British men are gearing up to shatter tired Christmas routines this year by banishing that old grouchy Grinch and unleashing their inner entertainer.
Parenting on Female First
Taking centre stage, half of men are preparing to entertain the whole family on Christmas day, banishing the usual “bah humbug” and keeping festive cheer alive.
The study by menswear retailer Jacamo has revealed that almost half of dads feel solely responsible for providing the Christmas banter, with one in three planning to play the ‘Christmas clown’ to secure laughter from friends and family.
Four in five blokes have admitted that they can’t wait for Christmas, with a massive 78 per cent of UK dads claiming that they plan to break away from family traditions, taking the holiday period into their own hands by ditching the Queen’s speech and festive TV.
More determined than ever to make it a special day, dads are preparing their secret weapons - guaranteed to keep the table laughing, from taking the role of the ultimate games master to delivering dad gags that have been saved up throughout the year, putting Santa in his place and showing the nation who the real father of Christmas is.
Playing Santa is also top of dad’s list, with 68 per cent keeping the illusion of Father Christmas alive for their young ones and one in three going to extreme measures to trick the kids.
Topping Dads secret Santa agenda includes: taking bites out of mince pies left for Santa, leaving gnawed carrots out in the morning and putting Reindeer food outside the front door.
Some fellas are going to further lengths to catch the kids out, with one in ten leaving sooty footprints by the fireplace, whilst another one in twenty even getting family friends to call up from the North Pole and pretend to be Santa.
And it doesn’t stop with entertaining and playing Santa, now guys are giving mum a break with one in five tackling the Christmas feast and all its trimmings, cooking dinner on the big day. But the one job that is always going to be dads is carving the turkey, with a third of men seeing it as their job.
Super dads will even be tackling the chores, with 23 per cent fighting the supermarket aisles to do the Christmas shopping, a third in charge of sorting out the rubbish and a further 29 per cent being chief pot wash, once everyone is stuffed.
Jacamo spokesperson, Lucy Dobson, said: “Usually during the holiday period, mums are the saviours of Christmas, but this research finds that dads this year are stepping it up a gear to fully embrace the festive season.
“Blokes are looking to break away from the usual “bah humbug”, swapping those dated musical socks and itchy Christmas jumpers with jokes, cooking and cleaning, transforming from the holiday Grinch to Santa’s little helper.”
Top ten things that fathers will do this Christmas to keep the illusion of Santa alive:
1. Take a bite out of mince pies.
2. Leave carrots out with reindeer gnaw marks.
3. Put reindeer ‘food’ out e.g. oats with glitter outside the front door.
4. Post reply letters from Santa after child has sent him a Christmas list.
5. Leave thank you notes from Santa to the children for the mince pies etc.
6. Leave Santa’s sooty footprints coming out of the fireplace.
7. Dress up as Santa.
8. Leave Santa’s ‘dropped’ presents outside the front door.
9. Will get family friends to call up and pretend they are Santa.
10. Drop a bell in the garden for their children to find telling them it fell off Santa's sleigh.