 | £223.55 | £83.43 | £29.16 | £809.97 |
Alcohol, jewellery and books remain popular gift choices, all up year-on-year, whilst money and gift cards are down by 10.5%.
The research, carried out by VoucherCodes and the Centre for Retail Research, also revealed the biggest increases in spend year-on-year will be on Christmas travel, which is up 7.2% on 2016 to £89.52.
This is followed by festive decorations at £31.20, up 6.9% on last year.
Breakdown of Christmas Gifting Spend Per Head
Gift | 2016 | 2017 | % Difference |
Money, Gift Cards, Vouchers | £26.42 | £23.64 | -10.5% |
Toys | £46.17 | £50.21 | +8.7% |
Consumer Electronics | £49.54 | £45.34 | -8.4% |
Clothing/footwear | £54.57 | £53.63 | -1.7% |
Cosmetics | £20.92 | £22.92 | +9.5% |
Jewellery | £14.18 | £15.60 | +10% |
Books, entertainment | £17.31 | £19.26 | +11.26% |
Alcohol, confectionary | £11.06 | £12.92 | +16% |
Paul Lewis, senior director of marketing at VoucherCodes said: “Despite ongoing economic uncertainty with Brexit and rising inflation, it seems Brits are still happy to splash their cash to make the most of the festive season, with spend across all major categories seeing a year-on-year rise.”
What isn’t clear from the research is whether Brits are actually intending to buy more food and gifts or if the extra spend is because of rising prices.
A separate poll of 2,000 UK adults by VoucherCodes and Opinium showed that sons were the most expensive family member to buy for, with the average gift costing £124, closely followed by daughters at £123, and partners at £107.
Top 5 Most Expensive & Difficult to Buy For
Top 5 Most Expensive to Buy For (average spend) | Top 5 Most Difficult to Buy For |
Son – £124 | Partner – 30% |
Daughter – £123 | Dad – 13% |
Partner – £107 | Mum – 11% |
Mum – £48 | Son – 6% |
Dad – £48 | Daughter – 4% |
In terms of the most difficult to buy for, partners came out top, with 30%claiming they struggled to find the perfect present for their significant other, followed by dads (13%) and mums (11%).
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And, more and more people are avoiding the crowds by doing all of their Christmas shopping online.
One in four say they will not venture further than the armchair and the laptop or tablet to buy everything they need for this year.
What’s more, some people have got Christmas sorted already: 4% of people say they finished their shopping before Halloween…
