Fifth of the UK have their Christmas tree up in November

The first of quarter of a million real Christmas trees destined for sale in B&Q stores across the UK are cut by grower Magnus Sinclair in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

Surprisingly, nearly nine per cent (8.61) already had their decorations up when surveyed last week.

Over half of Brits (55.77 per cent) put their tree up in the first week of the festive month but the occasional Grinch leaves it as late as Christmas Eve (1.68 per cent).

The data, gained from 7,248 respondents found the second highest majority of people put their tree up in the second week of December (16.49 per cent).

Steve Barnes, Managing Director of NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, the company who ran the survey, said: “It’s often said that Christmas comes earlier every year, with many shoppers complaining about Christmas music playing even before Halloween this time around.

“However, obviously some people don’t see it as a bad thing with almost a fifth of Brits planning on decking the halls before the end of the month.

“As Wizzard once said, I wish it could be Christmas everyday.”

In previous times Christmas trees were not decorated until after noon on Christmas Eve, but nowadays tree etiquette is a matter of debate.

The British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA) said it is fine to get trees up from December 1 onwards, but the middle of the festive season is a good compromise to ensure they don’t shed their needles early,

BCTGA Secretary Harry Brightwell said between six to eight million Christmas trees are purchased across the UK each year.

He added: “The most popular tree is the Nordman Fir.”

“It is estimated that the Nordman accounts for 80 per cent of trees purchased, the Norway spruce 15 per cent and other varieties make up the remainder.

“BCTGA recommend that trees are not purchased until December or at least not brought inside until December.

“A real tree can provide so much pleasure and should be treated like any cut flowers or plants being brought into a warm, dry atmosphere.”

Christmas is also known as a time of year for gorging on delicious treats and data by NetVoucherCodes.co.uk deemed Heroes to be the favourite tub of Christmas chocolates.

Nearly half of those asked favoured Heroes (44.06 per cent), with Celebrations coming in second place with 22.44 per cent and Roses up in third (18.33 per cent) out of 2,914 respondents.

Terry’s Chocolate Orange was revealed as the favourite confectionery, with 29.36 per cent of those asked choosing it as the number one confectionary.

Out of the 1,880 respondents, 23.99 per cent picked Ferrero Rocher as their second favourite, followed by Matchmakers in third place with 20.37 per cent.