Men set to spend most on Christmas festivities

Despite the housing market doom and gloom and general economic concerns, people on average are planning a bigger festive budget than last year, according to new research by American Express Platinum Credit Card.

The research has found that shoppers are planning to spend on average £511 each this Christmas - £50 more than last year, with men planning to spend £60 more than women over the festive season. Indeed, it shows an anticipated average spend of £307 on presents. But that's dramatically lower than figures put out earlier this month by Verdict Research predicting spends of £1,300.

Almost half of shoppers (47%) expect to pay for Christmas using their credit card, with just under a third (30%) planning to redeem loyalty points to help budget for Christmas expenditure.

Women are more likely to redeem points than men, with more than a third (35%) expecting to use reward points compared to over a quarter of men (26%).

Two-fifths of respondents in Yorkshire (40%) expect to redeem their loyalty points compared to one-fifth of people in London and the Midlands.

Meanwhile, 82% of men are planning to get most of their Christmas shopping wrapped up by December 14th, leaving themselves 11 shopping days for any little extras.

Only 16% of men questioned plan to leave their shopping until the week before Christmas. A nominal 1% of men admitted that they'll be leaving their shopping until Christmas Eve.

As for the fairer sex more than half of women (58%) expect to have the majority of their shopping done by the end of November, with only 4% of women leaving it until Christmas week.