How much will you spend on Christmas?

Christmas doesn’t come cheap, so it’s no surprise that millions of us are worried about how it’ll hit us in the pocket.

In fact, new polling from YouGov shows that one in three (33%) people are at least fairly worried about the impact of Christmas on their finances.

And that figure is even higher among people on lower incomes.

More than four in ten (42%) people living in households earning less than £30,000 were found to be worried about the cost of Christmas.

Parents feeling the pressure

The average Brit expects to spend around £300 on presents this year.

And surprisingly, the financial burden looks set to be particularly big for parents.

Almost half of parents (45%) expect to spend up to £100 per child on Christmas presents - and just over half (49%) believe they’ll spend even more.

Meanwhile, one in five (20%) think they’ll spend over £200 per child.

And when we look at parents with children under 18, the numbers climb even higher, with nearly two-thirds (61%) saying they’ll spend more than £100 per child, and one in four (27%) say they’ll spend more than £200.

Just one in three (34%) parents with kids aged under 18 expect to spend less than £100 per child.

Brits also spending big on their partners

Gifts for partners are another big expense this Christmas.

Around half (46%) of those who’ll buy their other half a Christmas present think they’ll spend less than £100.

But a similar number (44%) expect to spend more.

That includes 16% who think they’ll spend over £200 on Christmas presents.

Interestingly, men are likely to spend more than women on festive gifts, with 50% expecting to spend over £100 on their partner.

That compares with 39% of women.

Other costs stack up too

It’s not just presents that are putting pressure on people’s budgets this Christmas.

The YouGov study shows that people expect to spend an average of £150 on festive food and drink, and £50 on travelling to see family and friends.

Meanwhile, the cost of attending seasonal social events, such as the works Christmas do, is expected to be around £100.

And people think they’ll spend £60 on other Christmas outings over the next few weeks.

Meet our free Christmas debt calculator

To help you take control of your festive finances before costs snowball, we’ve launched a free interactive Christmas debt calculator.

It shows you exactly how long your festive borrowing could take to repay and how much interest it might cost.

Click here to find out more about how it works.