Hosts will spend £42.2 billion this festive season – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Brits are set to spend huge sums hosting festive celebrations this season, with £42.2 billion being spent nationwide. That’s according to new survey research from Jackson Woodturners.

Two-thirds (66%) of Brits will be hosting guests at least once over the festive season, with the average person hosting 6 times over this period. This adds up to an estimated 340 million parties, drinks, dinners and other festive occasions being hosted across the nation.

A newly released study conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Jackson Woodturners, stair part specialists, asked 1,000 UK adults about their festive plans – whether they will be hosting, how much they will spend and the pressures of being the perfect host.

Lucie Levesley, Director at Jackson Woodturners said, “Getting family and friends together is what the festive season is all about and the importance Brits place on this is clear from our survey. However, with almost half (43%) admitting that they find themselves judging other’s homes, is the pressure to be the perfect host becoming too expensive?

“Two-thirds of Brits will be hosting, spending vast sums to make the occasion special for their guests and the average host spends £1,192 hosting at this time of year, which is almost half (47%) of the UK’s average monthly salary¹.”

Lucie adds,

“Interestingly, it’s not just food, drink and gifts that hosts are spending their hard-earned money on. Hosts spend on average £295 in additional furniture and decorations to help guests feel festive and at ease. Nationwide this comes to over £3.8 million being spent by hosts on indoor decorations, £33.3 million on outdoor decorations and £3.4 million on furniture.”

Guests underestimate the cost of hosting and judge their hosts

Alongside judging host’s homes and skills, the survey also found that guests underestimate the amount spent by hosts, with guests thinking that they spend around £1,120, which is £72 lower than the true cost.

The older generation of guests is more likely to underestimate the amount a host has spent. Whereas the younger generation is more likely to overestimate this amount. The silent generation underestimated the amount spent by £226, Baby boomers underestimated by £450 and Generation X underestimated by £215. Whereas, Millennials overestimated by £96 and Generation Z overestimated by £367.

Almost one in six (14%) Brits won’t be hosting anything over the festive period, with the most common reasons for this being, the cost, house appearance or hosting embarrassment. For others, it is a lack of friends and family to invite over or simply being invited elsewhere².

On top of this, Brits are set to spend £491 more over the festive season this year, compared to last year and many Brits will pay for festive expenses on credit (either via a credit card or through store credit and schemes such as Klarna). Whilst paying via credit isn’t always a bad thing, it can lead to some people overextending themselves financially.