Christmas trends 2021: Brunch not lunch, healthy mocktails - and no sprouts

Swapping Christmas dinner for brunch, a mince pie martini for a mocktail and ditching the Brussel sprouts and meat could be the shape of festive seasons to come.

That's according to Tesco who have picked out some of the trends they expect to be big in the Christmas future.

While a sober, veggie Christmas brunch without sprouts is currently the desire of a minority of young adults (aged 18 to 34), researchers believe they could actually become Christmas Day traditions of the future.

The Tesco-commissioned study of 2,000 'nationally representative UK adults' – and the supermarket's own research – found nearly a fifth (19%) of young adults in favour of a Christmas Day brunch instead of the traditional dinner.

While traditional turkey will be the centrepiece of most Christmas Day spreads, over a quarter (27%) say they will be catering for vegetarians and vegans.

The festive season is often the period when you drink way too much Baileys and crash out on the sofa. But this probably won't be happening for nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents who this year plan on drinking alcohol-free and low alcohol substitutes.

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The humble Brussels sprout may also be absent from future Christmas dinner, sorry brunch, as the vegetable’s popularity is waning with each generation.

Those aged 75+ are the biggest advocates, with 65% declaring their love for them, but this drastically drops to just 26% when it comes to 18-24-year-olds.

Meanwhile, the popularity of pigs in blankets continues to soar with 63% (a 24% increase on last year) of respondents saying the bacon-wrapped chipolata was their favourite festive trimming.

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Whether you plan on switching to a Christmas brunch this year or sticking to tradition, chances are you'll be Instagramming your festive food, with almost a third (31%) of younger adults aged 18-34 planning to make their offerings social media-friendly this year.

However, it’s not just the youngsters with one in six (16%) of UK adults of all ages claim they’ll be going all out to make this year’s spread look picture perfect.

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Christmas 2021 also looks to be more socially conscious, with approximately a third planning to donate to food banks while a further third of people aged 55 to 74 will be donating money to charity.

As well as charitable acts, this Christmas is also set to be an environmentally aware one. Over 36% of the nation plans on being more sustainable over the festive period and 49% claim that thinking about the environment will impact their purchasing decisions this Christmas.

Just over one in 10 (11%) young adults will be asking for charity donations instead of Christmas presents.

There will also be a rise in the reusing of Christmas decorations from the previous year, recycling wrapping and packaging and more purchasing of loose fruit, rather than fruit wrapped in plastic.

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Christmas is officially back, and the nation will be celebrating early and in style.

With a desire to return to pre-pandemic celebrations, it’s no surprise that the nation is keen to embrace the festive season like never before.

Nearly half (47%) of the people surveyed want to spend more time with family than in previous Christmases, while 20% want to spend more time with friends.

Additionally, a third (33%) plan on heading out, out this Christmas and socialising more, while one in six (15%) plan on hosting more parties than in previous years.

With so many people more excited for the festivities than usual, the celebrations are set to begin early with over one in 10 (12%) families planning on putting the tree and decorations up by the end of November.

While we're looking forward to a big Christmas the same can't be said for New Year with 18% of young adults say they'll be having a 'big night in', rather than going out to welcome in 2022.

Commenting on the findings Alessandra Bellini, Tesco chief customer officer said: “As we enjoy the freedom to extend the dinner table and make wonderful memories, it’s perhaps no surprise that 86% of the nation say nothing will stop them from having a joyful Christmas in 2021.

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