The average Irish family will spend over €2,300 on Christmas, according to new research.

Price watch research conducted by The Irish Times said that Irish people like to “treat themselves” at Christmas.

Last year Christmas grocery shoppers spent 14 billion-euro at Irish supermarkets, up by more than 1.1 billion euro from the previous year.

On Lunchtime Live earlier today, Irish Times Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope has “totted up” what he calls the “12 costs of Christmas” for a family of five.

“I tot up the cost of the food, the cost of the booze, the parties, the Pantos, and all the other stuff,” he said.

“I really try hard not to lose the run of myself, because you don't want to be accused of being alarmist and saying, ‘Oh, you're going to spend 700 on your Christmas dinner’, so, if anything, I'm kind of cautious about the pricing.

“At the risk of spoiling it [Christmas], it's going to cost an awful lot of families… well in excess of €2,300 for Christmas.”

Christmas day dinner after the meal leftovers messy table. Image: Steven May / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Pope said the “big cost” for a lot of people is Christmas dinner.

“Now, one of the really telling things about Irish consumers is that even at the height of the financial crash in 2008 and 2009 we didn't slack off when it came to Christmas dinner,” he said.

“People, when times are tough, they want to really reward themselves and their families, as they as they should, and it was the same last year and all the official figures showed that Christmas spending was up.”

'Leftovers for grazing'

Mr Pope priced a range of items including a turkey.

“I priced it for €58 for a seven kilogram turkey,” he said.

“Now, you can buy them for cheaper than that, obviously, but a lot of people spend money on a ham, a tenner for two kilo Turkey, then the biscuits, mince pies, melons, plum pudding, breakfast stuff, vegetables and a few other Christmas Day essentials, like your sweets and all the rest.

“The basket of goods to feed a family of five comfortably on the big day, with a few leftovers for grazing on Stephen's day, and the day after Stephen’s day came in around €225.”

He then added another €175 for food in the days before and after Christmas (23rd, 24th, 27th, 28th) when you're “kind of sick to the back teeth of Turkey” – taking the total cost of the food and the grocery shopping to €400.

Christmas with alcohol and beer bottle. Image: Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Pope then moved on to the spending on alcohol.

He priced a case of 20 cans of beer, eight cans of stout, four bottles of wine, two bottles of champagne, a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of gin at €217.

Mr Pope said he was “generous” as this would include people “calling into the house”.

Adding two trips to the pub with four pints each for the fictional couple, this brought the total spent on alcohol to €321.

An outdoor Christmas tree illuminated at night, 19-12-13. Image: Roman Milert / Alamy

Mr Pope allowed €80 for a real tree and €20 for a wreath.

“I didn't spend too much on my decorations, because you probably have some,” he said.

“You want to might want to buy some decorations, maybe a new set of lights, or whatever it might be, I put €50 aside for that.”

Mr Pope then turned to Christmas parties, saying this depends on the party completely

“There might be a free bar all night and a four course meal, or there might be no freebies at all,” he said.

“So what I allowed for the Christmas party was two adults buying three drinks each over the course of their Christmas party and covering the cost of a taxi home, and then maybe €100 on new clothes or a hairdo or whatever you want to spend the money on.

“That takes the total spending for the two adults to €276.”

Santa Claus in a shop with excited baby. Image: Enigma / Alamy

Mr Pope reminded listeners that people in Ireland and all over the world are “incredibly lucky” that Santa Claus takes care of “all the childrens’ presents” that “find their way under our trees”.

“But if this fictitious family had wanted to buy some other presents for each other and for maybe for other family members, I'm allowing €500 all in for all the presents,” he said.

Mr Pope also accounted for visits to the Grotto and to pantomimes.

“Five tickets to see Peter Pan at the Gaiety was going to cost a fairly eye watering €270, including a €30 Ticketmaster booking fee,” he said.

“Visiting Santa’s grotto might be €20 per child.

“So suddenly that's another €330.”

Macy's Flagship Department Store at Christmas Season. Image: Alamy Stock Photo

He also allowed €36.50 for Christmas cards and stamps.

Mr Pope said he’s a “sucker” for matching Christmas pyjamas and that for a family of five, a set of Christmas pyjamas costs €15 each in Penneys – a total of €75.

He said it’s about the same for Christmas jumpers which brings those extras up to €150.

“Then there's the heating and lighting,” he said.

“I've just added another €60 to cover that.

“Then you have the relatives coming as well or you might want to visit your relatives – I’ve allowed €100 for that.

“I allowed €100 to give to for charity, because I think people do like to give money to charity over Christmas.”

'Christmas perfection'

Mr Pope said all of these estimates add up to €2,373.50 “not even touching” the lead up to Christmas or the New Years’ festivities.

He said there are a huge range of deals on the lead up to Christmas in order for families to save some money but the most important thing to remember is “the myth” of a “perfect Christmas” is just that – a myth.

“We are sold this myth of perfect perfection and a perfect Christmas, and we have to have the perfect table scaping, and we have to have the perfect this and the perfect that and the perfect present, and we all put ourselves under enormous pressure to get that perfection,” he said.

“You're never going to have same table as you see on some fancy retailers Christmas ad, because they've spent hundreds of thousands of euros dressing up that table to make it look like that.”

Mr Pope said the “reality is” perfect perfection “doesn’t exist”.

Listen back here:

Main image: Christmas budget. Image: Alamy Stock Photo