Warning to shoppers over steep price rises on 34 popular Christmas gifts this year – full list

Covid restrictions and delivery delays are pushing up the prices of Christmas gifts by as much as 41 per cent, according to new data that’s just been published.

Production interruptions and transport bottlenecks mean that many items are quickly selling out in shops, which in turn is skyrocketing costs in tech, toys, home accessories, clothing and more.

New data from price comparison site Idealo has compared prices this December and in the same month last year to see the financial impact of shortages.

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Those looking to give a VR headset as a present this Christmas will see the biggest price increase of up to 41 per cent. Coffee machines, karaoke machines, speakers and dolls houses have also shot up in price.

Apple Airpods 2 have risen in price by 29 per cent, alongside other price hikes such as kid’s bikes (28 per cent), video games like Call Of Duty Cold War, (13 per cent) TVs (12 per cent) and fridges (10 per cent), which all have hefty price tags now compared to December 2020.

The full list of categories can be found below:

However, a small number of products such as laptops (23 per cent), musical instruments (19 per cent) and LEGO, including the Star Wars Millenium Falcon and Frozen Elsa’s Magical Ice Palace, have gone down in price.

Here are the products that are cheaper this year:

Katy Phillips, brand and communications manager at idealo commented: “Unfortunately, the spike in Covid-19 cases is resulting in lockdowns across Europe and beyond.

“Manufacturing processes are slowing down and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get in-demand items to the UK in time for Christmas, and therefore prices are increasing across the board.

“We hope our data shows which gifts to avoid this year, as they may become cheaper in the new year once suppliers have caught up with demand.

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She added: “It’s not all doom and gloom though – there are some items such as perfume and aftershaves that are actually cheaper at the moment, which means they could be the go-to gifting choice to save some money over the holidays.

“We recommend using price alerts to track the cost of your wanted items over time, and checking the product amount on other sites to ensure you’re getting it at its cheapest.

“If you have understanding family and friends, you could always wait until 2022 to buy the gift at a smaller cost.”

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