How does the UK spend their festive season?
Do you ever wonder what everyone else is up to? My family have very codified Christmas traditions, and sometimes I just want to know what other people do with the same time period. Luckily for me, I got to ask some questions on a nationally representative poll this winter.
The big news, which is probably no surprise to anyone who’s paid attention to the census data this year, is that 71% of respondents tell us that they will be celebrating Christmas specifically in a secular way. Only 18% of people celebrate Christmas in a religious manner. When looking at those that don’t celebrate, we found that 15% of people who don’t have children will not be celebrating, compared to only 7% of those who do have children.
The big winners for the extended festive period are decorating a tree (59%), decorating your house (48%), going to a Christmas market (38%), and going to or hosting a Christmas party (31%). Of course, decorating can mean very different things to different people, from whatever this guy has going on, to a single string of lights, to my dad sometimes starting his paper chain making in October. It looks like there’s a fairly significant constituency of people who put a tree up and call it a day, which is certainly an efficient way to go about it.
In terms of outings, 8% of us are going to the pantomime (oh no they’re not!) (but actually, according to our polling, oh yes they are), compared to 6% going to the theatre and only 1% to the ballet. 9% of those who have children will be going to the pantomime, compared to only 6% without. Not a single respondent without children will be visiting Santa’s Grotto, but 15% of parents will be taking, presumably, their children to see Santa. Making a gingerbread house, however, is identically popular regardless of parental status. Another winner this festive season is donating money or volunteering time, with 24% of us saying they plan to do one or the other.
The big thing folks are planning on doing over the Christmas weekend this year is seeing family and friends. 66% of respondents said they were planning on this. Close behind were 63% saying they planned to eat a traditional Christmas dinner and 63% planning to exchange gifts. Interestingly, 16% of people who don’t celebrate Christmas at all are still planning on a traditional Christmas dinner, so I assume they just love a roast dinner, or are excited for the excuse to eat pigs in blankets.
A full quarter of Brits intend to watch the King’s Speech. This seems high to me, especially given that 9 million out of 67.4 million Brits watched it last year. Maybe it’s because he’s new. Give it a week and viewing figures will tell us whether 25% of people actually did sit down to watch. I’m excited to find out whether or not people just say it as an aspirational thing, or if they actually follow through.
A tenth of respondents plan to attend midnight mass - slightly higher than the proportion of people saying they celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. In fact, over a quarter (27%) of those planning to attend a Midnight Mass don’t celebrate Christmas in a religious way. Of those planning to attend, 7% have no religion and 1% are Muslim, which isn’t a big number but is still slightly more than I personally might have guessed.
We also took the opportunity to ask people about strife at Christmas. A full 24% of Brits think they will likely spend some time over the Christmas weekend avoiding certain family members, and another 24% think they will likely have to avoid eating somebody’s poor quality cooking. Only 14% think they’re likely to argue with a family member about politics, compared to 19% who think they’re likely to argue with a family member about a board game or party game. I don’t know about anyone else, but my family like to schedule a game of Categories so we can enjoy arguing about whether or not an egg is a mode of transport (it isn’t, DAD) and thus avoid any actually meaningful arguments.
The good news is that a full 89% of respondents think they are likely to have an enjoyable time this Christmas season. I hope it lives up to this group’s expectations, and that even the 8% who think they are unlikely to have an enjoyable Christmas have a better-than-expected festive weekend.