More than 37% of Christmas toys and presents don’t make it past the end of January.
Research from The Children’s Mutual found that a staggering £1.2bn is wasted each year, by family and friends buying gifts that get broken or discarded long before we give up on our New Year’s resolutions.
According to its research, excluding those from their immediate family, children wake up on Christmas morning to find an average of 16 presents wrapped up under the tree and £76 in cash – with a total of £316 spent per child in the UK. The Children’s Mutual is urging friends and family to think about saving some of that money into long-term savings to deliver a Christmas gift that could last a lifetime.
They say that at Christmas time, youngsters benefit from huge generosity from friends and family but if just a little was saved every year, it could grow into a far bigger present on their 18th birthday. According to their calculations, if the average amount of cash given each year was saved into a Child Trust Fund account, it could bolster their savings pot by £2340 excluding any government contributions.
And according to the data, some families are already catching onto this new Christmas gift trend. The research showed a fifth of parents put all of the money their children receive into saving accounts for the future, while four in 10 balance the demands of their children with thoughts of the future, by putting some into savings and letting their children spend the rest.
Apparently, the most generous family and friends are from the East Midlands where more than a quarter of children receives over £150 in cash for Christmas. Children in Scotland also have very generous family and friends with one in five receiving over £150 in cash from family and friends over. Parents of children in London and Wales are 25% more likely to put all of the money their children receive into savings for the future.
November 2008 | 
The Best Deals At Groupon
