Christmas news round-up

Six out of ten families would rather play board games together than computer games this Christmas. The majority of these families said they preferred them because they brought the family together. Monopoly emerged as the number one Christmas board game, followed by Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Pictionary and Cluedo.

Source: Research carried out among 2,000 parents by Capital Shopping Centres.

a 51 per cent of people say they will spend up to five hours planning the Christmas dinner, with a further 42 per cent saying they will commit to three or four hours preparing and cooking the meal for the family, rather than spending time with them.

Source: toptable.com research from 342 participants.

Argos opened the UK’s first Santa’s Grotto for mothers this year. Their research found that around 1.7 million mums have to buy and wrap their own presents.  A 56 per cent of mums buy between 11 and 50 presents for others, but 67 per cent receive 10 or less in return.

Source: Argos and YouGov.

A 72 per cent of people in the UK will be using artificial trees, 63 per cent will have no mistletoe, 81 per cent won’t watch the Queen’s speech and 71 per cent will get no carol singers at their door.

Source: Survey conducted by Galt Toys online with 500 participants.

Birmingham is the place where Father Christmas will be spending the most on gifts per child this year. At the bottom of the top ten cities came Manchester with a spending of £173.

Source: Grant My Wish from a poll of 2,162 parents with children aged between 4-10. years.

Children have a better idea of the cost of Christmas than they are given credit for. A total of 85 per cent of children aged between 5 and 11 years know that a standard turkey costs up to £20. A 42 per cent know how much a Nintendo Wii costs and 38 per cent the price of iPhones.

Source: Capital One research from 1,000 children aged 5-11 years olds.

The happiest time of Christmas Day is at 1.55pm, with people only feeling 100 per cent happy once presents have been opened, dinner eaten and stockings opened.

Source: Three Barrels Brandy in a study of 2,000 people.

An iPad, X Box and Nintendo Wii, LEGO, Hello Kitty and toy trains have dominated the top requests of Santa this Christmas.

Source: Selfridges Grotto. 12,000 children.

A total of 38 per cent of UK mums spend more than 40 hours planning and preparing for Christmas. The average male partner was found to contribute less than five hours.

Source: Galaxy Gift for You survey of 998 British mothers age 18 and above who celebrate Christmas.

Fairies, sprites or people with magical powers have existed at some point in time, believe 40 per cent of children. It’s no suprise only 15 per cent believe Santa was ever real with a third of children catching out a parent pretending to be Father Christmas and a quarter spotting a fake tooth fairy.

Source: Lite Sprites survey of 1000 children aged 4-16 years.

The UK’s top selling toys on 12 December 2012 were:

Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Assortment £12.00
Nerf n-strike maverick gun £8.99
Razor e100 electric scooter £94.00
Doggie Doo £23.00
Moshi Monsters Moshing Figure £5.00
Kidizoom camera £34.99
Leappad explorer tablet £149.99
LEGO minifigures £2.00
Moon sands bake shop £22.91

Source: www.TheRankTank.com