Brits Will Spend 2 Billion Pounds Replacing Lost, Broken or Eaten Gifts This Christmas

A new survey revealing the gifting habits of the British, French and Germans from leading smart location company, Tile, shows that Brits will fork out a staggering £2 billion this Christmas on replacement presents having lost or broken the original gift.

In addition, a surprising number of guilty individuals simply keep them as a treat for themselves. It’s not just the Brits who are wasting time and money on gifts not given, 47 percent of Germans end up buying additional gifts, spending up to €2.5 billion a year!

With the best of intentions, Brits try to be organised with a staggering 44 percent planning their Christmas shopping in advance. It’s no surprise they put a plan in place, as 60 percent state that it’s easy to lose Christmas presents when traipsing around shops with lots of bags.

The French are the most festive and love Christmas shopping, with 57 percent making a day of it, whereas the Germans dread it, with 12 percent leaving it all to their partner. It seems that after all the stress of shopping, all parties think they deserve a reward with over 25 percent choosing to keep a gift they intended for someone else.

Despite their organisation, Brits are also the most forgetful, with over half (53 percent) hiding presents so well they forget where they’ve hidden them. The Brits are not alone however, as over 30 percent of the French and Germans hide presents too, with the back of the wardrobe being the most popular hiding place.

Changing their mind or hiding presents isn’t the only explanation for Christmas gifts never reaching the recipient, with over 10 percent of Brits and Germans admitting to eating a present intended for someone else. Only 7 percent of the French do this, perhaps explaining why they have a reputation for being slimmer. Brits, Germans and the French aren’t just eating their presents, they are drinking them too, with over 18 percent all keeping back a bottle of wine.

According to the research, selection boxes (29 percent) and bottles of wine (18 percent), were the most common presents that the French and Brits never hand out, with 14 percent of Germans never ending up gifting either a smartphone or a tablet.