Families have Christmas all wrapped up
A fast.MAP Consumer Voice Panel survey of 1,136 members carried out in the last week of November reveals that most have drawn up budgets for Christmas spending (MW last week) and almost three-quarters have planned how they are going to finance this outlay.
Nine out of ten have budgeted the same or less than last year. More than four out of ten have savings to cover this, three out of ten have been stockpiling presents throughout the year and one in ten has paid into a Christmas savings card. However, 15% will put it on a credit card, 3% will take out a loan and 3% plan to raise a pay-day loan.
More than half those surveyed plan to spend up to £299 in total on presents, food, drink and parties, a third expect to splash out £300-£749 and just over one in ten will blow between £750 and £2,000.
Two-thirds of families with children have set a limit on the amount they plan to spend on each child’s main gift. For a quarter, this is £49; one in five has budgeted £75-£100, 16% have a £50-£74 budget and 13% have an upper limit of £25. Only one in ten plans to spend more than £200 and none has budgeted more than £549.
On Christmas Day, 96% will eat their dinner at home or with friends and family, while only 2% expect to eat in a pub or restaurant. The remaining 2% will be on holiday.
David Cole
Managing director, fastMAP
