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Why Christmas dinner costs more in 2024

12 December 2024 By Patrick Schmitt

Christmas dinner in the UK costs almost 7% more in 2024, driven by rising food prices, although sparkling wine remains the same. We reveal what Brits spend on this festive meal and why it’s going up.

According to market research company Kantar, Brits on average will spend £32.57 on a Christmas meal for four, which represents an increase of 6.5% on 2023, which is mainly due to the increasing price of turkeys and potatoes – up 8.5% and 16.2% respectively (see table below).

However, sparkling wine, which is the only drink included in Kantar’s basket of Christmas dinner staples, is stagnant, with the average outlay on fizz remaining at last year’s figure of £6.40.

Commenting on the findings, Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said that prices rises on the meat and vegetables for Christmas dinner had outpaced wider grocery price inflation, which he said “remains relatively stable at 2.6%”.

He added that price cutting by supermarkets had prevented significant prices increases taking place, noting that promotions were often made available through loyalty cards.

“Sales on promotion reached 30% in November, the highest since Christmas last year,” he said. Continuing, he recorded, “It’s retailer price cuts, often accessed through loyalty cards, that are really driving this.”

He added, “While multi-buy promotions have stayed flat, spending on price cut offers has grown by 14%, worth £355 million more than last year.”

Interestingly, he also noted that “Champagne, wine and spirits saw the biggest levels of buying on deal,” presumably explaining the lack of price inflation on sparkling wine recorded by Kantar.

As previously reported by db, UK retailers began discounting bottles of Champagne last month as producers look to bolster annual sales in the last crucial quarter of the year.

As noted in November, both Sainsbury’s and Tesco are operating their discounts via their store cards, with some very attractive single bottle price cuts, amplified by the 25% off six bottle deal.

Multiple specialist drinks retailer Majestic is also offering deals, with, we noted last week, some “generous” price cuts on Champagne, although you have to purchase six bottles of wine in all to get the largest discount.