People in the UK are cutting down on their Christmas budgets due to inflation, according to House of Commons Library.
More people cannot afford their Christmas celebrations this year as rate of inflation has reached 11.1% in October 2022, according to House of Commons Library.
“Ongoing rising costs have seen consumer spending habits shift for a prolonged time, with non-essential items often the first to go. Unfortunately, it appears that this cost-cutting will also be reflected on some aspects of Christmas celebrations as some consumers will forgo gift-giving altogether. Whilst this will be a difficult financial decision for some, others will have re-prioritised what the festive period means to them, following a number of COVID-impacted Christmases,” head of retail at Deloitte said.
Nakasha Board, shopkeeper (person on the left) and Gaynor Board, 54, nursery owner (person on the right)
“Probably we’ll cut 200 pounds down this Christmas, nearly 20% off. Christmas is for spending time with family and friends, having family meals and giving some gifts.”
William Pyne, 79, retired (person on the left) and Sylvia Pyne,79, retired (person on the right)
“This year, because of the difficult financial situation and the fact that we have recently moved from England, we don’t know the best shops in Cardiff to buy presents, we would only give token presents to our close family members and give cash gifts so that they could buy what they need. With regard to festive foods, because we would be at our son’s house on Christmas Day, we would buy very little special food for ourselves, just a small cake and a Christmas pudding.”
Xavier De Francesco, 44, black smith and welder
“I’ll spend 20% less this year in Chrismas. I’m not a religious person. Chrismas is a party day for me. It means having family meals.”
Sam Passmore, 30, Media Production Apprentice
“The fee for Christmas would drop significantly because of cost of fuel and heating. Everything in life costs more now.”