One in 10 men will leave present-buying until Christmas Eve, research shows

Eva Osborne

One in 10 men will not have their presents sorted until Christmas Eve, according to research from An Post.

On the other hand, six in 10 women have their Christmas shopping done as early as November 30th.

Catherine Clancy from Minihane Jewellers in Cork said they are always happy to see men coming in on Christmas Eve.

Speaking on Newstalk, she said: "I think we find that people are shopping earlier, but we always have our men on Christmas Eve who we like to see coming.

"They're panicking, last minute, but hopefully they're coming with a big budget. So we love to see them coming in the door."

When it comes to food shopping, four in 10 people will do their final "top-up shop" in the 48 hours leading up to Christmas.

According to a survey from Tesco, 92 per cent of people leave their final Christmas shop run that late to avoid queues.

Batteries, tin foil, sellotape, and spare gifts are the most common items people forget to buy before Christmas Day.

Shoppers buy 18,000 tin foil rolls on December 23rd, according to Tesco.

The survey also shows two thirds of people hand out a bottle of wine, chocolates, or biscuits if someone calls to the door unexpectedly.