little girl blowing out candles on family birthday party

Virtual party guide launched as more than 600,000 children set to miss out on birthday celebrations during lockdown 

Laura Bond
Authored by Laura Bond
Posted: Friday, May 15, 2020 - 13:25

An online children’s gift list platform has revealed that more than 600,000* children under the age of 14 are set to miss out on birthday celebrations due to the Covid-19 lockdown. A survey has revealed parents spend an average of £150 on children’s birthday parties, saving families more than £103 million during the current 3-week isolation period. Following the announcement, 62% of parents with children with a birthday during the period now plan to hold a ‘virtual party’ where family and friends can celebrate over video calls.

An online children’s gift list platform has revealed more than 692,000 children in the UK are set to miss out on birthday celebrations due to Covid-19 - saving parents more than £103 million in party costs.

KinderList.com surveyed 2,365 parents to see how Covid-19 will affect children’s birthdays across the UK. Almost two thirds (62%) of parents whose children have birthdays during the current isolation period have confirmed that they will hold a ‘virtual birthday party’, while 83% have had to cancel birthday celebrations as far as July in case the situation doesn’t improve. 

As a result of the findings, and after seeing a 700% increase in traffic to the site, KinderList.com has created an online guide to virtual birthday parties, along with the full survey results, here:https://www.kinderlist.com/blog/win-150-worth-of-birthday-gifts/

When asked what their child’s reaction was to cancelling birthday plans, more than half (57%) said there were tears, while a quarter said they hadn’t told their child yet. A third of parents (32%) were hopeful they could celebrate later in the year with friends and family in person.  

From responses, KinderList.com worked out the average cost of a child’s birthday party in the UK is around £150, so is offering parents who have had to cancel celebrations the chance to win £150 worth of their child’s birthday gift list. Parents of children 14 and under on their next birthday will be automatically put in a draw to win the prize if the birth date falls between now and the 14th April 2020 when they create their list. KinderList.com is also donating 5% profit from all sales through the site to children’s charities. Parents can make a free birthday gift list here: kinderlist.com/auth/signin

KinderList.com lets people create gift lists for baby showers, children's birthdays, Easter, Christmas and other special occasions by adding products from any online store, along with hundreds of its partnered retailers. The tool allows parents to share their kids' wish lists in a similar way to a wedding registry, saving themselves, friends and family valuable time and money when it comes to gift giving. With a catalogue of thousands of gifts, and the whole of the internet at your fingertips, KinderList.com’s directory can be filtered by multiple categories including eco-friendly, personalised, experience gifts and books.

Co-founder of KinderList.com, Lex Deak, said,

“A birthday is one of the highlights of every child's year. Unfortunately for some, this year it will not be celebrated in the way they had hoped and will cause heartache for lots of families. Hundreds of thousands of parents and children would have been planning birthday celebrations with friends and family set to take place over the next few weeks, which unfortunately can no longer go ahead due to the vital lockdown.

“We’ve seen a 700% increase in traffic to the site over the past 10 days with a flood of parents suggesting wonderful ways in which their families are dealing with the new routine.

“The idea of a virtual birthday party is something we’ve seen lots of parents introducing on the platform, so we wanted to put together our own guide to help families keep celebrating the best way they can during this difficult time. We hope by giving some children the chance to win their dream gift list, we can bring back some birthday magic for them.”

 * https://www.statista.com/statistics/281174/uk-population-by-age/

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