A quarter of people are forgoing their work Christmas parties to make their budgets stretch further this year.

PayPal has found 37 percent of people would like better control of their festive expenses, while 74 per cent often overspend during the holiday season.

57 per cent of consumers expect to have their Christmas shopping finished by the 12th of December - which was yesterday.

The county with the highest proportion of last-minute shoppers - those who wait until after December 20th - is Monaghan, followed by Offaly, Kerry, and Carlow.