Six in 10 parents are suffering from 'Christmas stress' - as they try to find original places to hide gifts to keep them away from prying eyes.
The study of 2,000 mums and dads shows the nation’s wardrobes are currently rammed with presents for the children.
A further third of parents are keeping gifts hidden under beds and 26 per cent are secreting them up in the loft.
One in four of those polled are so convinced the children will find them that they are opting to leave all presents at the grandparents instead.
Researchers who polled parents for eBay.co.uk also found they are set to spend a total of £392.82 on toys for their own children as well as other people’s.
Which means across the 14 million parents with dependents across the UK, the total spend equates to an incredible £5,518,256,796 on toys alone.
Budgeting for gifts is important to the majority of parents, with 63 per cent admitting they have a financial plan in place to ensure they can afford to buy their children everything they want.
However, a further eight in 10 admitted to overspending at Christmas – with one third even confessing to buying too many toys and ending up keeping some for the next birthday.
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Alice Winter, Category Manager of Toys and Games at eBay.co.uk said, “We know how much time goes into finding that perfect present and this year, regardless of budget, we want to help people navigate our great selection of toys – from the latest LEGO set to the traditional and retro.”
“Christmas is a critical time for toy sales, however we recognise that not all parents have big budgets to spend on gifts, especially when they still have to factor in all the other costs associated with the holiday season.
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"On eBay you can get toys across the spectrum of value to suit everyone’s wallet.”
When it comes to choosing what toys to buy, half of parents said ones which spark kid’s imagination motivates their decision most.
More than four in 10 are concerned about the educational impact of toys on their children, while 45 per cent like choosing toys which they enjoyed playing with as a child.
Parents also consider their children’s ‘creativity and artistic nature’ when choosing toys for Christmas, with 47 per cent saying this often motivates them to buy certain items.
And while 56 per cent of parents say their children’s pester power has a ‘massive impact’ on their purchasing decisions, many are influenced by recommendations from others, and the popularity of TV shows and books.
Whilst it’s all fun and games for the kids, six in 10 parents said they find decision-making about which toys to buy ‘stressful’.
Almost an entire day is spent planning, shopping and wrapping children’s Christmas presents, with parents spending on average 19.4 hours doing so in the lead up to the big day.
Researchers found that parents will be purchasing an average of 19 toys ahead of Christmas morning– and are most likely to receive Lego, Disney themed merchandise and Star Wars toys.
Indeed, half of all parents polled admitted they’d be wrapping a Lego set this year.
Stats from eBay.co.uk certainly show a trend in what children are set to receive this Christmas – as in September alone there were 577,948 searches for Lego, a further 183,043 searches for Scalextric and 179,223 people were looking at Playmobil.
When it comes to purchases during the same month, top items sold were Uno (1229), Scrabble (1086), and Hama Beads (896).
And across the whole year, eBay.co.uk has seen a staggering 100million searches for toys in total.
- Go to eBay.co.uk/12toysofchristmas for inspiration.