When it comes to festive spending, move over Father Christmas, it is Britain’s grandparents who are splashing out on presents and entertaining, spending an average of almost £600 each on Christmas every year, with 6.5 million grandparents also hosting Christmas dinner, according to insurer Norwich Union.
Generous grandparents are digging deep into their pockets this Christmas with grandchildren being the main benefactors, and it seems the more grandchildren there are, the merrier. Those with eight grandchildren spend £65 a head on the latest must-have toys and games at Christmas, as well as going well above the average overall spend, splurging an average total of just under £720 treating friends and family to all the trimmings.
Four out of 10 grandparents say they treat their grandchildren to things all year round, spending an average of £200 per grandchild during the year, while 41% admit they spend more on their grandchildren than they do on their children.
Daren Carter, sales and marketing director at Norwich Union Personal Finance, said: "They say that Christmas is a time for giving and our grandparents seem to have embraced that sentiment. The festive season is a great time to get family and friends together and our research shows that it is the older generation who are maintaining this tradition with less than a quarter (24%) being entertained by other people over the Christmas period."
However, all this generosity does come at a cost. A third of grandparents (34%) confess to buying things for their grandchildren even when they can’t afford to do so.
Daren Carter added: "Despite the older generation admitting they splash out on their grandchildren it isn’t all frittered away on expensive gifts. Over one in eight (13%) finance savvy grandparents prefer to help towards long-term investment for their grandchildren and 600,000 (5%) help pay for their education."
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