Don't waste money on "pants" presents this Christmas

On 19 November Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is launching the Pants Presents appeal to encourage people to say no to "pants" presents this Christmas and for friends and family to donate to charity instead. Research for CAF, shows that over half (54 percent) of the UK adult population received unwanted Christmas presents in 2007. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) would rather receive one less gift and have a donation made to charity instead. Nearly a fifth (18 percent) received a charity donation on their behalf instead of a Christmas present in 2007.

Chocolates (27 percent), soaps or perfume (21 percent), books (17 percent) and DVDs (16 percent) topped the list of unwanted Christmas presents in 2007.

From 19 November, the Charities Aid Foundation will launch the Pants Presents appeal at the website pantspresents.org. From the site users can send an email to their friends and family asking them to give to charity instead of giving them a present. A dedicated Facebook page featuring the campaign will also be created. The website and Facebook page allows users to search over 170,000 charities for causes that matter most to themselves, their friends or family. Users will be able to make payments to them directly via credit and debit cards or from CAF Charity Accounts.

The decision of what to do with any unwanted presents received will be tackled in a post-appeal email. Last year, donating to charity shops was the most popular outlet for unwanted presents (37 percent), ahead of giving to family or friends (34 percent) and selling the unwanted presents on eBay (7 percent).

Commenting on the campaign, Shelia Hooper, Marketing Director at CAF said, "We all love getting presents at Christmas but we have all received gifts we really didn't want or need.

"We're asking for the public to visit the Pants Presents website and consider asking for a charity donation instead of one of their presents this year. The great news is that by giving through the Pants Presents site, you can ensure that your gift is tax-efficient adding at least £2.18 to every £10.00 donated making your gift even more valuable to charity.

"The financial crisis is heavily impacting on charities as more people rely on them for help and any boost to their income in these tough times will be really appreciated."