Vivastreet blog

We surveyed over 2,000 people across Britain and found that on average, each person celebrating Christmas in the UK this year – 87% of the population (53.99m people)[1] – received up to two presents they did not want with their average total value reaching £31, this means that a whopping £1.7bn was spent by the British public on unwanted Christmas gifts this year. Our research also found that only 16% of people will try to cash-in by selling their unwanted items.

Those of you who are not planning on selling your unwanted gifts could be missing out, with the continued government cuts in 2012 every penny will count, so the stigma attached to selling unwanted gifts is one that needs to be broken, remember there is nothing wrong with raising some extra cash by selling things you don’t want or need online. Over the last five years, those Brits who did sell unwanted gifts online raised a total of £4.6bn[2] .

On the other hand, when it comes to giving gifts us Brits have been relatively good this year when compared to some of our European cousins. In Italy, the average total value of unwanted gifts per person was £46 (€55), while in France each person received £60 (€72) worth of presents they didn’t like. When compared to the UK that’s an increase of £15 in France and nearly double in Italy – £29.

The largest proportion of unwanted Christmas gifts (37%) were either clothes or jewellery, while 31% of unwanted presents were personal care products such as cosmetics and perfumes, with in-laws giving the worst gifts, closely followed by friends and children.

So remember, if you want to cash in on an unwanted Christmas gift, sell it on vivastreet.co.uk – it’s completely free and will guarantee you access to thousands of potential buyers.

Good luck! Wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

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[1] Based on the latest ONS population figures excluding religions that do not celebrate Christmas
[2] Based on the number of people who have sold unwanted gifts in the last five years and how much they have raised on average – Vivastreet.co.uk Unwanted Gifts Survey and ONS population data

We are pleased to announce that the winner of our Facebook “Worst Christmas Present’s” competition is Sarah Morris from Birmingham. She’s won £50 worth of shopping vouchers after Vivastreet Facebook users selected her gift of crayons wrapped in newspaper given to her by her little sister as the worst gift.

After hearing the great news Sarah said “I was very excited when I found out that I had won. It was very unexpected as there were many other great entries and I wasn’t expecting to win. I plan on splitting the prize with my younger sister, after all, it’s thanks to her that I won the vouchers! I’d just like to say a big thank you to Vivastreet for holding the competition and giving me the opportunity to win, I’m extremely grateful!”

We hope you enjoy your vouchers Sarah!

Last month we brought you our Random Acts of Happiness by randomly selecting an ad each day and giving away £50 worth of shopping vouchers to each luck Vivastreet user. All of our winners have been notified by email, so check your inbox and email us back if you are one of the lucky ones.

Congratulations to:

• saadispeeder
• naleds
• arthursprivatehire
• kakawas
• britasia
• avolkov
• e4efthymiou
• rhyse
• moo-la-vache
• anthonygarner588
• ukcleaningagency

One very lucky user also received £1000 in shopping voucher’s, congratulations to Vadim Arkhipov

We hope you all enjoy spending your shopping vouchers.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2012.

The Vivastreet UK Team

Its officially 16 days till Christmas and the panic has started to set in. I’ve not bought any gifts or had time to decorate the house or even get the house ready for the onslaught of relatives that will be gracing us with their presence.

So to get myself organised, I pulled together a list of exactly what needs to be done and in priority order. Number one on the list is Christmas presents for the kids, I know exactly what needs to be bought but I don’t think I can face the crowds so I did what I usually do in times of a crisis, head to Vivastreet.co.uk.

My boy’s Josh and Matthew both want bike’s, so I popped on to the site and within five minutes had found two bike’s that were perfect. One is a blue mountain bike and the other is green with multi-coloured beads on the spokes.

Natalie is a typical teenage girl and is constantly reading fashion magazine and trying out the latest trends so she will love the Ugg boots and faux fur coat that I found, and Peter will be getting tickets to see his favourite band.

All I need to do now is arrange to collect them all, but luckily they are all within 30mins from my home.

So the Christmas shopping has been sorted in half an hour all from the comfort of my home. Next I need to get the house decorated. I wonder if they have anyone on Vivastreet that can do this for me…

The countdown to Christmas has officially begun, and with only 3 weeks to go it got us thinking of how Christmas has changed significantly through the decades and has evolved to symbolise different things to different people.
For some the festive period symbolises relaxation, reflection, spending time with the family and eating excessive amounts, whilst for others it is an extremely stressful period that is spent cooking, cleaning and entertaining with no time to rest and spend quality time with family members
In order to make the Christmas period run smoothly Vivastreet has a number of tips that will make planning the perfect family get together a doddle.

1. Plan ahead
If you have family and friends coming to stay, it is essential that you co-ordinate what days and approximately what time they will be arriving. Take into consideration exactly how many people your home can accommodate, as it might be better for some members of your family to stay with neighbours or in a nearby hotel.

2. Designate Tasks
Ensure that everyone chips in, planning the perfect Christmas reunion should not be the responsibility of just one person. Assign roles to everyone, they should include: keeping the children entertained, setting the table, prepping veg. It’s fantastic because it allows the family to bond throughout the day and avoids stressed out and resentful individuals.

3. B.Y.O/Order in
If there are a significant number of you, sometimes it is easier to hire a caterer or order in from a restaurant. Another option is to encourage family members to bring food, this is especially helpful for people who have dietary requirements, and it helps to take the pressure off you and your cooker.

Hopefully integrating all of these tips into your usual Christmas routine will make the holiday period run smoother than usual.