Elf
The Grinch
A Christmas Carol
We also used a clip of the music video for Last Christmas.
We researched into lots of different christmas films such as
• Elf - 2003
• Miracle on 34th Street – 1994
• The Grinch – 2000
• Nightmare Before Christmas – 1993
• Christmas Carol – 1984
• The Muppet Christmas Carol – 1992
• Scrooge – 1951
• Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol – 1962
other research we did was into statistics and facts about christmas such as the following:
Christmas is back in the
Wal-Mart and Macy’s have both announced that its customers would be wished “Merry Christmas” and there would be Christmas-themed window decorations following the outcry at the banning of Christmas greetings and the removal of any specific references to Christmas of previous years.
Reported in the Church of England Newspaper, 24 November 2006
No room at the card shop?
A survey by the Daily Mail of 5,500 cards in High Street shops, including WH Smith, Clinton Cards and Hallmark, found only 67 with pictures of the Bible story. Traditional nativity scenes appear on only one in 100. Hundreds avoided any images linked to Christmas at all, including fir trees, baubles, snowmen or Santa Claus and inside many wished either Seasons Greetings, or had no message inside at all.
Reported in the Daily Mail 9 December 2006
The Modern Celebration of Christmas
The Stamp of approval
Despite the rise in email and texting, Royal Mail say more Christmas stamps are being sold than ever before. Following the secular Santa of 2006 and the expressions of regret from the Church of England and others, Royal Mail have announced they plan to alternate between Christian and secular themes.
Reported in the Church of England Newspaper 10 November 2006
Presents Galore!
The average child in
· Of the presents received, one in 10 will be broken by the New Year, only 40% will make it to March and just a quarter will be intact by next Christmas.
· In total around 46 million toys, worth £870m will be thrown away.
Reported in the Daily Mirror, 6 December 2006
Online Shopping
An estimated £180m was spent on December 4th last year, on what was predicted to be the busiest day of Internet shopping. Over the Christmas period in 2006 the total online was estimated to reach £7bn.
Reported in the Daily Telegraph, 5 December 2006
Giving to Charity at Christmas
More than a third of those who were planning to donate money to charity last year, said they were planning to do so through a church or other place of worship. A survey of 1007 adults for World Emergency Relief found that:
· 16% said they would be giving because it was the Christian thing to do at Christmas
· Nearly one-third said they would be giving directly to a church or faith-based charity.
· Around 35% planned to support charities because Christmas is too materialistic and they wanted to help someone less fortunate than themselves.
· People in
Reported in the Church Times 15 December 2006
What Children think of Christmas
A poll for the BBC children’s TV programme Newsround found that of those surveyed:
· 44% of 7-11 year-olds regarded Christmas day as a celebration of the birth of Jesus - although in
· Although 89% were excited, and 79% were happy about the holiday period, one in six said they felt sad, nervous or left out at Christmas.
· Perhaps not so surprisingly, one in four (24%) believed the season was about giving, rather than receiving, presents.
· Giving clearly matters, however, with almost two-thirds (63%) saving their pocket money to buy presents, adding up to an average piggy-bank of £34. 33% nationally and 45% in
Reported in the Daily Mail 19 December 2006
Christmas is the most significant trading period of the year for retailers in the UK, with approximately 40% – 60% of many larger retailers turnover being made between November and January – ‘the Golden Triangle’.
Total spending in December 2004 was £31 billion, of which £14 billion was spent in the two weeks leading up to Christmas and £5 billion in the week after Christmas. Of the £31 billion, £10 billion was specifically for Christmas purchases.
On average, each person will spend £330 on Christmas gifts.
On average, each household will spend approximately:
£160 on food and drink
£660 on gifts
£20 cards and postage
£25 decorations
£20 crackers
£35 Christmas trees.
This year we will spend more than £1.2 billion on Christmas trees, with between 34 - 36 million trees produced to cope with demand.
We will send an estimated 1.7 billion Christmas cards to friends and family.
Christmas wrapping paper sold in the UK equates to 83 sq km, which is enough to cover 33 Hyde Parks.
Christmas costs £920 for the day. Based on a 12-hour day this works out at £1.28 per minute, and £76.66 per hour.
The average Christmas lunch costs £12 per head (excluding alcohol).
We will consume 30 million turkeys this Christmas with a market value of £305 million.
On average, children will receive gifts worth more than £250.
Commenting on Christmas 2005, BRC Director General, Kevin Hawkins, says:
“When it comes to Christmas 2005, we are again seeing that many traditional presents such as clothing, jewellery, CDs and books are on people’s gift list. However, technology items are on the ‘must have’ lists with MP3 players such as the new Nano and video i-Pod proving very difficult to find on store shelves due to the high level of demand. Equally popular are the new gaming machines with people queuing to purchase PSPs and X-Boxes.
“While 2005 has been a tough year for many retailers and consumers have benefited from the significant discounts available on the high street, our advice to consumers is not to leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute in the hope of significant discounts. Retailers have been monitoring stock levels closely over the last few months and if people do leave shopping until the last minute they may find that variety is limited.”
(http://www.politics.co.uk/press-releases/brc-christmas-facts-and-figures-$15112130.htm)
