According to research, the North East spends the most money outside of North London on Christmas presents.
Research conducted by Safe.co.uk shows that over a third of parents in the North East admit to going over budget when it comes to buying their children’s presents.
In an era of heavy advertising and big brands, it is easy to understand why children want so many presents.
Anthony Neary, managing director of safe.co.uk, said: “There’s probably a few factors. Busier lives, people work longer hours. They might feel a bit more guilty and need to buy presents for kids.
“The big overriding factor is the amount of kids TV channels that we’ve got. It increases the number of ads that you’ve got. The TV programmes and films now are almost like an advert.”
With financial uncertainty, pressure is building on parents to spend more money during the festive period.
In the North East, parents spend an estimated £269.00 on their children for Christmas. They’re also buying twice the number of gifts for babies and toddlers than in any other region, with 12 gifts in comparison to Northern Ireland’s six.
The biggest concern is that children want gifts that are too expensive.
These expensive gadgets and ‘must-haves’ together with a tough economy mean that modern parents are struggling to come in under budget and keep up with their children’s demands.
Neary added: “It’s going to be a significant impact for low income families. For whatever reason people are buying more gifts for children and it isn’t a factor based on what your income is.
“There’s no correlation between people on a much higher income with more money. It is just a general average.”