Irish people are planning to spend 33% more on Christmas gifts this year, according to PayPal's Gifting and Giving study.
While the average spend on Christmas gifts was €541 last year, those polled said they plan to spend an average of €721 on gifts this Christmas.
Maeve Dorman, Senior Vice President at PayPal, said, "Irish people in particular are known for their generosity and thoughtfulness, so it's not surprising that they are going above and beyond this year when it comes to buying gifts for family and friends, and making donations to causes they care about."
The study revealed the most generous gift giving counties are Offaly (€1,004), Kildare (€928), Sligo (€890), Tipperary (€888) and Clare (€843).
The majority of respondents are ticking items off their list, 32% have finished with their Christmas shopping since the end of November. Furthermore, a quarter expect to have theirs completed by this first week in December.
However, a fifth of Christmas shoppers did admit that they usually leave their shopping until the last minute.
Men are more prone to this than women with 30% of male respondents leaving shopping to the last minute, compared to just 17% of female respondents.
When it comes to how people are shopping, over half (53%) of Irish consumers Christmas shopping this year are doing more of their Christmas shopping online in order to avoid crowds.
Meanwhile, some 37% plan to head into stores during quiet times for the same reason and 17% intend to buy fewer physical gifts as a result of the pandemic.
The PayPal study also revealed that more than a third of Irish people (38%) say the pandemic has caused them to be more generous with their time and money in relation to charitable causes, with 92 per cent saying they donated to charity by giving money, donating items, offering raffle prizes or giving to a food bank.
According to the research, Irish people donate an average of €87 a year to causes dear to their hearts. Based on donations during the average year, the most generous givers are from Carlow (€178), Wicklow (€106), Sligo (€103), Meath (€102) and Wexford (€100).
