Member Article

Our favourite Christmas traditions uncovered: The festive jobs we love and loathe – and the Christmas customs we can’t live without

Decorating the tree and giving presents to family and friends top the list of our favourite festive jobs at Christmas…but when it comes to undecorating and Christmas lights our Christmas spirits is being sorely being tested, according to a new HomeServe study.

Leading home assistance provider HomeServe asked more than 2,000 homeowners their favourite and least favourite Christmas chores, as well as the seasonal festive traditions we can’t live without.

When it comes to festive jobs we love, decorating the tree came out top (with 41% opting for it as one of their top three Christmas chores), followed by giving presents (30%), buying presents (24%), spending quality time with family and friends (23%), wrapping gifts (22%) and making the traditional Christmas dinner (22%).

Our least favourite Christmas chores, however, were undecorating the house (21%), unravelling our Christmas lights (18%), writing Christmas cards (16%), last minute shopping (16%) and the hours spent wrapping presents (16%).

When it comes to Christmas traditions, millions of us value a traditional Christmas dinner, with 44 per cent identifying turkey and all the trimmings as one of the key things they couldn’t live without over the festive period.

Spending quality time with the family polled highly with 39 per cent saying they valued it above anything else, followed by a Christmas tipple or two (24%), decorating the house (20%), Christmas Day telly (19%) and Christmas movies (18%).

But it seems that not everyone is looking forward to a family-filled Christmas. Although around 6% are expecting to spend Christmas Day with ten or more people, 34 per cent said they would be spending the big day with between three and five people, and eight per cent said they expected to spend Christmas alone on December 25.

The study also looked at the detailed planning and preparations made by UK homes before the big day in 2017.

Although buying the tree peaks around one month to two weeks before the big day (43%), as many as 8% leave it late – in fact Christmas Eve – to pick up a last minute bargain.

And that’s not the only thing some of us leave until the last minute; almost one in ten men (8.5%) leave it until Christmas Eve before picking up gifts for their other half, with 5% of women doing likewise.

But some of us are proving to be far more organised than that, and we’re preparing for Christmas 2018 even before this year’s turkey has been carved. The study found that 14 per cent of savvy shoppers will make the most of the pre-Christmas and January sales by splashing the cash on their tree and decorations for 2018 more than a year in advance.

The big Christmas shop peaks in the week before December 25 (25%), but the decorations going up (32%), the big Christmas deep clean (27%), Christmas dinner planning (28%) and turkey buying (23%) are already done for most of us – as these peak in the two to four week period before the big day.

Greg Reed, CEO of HomeServe Membership, said: “This research paints a really interesting picture of some of the things that are important to us all at Christmas, including all those Christmas jobs we love or – in some cases – love to leave!

“But it’s also important to many of us that those special traditions that make it some an enjoyable time to spend with family and friends. That’s not always the case for everyone though and it’s important at this time of year to keep an eye on those vulnerable members of our communities who might be spending the festive period alone.

“It seems that many of us are also making sure everything is in place for the big day nice and early to avoid any unforeseen disasters. And that’s something everyone at HomeServe would go along with. We want to take the stress out of the tricky winter months and make sure life keeps moving.”

An example of how HomeServe keeps Customers’ lives moving over the Christmas period is Mr R.Carter, from Staffordshire, whose leaking radiator was fixed just in time for him to welcome his family over for the festive period.

HomeServe also saved Christmas for another Customer, Mrs S.O’Neil from Birmingham, who had a boiler breakdown in the days before she welcomed Greek visitors. Both stories are available at https://www.homeserve.com/uk/customerstories.

Most loved Christmas chores (respondents selected up to three):

1. Decorating the tree (41%)
2. Giving Christmas presents (30%)
3. Buying presents (24%)
4. Spending quality time with family (23%)
5. Wrapping presents (22%)

The top five traditions we can’t do without (respondents selected all that apply):

1. Christmas dinner (44%)
2. Spending time with family (39%)
3. A Christmas Day tipple (24%)
4. Decorating the house (20%)
5. Watching Christmas Day TV with the family (19%)

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HomeServe .