Christmas 2014: Smart TVs, iPhones, and laptops takeover from toys, bikes and sweets on kids' wishlists

Mothers alone spend £275 on each of their children at Christmas

A girl plays on a Sony 'PS Vita' portable games console (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Kids used to want sweets, bicycles and toys for Christmas, but now parents spend hundreds of pounds on each of their children – shelling out for pricey kit including TVs, cameras and iPhones, a new study has found.

Mothers alone spend £275 on average on each of their children at Christmas, and on top of laying out a sumptuous feast, decorating the home and buying gifts for the rest of the family.

A survey found that while parents requested a bicycle when they were kids, children now plead for a Smart TV, followed by a camera, a personalised football kit, a DVD player, and designer clothes.

On the contrary, after a bike, parents had begged for simpler items including toys, sweets, roller skates, a Subuteo set, stationery.

However, parents but weren’t totally immune to the attraction of the new-fangled gizmos of their youth, and also requested a music system and Walkman stereos as children.

The survey of 2,000 UK mothers also shows that that 70 per cent feel pressured to spend a lot of money during the holiday season.

As many as 28 per cent said they succumb to their children’s pleas, and exceed the budget they had originally set for Christmas.

The results of the study by World Bicycle Relief UK, which gives African children bikes so they can travel to school, was unveiled to launch its Gift of Giving campaign, to inspire women to buy charitable gifts for their kids this year.

Stephen Cromwell, World Bicycle Relief UK Development Director, said: “Christmas is a time of giving and generosity – mothers needn’t feel any guilt over buying presents for their children at such a special time. However, introducing a charitable gift idea is an excellent opportunity to teach children about those less fortunate than themselves. In the past, charitable gifts have tended to be associated with adults. However, this year we want the grown-ups to involve the children.

Parents across the UK are likely to be lamenting the state of their their bank balances come the New Year, as a Top Toys List compiled by London’s Hamleys forecasts that this year's top three best-selling Christmas toys will be: the My Friend Cayla doll, retailing at £75, dolls of ice skating characters from the movie Frozen, at £40, and Xeno, an ‘interactive monster’ for £100, the Telegraph reported.