British parents will dish out &163;200 million* entertaining their children this Halloween according to a new study** from Egg, the internet bank and credit card provider. The money, &163;15.12* per family, will go on sweets, outfits, parties and presents, with parents&39; entertainment starting in earnest during the October half-term break.
In addition to the cost of Halloween, Egg&39;s study reveals that the average family in the UK collectively will spend nearly &163;270*** over the half term holidays keeping their offspring occupied, with the top five activities being:
1. Going out for lunch (60%)
2. Going to the cinema (52%)
3. Buying DVDs (42%)
4. Purchasing books/comics (41%)
5. Dishing out extra pocket money (24%)
Over three quarters (77 per cent) of parents admit they spend more money than they can afford in keeping their children busy over the half term break. Nearly a third (31 per cent) say it&39;s important to splash the cash to avoid their kids being bored, one in 11 (9 per cent) say it shows their kids how much they love them and one in 25 (4 per cent) admit they simply follow the lead from other parents.
Vanessa Wood, spokesperson at Egg.com, said: "Halloween has become much more of a calendar event in the UK than it used to be and we can see this reflected in the cost to parents. But Halloween is only the tip of the iceberg; keeping children entertained throughout half term also sees a big hit on the purse strings.
"So with Christmas not that far away it is wise for parents to get creative with their spending during this time and a good way to get back some of the cost is to make the most of rewards and cash-back schemes on credit cards.
"The Egg Money World MasterCard for example offers rewards and discounts on top online retailers, travel and day trip offers, as well as 1% cash-back on all purchases worldwide. So using Egg Money World MasterCard this half-term could earn the average family &163;27 - a useful help towards the Christmas stockings!"
Egg Money World MasterCard offers a unique package of rewards and benefits with 1% cash-back on all purchases worldwide, up to a maximum of &163;200. The Egg Money World MasterCard has a &163;1 per month fee.
For more information on Egg products visit http://www.egg.com.
Notes to editors:
*The 13.2 million families in the UK will spend an average &163;15.12 on their children (under 16) at Halloween which equates to &163;200m
**Opinium Research carried out an online poll of 2,001 British adults from 16th October to 19th October 2009. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.
***The 13.2 million families in the UK will spend an average &163;38.41 on their children (under 16) per day over the school holidays which equates to &163;268.87 over a week
About Egg
Egg is the UK&39;s leading online bank providing banking, credit cards, insurance and investments through its internet site and other distribution channels. To find out more visit http://www.egg.com
About Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com or http://www.citi.com.
Citibank and Egg currently have separate banking licences and both are separate members of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) (http://www.fscs.org.uk), so customer deposits are covered up to the new compensation limit of &163;50,000 per customer (e.g. &163;100,000 for joint accounts where there are two account holders) for each bank.
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