10 Money Facts About Christmas you never knew about
Christmas is the time of year when money is a central issue and even in the most austere of times, we spend more during the festive season than at any other period in the calendar.
Here are 10 interesting Christmas Money Facts that you may not know.
- The Christmas Bonus
If you’re very lucky, you may still get a Christmas Bonus in your pay cheque at the end of December and even if you don’t pick up a little extra cash over the festive period your employer may reward you with a free turkey for the Christmas table.
You may feel lucky and grateful for these little extras but might also feel aggrieved to learn that in Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany and the Phillipines, workers are given a bonus, equivalent to one month’s salary by law.
- The Origin of Chocolate Coins
It may seem like just another gimmick to decorate our Christmas trees with gold coins but there is some significance to this practise. The coins were originally produced to commemorate St Nicholas, who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
There are many stories of St Nick throwing up to three bags of coins into houses and the three gold balls that you see outside a pawnbroker’s shop are an acknowledgement of his philanthropic life.
- A fortune in Christmas trees
Around 60 million natural Christmas Trees are sold all over the world every single year.
It’s a little hard to pinpoint the exact moment in time when a Christmas tree was first used but historians claim that the original trees appeared in Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia) in the 15th century.
The practise spread throughout Europe and beyond and the first artificial tree has been traced to Germany. It used goose feathers painted green and probably left the owner longing for the days when all he had to clear up was pine needles.
- The largest grossing Christmas Film
It may come as a bit of a surprise for some to learn that 2000’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas is the highest grossing festive film of all time. Starring Jim Carrey, the film is based on the 1957 Dr Seuss book of the same name and to date, it has raked in over £175 million.
As far as TV Exposure is concerned, the classic It’s a Wonderful Life is the film with most showings to date and will no doubt be appearing on the TV schedules at some point over the holidays.
- The Best selling Christmas Song
The most popular Christmas single of all time is ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby which has sold over 50 million copies across the world since its release in 1942.
In the UK, this particular accolade is held by the original version of Band Aid’s Do They Know it’s Christmas which was released in 1984 and has sold 3.5 million copies to date. Following on in second place is Last Christmas by Wham which may have sold even more than its 1.4 million copies had it not been released in the same year as the Band Aid record breaker.
- The most expensive presents
If money is no object then you can choose from some of the most expensive presents around. A list compiled by national newspapers in the UK revealed these to include:
- A golf course for your back garden designed by Jack Nicklaus which comes in at £580,000
- Lego models of yourself and your loved ones for £35,000 per person
- A Guiness home pub complete with a year’s supply of the black stuff for a cool £145,000
- The world’s most expensive Christmas Card
The very first Christmas cards were used in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant who wanted to save time by dispensing with the tradition of sending long, hand written letters to his friends. He was also interested in expanding the fledgling postal system and went on to have a number of these cards produced.
The practise of sending cards continued to grow through the 1860’s and at the start of the next decade, the post office produced a special, half penny stamp for cards of this type.
As for Cole’s originals, he had 1000 produced and sold them at 1 shilling apiece. This would have been a decent investment if you’d picked one up because in 2005, one of the surviving cards sold for £8,469.00.
- Spending on the High Street
It’s estimated that the average person in the UK will spend £359.00 on Christmas presents every year. That’s the overall total from online and high street spending and although you might feel that we all spend more time online these days, traditional stores will pocket around 57% of our festive cash.
However, purchasing gifts on the internet is on the increase as more people go online every year with a view to finding the best deals from a greater range of suppliers.
- The true meaning of Boxing Day
The notion of Boxing Day has financial roots to it as well and much in the same way as St Nicholas distributed to the poor, churches too opened their doors to help those in need.
This was the time when the collection boxes were traditionally opened and the cash that had been collected over the year was distributed among the poor in the parish.
- Some final figures
Overall, there is a colossal amount of money spent during the festive season and some of the figures involved make for impressive reading.
Across the world, the true cost of Christmas is estimated at around £300 billion pounds when you add up the cost of gifts, food and all the extras that we all buy at this time of year.
Included in those figures, the artificial tree and ornament market is worth around £100 million alone while charities will also benefit at Christmas, with around £165 million being donated worldwide.
Overall, Christmas is the most expensive time of year but maybe we didn’t realise quite how much money was involved until we considered some of these amazing festive financial facts.
Guest post by financechoices.co.uk