12 shocking changes to Christmas traditions: matching pyjamas over pantos and turkey all-year round?

Everyone’s family has different traditions varying from table must-haves to strict present-opening times. But, as a nation, we’re thought to be staunch in our traditions…

Or so it seems. 

While 83% of Brits say Christmas is ‘all about traditions’, Nigella Lawson has since professed the death of Christmas Cake. So, what’s next?

1. Four times as many Brits now buy festive PJs over going to a Christmas panto.

2. 75 per cent UK adults said that food and drink at Christmas is more important than presents!

3. Four times as many adults say they prefer the tradition of sitting round the Christmas table rather than going ice skating (20 per cent versus 5 per cent).

4. Six times more people say they would choose cooking for the family over a trendy wild Christmas Day swim (17 percent versus 3 per cent).

5. A turkey isn’t just for Christmas. 57 per cent of people eat the festive centrepiece all year round!

6. Almost half the nation nation will only eat pigs in blankets at Christmas – not even Sunday dinner!

7. 21 per cent hail bucks fizz over eggnog or sherry as the least fashionable festive drinks.

8. Is it love or hate with the Brussel sprout? With an estimated 750 million individual sprouts sold each year around the holidays, more than a quarter of Brits never eat them outside of the festive season (28 per cent).

9. Almost a quarter of Brits see after dinner mints as a must-have treat.

10. A perfect Christmas is one free from heated or political debates (28 per cent).

11. Twixmas – between Christmas and New Year – is Brits’ least wonderful time of the season.  

12. On average, Half of Brits start planning for the festive season up to three months in advance.

And a bonus to settle a disagreement dating back to 1988… Only 11 per cent watch Die Hard at Christmastime only.

Elizabeth Shaw, heritage chocolatier and maker of the iconic Mint Crisp, is behind the research - commissioning a survey of 2,000 British adults.