Parents Spend £135m On Their Child’s First Christmas
Parents in the UK spend some £135m on gifts to mark their child’s first Christmas, according to a survey by the Post Office.
The study found that an average of £166 is spent per couple and that parents in London spend the most at £328.50, while parents in Belfast spend the least at £63.61.
Young parents are shown to be the biggest spenders, with 18 to 24-year-olds buying £245 worth of gifts.
Gifts for children
Chloe Renwick and Matt Lee-Cook’s son Sebastien was born at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester in July – a week after Prince George was born at St Mary’s Hospital in London. Chloe and Matt have spent around £50 on Sebastien’s first Christmas.
Mr Lee-Cook said: “(It’s) less than we will probably spend on future Christmases. He has managed to spend a lot of our money already.”
“I don’t think he’s going to feel the benefit of a material Christmas so we’ve got him a few little things, a few toys, nothing significant.”
Ms Renwick said: “It’s also the incidentals; all the things that we’ve bought around it. So he’s had a high chair so he can sit with us at Christmas – that’s not factored into his Christmas budget, so I suppose in total we’ve spent a lot more than that, just not specifically for Christmas.”
When it comes to gifts the most popular present is a teddy bear, or soft toys, for a baby’s first Christmas.
Interactive, or educational baby games came second, followed by baby clothes and then Christmas-themed costumes.
Almost two in five parents (38%) are planning to put money aside in a savings account. The average contribution is around £98.
Prince George is expected to spend his first Christmas at the Queen’s estate in Sandringham. Traditionally the Royal Family exchange small gifts which are often humorous.
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