Generous Londoners are set to embark on a festive spending bonanza over the next six weeks, according to figures released today.
The findings released today by VoucherCodes.co.uk, the leading savings site, show that Brits are set to spend £203.98m more on children’s Christmas presents than their parents did a generation ago, considering inflation*. The survey of over 2,000 people across the country discovered that the average parent in London will spend £118.20 per child on Christmas presents this year, an increase of £49.94 on what their own parents spent on them – meaning the cost of Christmas in the UK has increased by £2.68bn (73%) in a generation!
Half (49%) of parents in London believe that their children ask for more presents than they did at their age and the research has revealed just how the expense of Christmas has increased for the average modern family as a result of meeting these greater expectations.
With one fifth (21%) of parents in London spending over £200 on Christmas presents per child, compared to just 6% a generation ago, the research has highlighted the financial pressures that families are now under to provide a special Christmas for their kids. This is particularly true for parents under the age of 35, with three out of five (59%) admitting they’re saving money for Christmas by mid-November in contrast to just a third (33%) at the same time a decade ago.
Children’s wish list
With so much money being spent, it’s important that parents are invested in what they’re purchasing. Despite this, a half (38%) of people in London admit they buy Christmas gifts without knowing if their children would actually want them and a quarter (24%) confess they’ve been guilty of buying rubbish presents because they left it too late to go shopping.
This is perhaps best explained in the huge shift in priorities between what children are looking for now compared to when parents were anxiously looking under the Christmas tree. Indeed, two out of five (38%) children now want to find a games console in their stocking, while a third also ask for a mobile phone (35%) and an iPad or iPod (32%).
