Study Reveals People Plan To Spend More On Christmas This Year

• Average spend will be nearly £500 as the UK Christmas total hits £26 billion

• More than half the UK plan to host family and friends this festive season

More than one in five adults believe this Christmas is very much a chance to make up for missing out on a traditional festive season last year, new research* from digital board game group Marmalade Game Studio shows.

Total spending during the festive season is set to hit £26 billion with the average person spending £491 during the period, its study found.

Nearly six out of 10 (59%) estimate they will be spending more this year than in 2020 while more than half (52%) expect to spend more than Christmas 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

People questioned expect to spend around £390 on average on presents and will buy gifts for an average eight people in total. However, one in five (21%) will be wrapping gifts for 11 or more people.

Some 11.6 million people say they plan to spend more on Christmas 2021 to help compensate for last year’s disappointment as COVID restrictions prevented family gatherings.

This year more than half (53%) of people plan to host family and friends during the festive season and nearly two out of three (64%) intend to visit family and friends. Around 20 million people (38%) say they will be playing board games with family over the Christmas period.

Marmalade Game Studio has recently enhanced its games so they help bring people together as part of a drive to address issues of social distancing and isolation. Its Bubble in-game video chat enables gamers to add friends and family to group chats, start games from chats, and video chat whilst playing.

Around 11% plan to spend more on games to play with friends and family, its research shows. Over the period of the lockdowns Marmalade Game Studio estimates downloads of its family friendly games with multiplayer features that can be played by family and friends remotely have increased 144% in total over the previous 18 months.

Michael Willis, co-CEO at Marmalade Game Studio, said: “Many people are clearly determined to make up for lost time when compared with last Christmas and see this year as a chance to properly celebrate despite current nervousness around the pandemic.

“Seeing family and friends is a major part of the festive season which most people missed last year due to restrictions around the country.

“In our business we saw a surge in demand for online games throughout the lockdowns which is continuing this year as people realise that games are a good way to stay in touch all year round and particularly so at Christmas.”

Marmalade Game Studio’s study found fewer than one in 10 (9%) of people were able to host all their family and friends last Christmas while 27% managed to host some of their family and friends. Just 6% managed to visit family and friends in their homes last year while 36% managed to visit some family and friends.

Source : Marmalade Game Studio

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