Christmas gifts from partners may result in a warm glow of pleasure from men this yuletide, while leaving many women suffering a cold snap of disappointment.
New research from men’s fashion brand Jacamo reveals that more than seven out of ten men (74%) were happy or content with the presents they received from their other halves last year, more than double the number of women who said they felt the same (36%) on opening gifts from their significant other.
The survey of over 2000 UK men and women aged 18 and over, revealed that younger men, aged 18 - 25 and older men aged over 55 were happiest with their presents. Men aged from 45 to 55, were the least impressed with their gifts, with a fifth admitting to feelings of disappointment when they discovered what their partner had given them, compared to an average of only 15% across all ages.
In contrast almost two thirds of women were unhappy with gifts from those who were supposed to know them best with 59%, of those aged over 55 to 70, confessing they felt some level of disappointment with their present. This compares to an average of 48% of all women who responded to the poll. Younger women were happiest, 53% of those aged 18 to 25 said they were pleased or satisfied with their other half’s gift efforts.
The biggest complaint from women left disenchanted with gifts was that a “lack of thought” had gone into the choosing (42%). Next was clothing or lingerie gifts in the “wrong size”, (19%) closely followed by fragrance and beauty products that were the “wrong brand” (17%). Other unpopular presents included “cheap chocolates” and “fuel station flowers”.
Proving it’s not what you spend, but how you spend it, the survey revealed that despite them being overall unhappiest with their gifts, it is women who have most spent on them ,with men shelling out an average of £82 on partners at Christmas. Women, by comparison were not so generous, spending 17% less at £68, on their partners’ presents.
However, analysis of the figures also found that the Christmas spend on men is climbing, with over half of all women, 54%, saying they will spend more on gifts for their partners this Christmas than they did in previous years, while just 34% of men will be doing the same.
Bucking the average trend, 11% of men said they would be splashing out £200 or more on their partners this December 25th and 6% of women said they would be doing the same.
On the other side of the Christmas coin just under 2% of both men and women said they would not be buying their partner a gift at all this Christmas, while 4% of those surveyed seemed to have come up with ideal gifting solution, saying they would go shopping together to choose their festive presents.
When it comes to revealing how pleased we are, or otherwise, with our Christmas gifts it appears women are more honest with their partners; 29% say they would tell their other half if their present was not to their liking. Just 14% of men said they would risk admitting they did not like a gift from their significant other.
Jenni Bamford from Jacamo said: “We see the number of women shopping with us to buy gifts for men rise dramatically in the run up to Christmas. Shoppers put a lot of thought into buying presents that their partner will like and shopping at places where they know there will be a good choice of gifts to suit all budgets.
“It’s nice to see couples shopping together for their Christmas presents as that way you can be sure your gift is just what they want, but I also think that by observing and taking the time to listening to your partners’ likes and dislikes it is also possible to sneak in a few very welcome, surprise gifts.”
