Germany will be the cheapest place in the EU to celebrate Christmas this year, according to the latest annual European price comparison study by PriceRunner (a division of ValueClick Inc), out today.

The study looked at the cost of family presents and festive drinks comparing the prices of the same goods across Europe. In Germany these totalled £1,201.08, £205.95 less than the UK where the same goods cost £1,407.03.

The UK is more expensive than 10 of its European neighbours including: France (£1,241.37), Italy (£1,201.83), Belgium (£1,119.60) and Spain (£1,286.15). Denmark is the most expensive place in the EU to be for the festive season as the same goods there total £1,446.85, £245.77 more than Germany.

Carried out in September 2005, the PriceRunner study covers 25 different consumer goods and home electronic products from 21 European countries. In total, 1335 prices were collected with the results detailing the price variations between each European country. This is the fourth consecutive year that PriceRunner, the leading price comparison website has completed a price comparison study analysing the developments in pricing across Europe.

A White Christmas in the Black

Providing drinks for a Christmas party at home for 30 people in the UK could set you back as much as £576.55 but if you head to Italy you can have almost twice as much fun, as the same party will only cost £367.98. If Italy is the land of the party people, Norway is the land of the party poopers as drinks for 30 there costs a staggering £660.26.

If you are looking to buy what is set to be this Christmas’ most popular gift, the Sony Playstation Portable, then you should head to Poland where it is on sale for just £121.89, compared to an average of just £179.99 in the UK.

Assumes the following amount of drink required for each party: 20 bottles of mixer, 8 bottles of spirits and 15 bottles of champagne (brands used = Coca Cola, Absolut Vodka, Jack Daniels Whiskey, Veuve Clicquot)

Mattias Berg, UK Country Manager, PriceRunner said: “Although we can’t all run off to countries such as Germany and Italy to celebrate Christmas, people can do simple things to ensure their bank accounts stay in the black this year: Spread the purchase of your Christmas presents over the year, take advantage of drink offers in supermarkets instead of purchasing just before Christmas when prices are likely to be more inflated and use a price comparison site to check the cheapest place to buy your gifts before you start shopping – I’d recommend PriceRunner!”

Key findings
• The UK is the most expensive for three out of the 25 products surveyed.

o The UK is the most expensive place in Europe to buy condoms. On average we pay £8.99 for a packet of 12 condoms while in Malta the same amount costs less than a quarter of this, only setting you back £2.17
o Britons shell out the most on cinema tickets and we pay over £6 more for our tickets compared to movie goers in Lithuania where a ticket costs just £2.16. The average cinema ticket in the UK costs a staggering £8.53. In 12 out of the 21 countries surveyed cinema tickets cost under £5
o We also pay the most for top of the range mobiles, the average price for a Sony Ericsson 750i mobile is £316.66 compared to just £207.25 in Portugal.

• It’s not all doom and gloom though as DVDs and books in the UK are one of the cheapest. The UK is the second cheapest place to buy the latest Harry Potter book (behind Ireland) costing an average of just £11.26 compared to £28.81 in Norway. The UK is the third cheapest country to purchase the Lord of the
Rings trilogy on DVD, costing almost 50% less than in Denmark
• Bus travel is over 1000% more expensive in Norway than Lithuania where a journey only costs 22p compared to £2.61 in Norway. At £1.20 the UK is more expensive than 15 of the other countries surveyed
• With the rise of expensive American style coffee houses the UK is the third most expensive country to buy a cup of black coffee, behind Cyprus and Denmark. The average price in the UK is £1.42 compared to 35p in Portugal
• 11 countries charge £2 or over for a Big Mac but you can get one in Portugal for just 74p
• A country to avoid if you are looking for bargains is Norway. Norway tops the list as the most expensive place to buy 10 of the 25 products listed. Items such as Absolut Vodka, Jack Daniels, milk, Evian water, 20
Malboro Lights cigarettes, a McDonalds Big Mac are all very costly. Their petrol is also the most expensive in Europe at over £1 per litre compared to just 63p in Malta
• Belgium is the place to crack open the bubbly, as a bottle of Veuve Clicquot is just £19.13 compared to £32.41 in the Czech Republic. France and Italy both also offer Veuve Clicquot for under £20
• Czech’s pay less than half the amount the Irish do to keep their teeth clean. Colgate toothpaste is just 98p compared to £2.16 in Ireland, followed by the UK coming in as the second most expensive where the cost is £1.82 a tube
• You can buy a mini IPOD in Austria, Belgium, the UK, Lithuania and the Netherlands for under £140 with one in Finland costing you a whopping £175.38

Study Summery