No frills, just stats…(all figures based on UK 2007 statistics unless otherwise stated)
Consumed
- 10 million turkeys
- 25 million Christmas puddings
- 250 million pints of beer
- 35 million bottles of wine
Spent
Sold
- In the week before Christmas, Asda will have sold 750,000 tonnes of Christmas pudding
- Marks & Spencer will sell more than 500 tonnes of sprouts over Christmas
- Tesco have stocked up on 2.25 million fresh and frozen turkeys, 72 million mince pies and 16 million Christmas crackers.
- If all the Christmas crackers in Tesco were laid end to end, they would stretch 3,082 miles
- To meet customer demand an estimated £160 million worth of Christmas decorations are imported into the UK
Children
- 7 million leave mince pies for Santa
- only 44% of 7-11 year olds think Christmas day is a celebration of the birth of Jesus.
- 63% of children save pocket money to buy presents, averaging around £34 each
- The average child in Britain will open 18 presents on Christmas morning. One in 10 will be broken by the New Year!
- 46 million toys will be thrown away.
Trees
- There are 25-30 million real Christmas trees sold in the US alone every year. 6 million were sold in the UK
- 80% of artificial Christmas trees are made in China
- For every real Christmas tree harvested, up to 3 seedlings are planted in its place
- It can take up to 15 years to grow a 6-7 foot tree
- The top selling Christmas trees are; balsam fir, Douglas fir, fraser fir, noble fir, scotch pine, Virginia pine and white pine
Other
- Royal Mail delivers 150 million Christmas cards and gifts each year.
- If all the cards delivered were laid end to end, they would span from London to Sydney...and back...more than 5 times!
- If all the glass jars from items consumed of Christmas in the UK were recycled, it would save enough energy to boil water for 60 million cups of tea
- In the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell made the eating of mince pies on Christmas day illegal. This was voted the 4th most ridiculous British law in 2007
- Across 5,500 Christmas cards in WH Smith, Clinton Cards and Hallmark, only 67 had pictures of the Bible story
- 43% of people cite financial pressures as the worst thing about Christmas
- 86% of people rated spending time with loved ones as the best thing...just 2% said presents...
- The most expensive mince pie is the 'ultimate' £100 (€149) being offered by London bar, Dion, which includes organic cranberries, stem ginger, orange blossom water and Hennessy cognac, the pie has been subjected to many makeovers in the name of innovation.
And if you want to know how many mince pies that hour at the gym earned you… http://www.walkingworks.org.uk/calculator
Add yours at the Comment page, below!
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