42% say they are relaxed over the festive season, 44% want to eat healthier, less than 10% manage to stick to their New Year’s resolutions

London, December 18, 2019 – Business data platform Statista has conducted an online survey on the Holiday Season and New Year. More than 1,000 UK respondents aged 18 years and older provided insights into how they spend the holidays and which priorities they have. The most important results in brief:

Traditions and prejudices: 77% think they don’t drink too much alcohol during holiday season

• 93% of the British celebrate the holiday season with 79% not having the celebration of religious beliefs or the birth of Jesus as a top priority during that time.
• 81% are looking forward to spending time with family and friends, 78% to Christmas dinner and 37% to visiting Christmas markets.
• 77% will have roast potatoes and 64% turkey while 42% cook for themselves.
• 47% name Christmas crackers as an important tradition, 52% snuggling up to Christmas movies. 81% don’t count the Royal Christmas broadcast as an essential part of the celebrations.
• 42% of respondents say that they are relaxed during the festive season while only 15% say that Christmas is very stressful.
• 77% stated that “My family thinks that I drink too much alcohol during Christmas holidays” does not apply to them.

Gifts and shopping behaviour: 55% buy gifts before December, 69% buy gifts online

• On Christmas Day 73% are excited about giving presents to loved ones. Nevertheless 30% say there are too many expectations linked to Christmas.
• 33% of the British exchange gifts on the 25^th before breakfast, the same share of respondents does it after breakfast.
• 55% of respondents start shopping for gifts before December with 6% not buying Christmas gifts at all.
• 45% name vouchers and 44% money as favourite gifts while only 3% would tell someone when they don’t like a gift they received.
• 69% buy their Christmas gifts online as it is less stress (61%) and for the convenience (58%). Amazon.co.uk is the top choice with 91% online shoppers buying gifts there. Argos.co.uk is the second top choice with 36%.

New Year’s resolutions: Almost half of respondents want to eat healthier and exercise more

• 34% watch a New Year’s countdown and 27% the London fireworks on TV at midnight.
• A majority of 68% spend New Year’s Eve at home, with 29% drinking champagne or sparkling wine to bring in the new year. A diligent minority of 3% usually spends their New Year’s Eve at work.
• Looking at the New Year’s resolutions, 44% want to eat healthier and 42% want to exercise more, while 15% want to cut down on alcohol.
• 32% of those making New Year’s resolutions only kept them up for a week or less in the previous year.

Find the full results of the survey “Holiday Season & New Year in the UK 2019” for free here. The corresponding survey for the United States is available here.

Press Material

Graphics

About Statista
Statista is the global No. 1 business data platform. Statista, founded in 2007 in Germany, has around 700 employees in its offices in Hamburg, London, Milan, Madrid, Copenhagen, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo. Statista is a leading data and business intelligence portal which conducts international market and consumer studies as well as surveys.

Press Contact

Anna Friedrich | anna.friedrich@statista.com | +44 20 818 969 49