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Despite being relatively easy to please and having an innate sense of gratitude, the typical pensioner will receive five unwanted presents every Christmas. Of these, 60% will be stored in a convenient cupboard so that they can be extracted and displayed prior to any visit by an individual donor, while the remainder will be consigned to charity bags during the first three weeks of the following year.
In fact, according to the Charity Commission, this period accounts for almost 30% of annual donations, with much of this being represented by the unwanted Christmas presents jettisoned by pensioners.
In 2013, items to the value of £185 million were collected at this time, including:
19,000 novelty shoe horns
13,000 Daniel O’Donnell CDs
164,000 boxes of dates
22,000 hand-warmers
58,000 knitted nightcaps
16,000 tide clocks
41,000 mushroom growing kits
2 bottles of Balvenie 50-year-old single malt whisky
24,000 multi-function safety hammers
136 Aegean trays