Parents plan to spend £178 on each child

The cost of looking for the best shopping deals on sought-after consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and other gifts is having an effect on parents this Christmas.

According to new research by LV=, 31 per cent of parents claim they are finding it harder than last year to provide all the festive gifts their children want.

The company calculated that mothers and fathers will spend a combined total of £2.47 billion on gifts for their offspring this year.

"With mum and dad forking out £178 on average per child, parents are clearly keen to make Christmas as memorable as possible," said Mark Jones, the firm's head of protection.

Parents in Northern Ireland will spend the most (£245), while children in the east of England will receive the lowest average spend of £129.

Many shoppers could be waiting to purchase gifts such as cheap iPads in the sales as recent figures from the British Retail Consortium found that revenue in November was 1.6 per cent down on the same month in 2010.