The cost of Christmas: New festive figures and a debt warning
Findings show we'll be spending £1,811.70 per person on average preparing for the coming festivities, ITV News Consumer Editor Chris Choi reports
The old Christmas song says: "It’s the most wonderful time of the year."
It’s certainly the most expensive for millions.
ITV News has new figures on over-stretched festive finances and a pre-Christmas debt warning.
Christmas in this cost-of-living crisis is compounding the budget pressures on very many households.
ITV News joined volunteers at the Salvation Army toy bank in Portsmouth.
Last year the organisation handed out presents to 76,000 households across the UK, and this Christmas many areas are seeing even higher demand for help.
One of those getting assistance is mum of two, Paige Mellish.
She has great support from friends and family but she’s off work sick and this time of year has brought daunting financial outgoings.
She told us that she has had to change her shopping habits because of the heightened cost of living.
"You're like 'oh wow hold on a second, that's gone up so much. I can't afford that,' and you put it back," she said.
New costs of Christmas research provided exclusively to ITV News by MoneySuperMarket shows that typically each person is spending £126.30 just to travel for Christmas this year - and more than £28 on Christmas cards.
Other findings show overall we'll be spending £1,811.70 per person on average preparing for the coming festivities.
The seasonal prices surge has led to a debt warning that around one in five of those who borrow to fund these festivities will take more than a year to repay.
Richard Lane from the debt charity, StepChange told us that one in four people have said they cannot afford Christmas.
"Four million people are going to be turning to credit just to be able to pay to put Christmas dinner on the table this year," he said.
The scenes of Christmas shopping today look turbo-charged already - and with still another week to go.
The upshot of these figures is that a typical UK adult will spend about 80% of an average monthly salary funding these festivities.
Most charities and experts we've spoken to, as you might imagine, urge caution when it comes to running up big Christmas credit bills.
They point out that people might quite like a present from you but if they really care about you they'd probably prefer you not to be in masses of New Year debt.
A lot of experts are telling us secret Santa gifting is surging this year. Of course, it's one way to enjoy the celebrations with a large group but only buy one present.
And this year there are more apps than ever to help with the organisation of secret Santas.
A lot of people, including our own ITV money expert Martin Lewis, have suggested a pretty drastic approach - don't buy presents.
By which they mean that a lot of this is us buying for somebody just in case they buy for us.
It's kind of escalating gifts "arms race" if you're not careful. So make agreements not to buy for some people in your circle.
But let me tell you about one survey statistic buried away in the festive pile - almost half of people surveyed said what they value most is spending time with loved ones.
So maybe the best gift you can give this Christmas, is just being you.
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