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Parents set to spend 1.4 billion on childrens' main Christmas presents

12/12/07

  • Almost half of parents prepared to queue overnight for 'hard to get' presents
  •  Toys level pegging with high tech consoles in popularity stakes
  •  UK parents spend an average of £126 on a child's main present

Children nationwide are in line for a bumper Christmas. According to research by Yorkshire Bank, a whopping £1.4billion1 will be shelled out by UK parents on Christmas presents this year.

The research shows that, on average, parents are spending £126 on main Christmas presents for their children this year.

The survey, carried out by Yorkshire Bank's award winning UK call centre2, also found that with some games consoles selling out, demand for traditional toys and games is just as high. Toys and consoles are level pegging in the popularity stakes (16%).

Gary Lumby, Yorkshire Bank's head of retail, said: "It's good to see that traditional toys and games are giving high tech gadgets a run for their money and it comes as no surprise that parents are willing to go to great lengths to get the gift their child wants. As a parent myself, seeing my kids' faces on Christmas day is worth any late night shopping trip."

The survey also revealed that almost half of those surveyed (47%) were prepared to go the extra mile by queuing up overnight in order to get their hands on any gifts that are in short supply.

For all of those who are still struggling for ideas of what to buy the children this Christmas, Yorkshire Bank has put together a top ten-league table of the most sought after gifts in 2007. They are:

1. Toys including Disney Toys, Dr Who figures and Transformers
2. Games consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Xbox and PSP
3. Console games
4. Dolls including Bratz and Barbie
5. Clothes and shoes
6. Bikes
7. iPods
8. Mobile phones
9. Board games including Monopoly and Operation
10. Remote control cars

With less than two weeks to go, almost half of those surveyed still had shopping to do - almost 49% admitted they had not yet finished their Christmas shopping.

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