MORAY CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS are being encouraged to check out a new online tool that provides them with the chance to compare the costs of Christmas over the decades.
From Christmas Trees to Christmas Dinner – and the best-selling gifts each year – the tool provides information that might be relevant to their choices this year.
In the very least, it provides everyone with a nostalgic journey through the years, a reminder of what their parents and grandparents had to deal with to provide for their families over the Festive Season.
The project is the work of home interiors specialist, Hillarys who created ‘Cost of Christmas Past’ [www.hillarys.co.uk/static/the-cost-of-christmas-past/] which allows users to select any year going back to 1968 in order to see just how much Christmas would have cost then.
Cost of Christmas Past reveals which years have been the most and least expensive for Christmas – for example, the best-selling toy in 1977 was POG at just 88p each, while in 2005 it was an Xbox 360, setting parents back £415.61.
The price of the Christmas tree has changed drastically too – in 1975 a tree would’ve cost families £208 in today’s money, whereas this year is the best year to purchase a tree, where they’re being retailed as low as £19.99.
Tanya Irons, spokesperson for www.Hillarys.co.uk, commented: “Christmas marks the time of year when we go all out; we want to have the best decorations, the best tree and provide the best feast for our loved ones.
“It’s interesting to see just how much costs have changed over the years, and try to predict how much we might all be spending in the years to come!”