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According to research conducted by Family Investments, many children are likely to be disappointed this Christmas morning. On average, each child is expected to receive gifts worth £60, which is scarcely enough to cover the cost of some of the items on this year’s top ten Christmas toy list.

This figure marks a £55 reduction on last years spending, at £115. As the credit crunch continues to deteriorate, it would seem that parents are more interested in putting money towards longer term savings for their children. In fact, 71% favour this approach.

People living in Manchester are set to spend the most on Christmas gifts this year, with an average spend of £108 per child. In contract to this, the average spend of Londoners will be £60, which indicates that those living within this area are feeling the full force of the credit crunch.

The research also reveals that grandparents are set to spend an average of £50 plus this Christmas. Among those, Scottish grandparents are the most likely to spend in excess of £200. In terms of the nature of the gifts, over half of parents (54%) would prefer grandparents to purchase a small gift and contribute the rest to their child’s savings account instead.

Kate Baker, Head of savings and investments at Family Investments said: ‘Christmas is always an expensive time of year, and parents are planning to cut back on children’s presents this year, in order to help the strain and enable them to still keep their longer term savings topped up. In our experience saving for a child’s trust fund is still a priority with 36% of parents willing to suggest to Grandparents a donation towards their child’s savings, instead of presents this Christmas.’

Those that are finding their finances tight following the festive season may wish to consider taking out a secured loan from Nemo. In particular, where credit cards have been relied upon to fund gifts, a debt consolidation loan could tie up all those debts resulting in a one lower monthly payment. However, it must be remembered that consolidating debt may increase the amount paid back overall, and could extend the repayment period of the debt.

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