TORONTO - In most Canadian households it is the woman who plays Santa most of the time. A new survey conducted by the Bank of Montreal found that 75 per cent of Canadians said that it was the woman of the house that did most of the holiday shopping.

Among the 1,000 participants 91 per cent of women said they did most of the shopping, while 75 per cent of men agreed that their spouses or significant were the ones who shopped. However, paying the post-Christmas bills is a different story, with 64 per cent of women and 36 per cent of men agreeing that it was the woman who paid the bills.

The survey also found that women weren’t inclined to set a budget for holiday-spending, although middle-aged women were more likely to have spending limits than their younger counterparts. Of those that did have a budget, nearly half overspent.

Other results of the survey included:

• 43 per cent of couples said they would do some of their shopping together
• 37 per cent of couples said they would do either the majority or all of their holiday shopping together
• Women are slightly more likely to spend the most money on children
• Men were slightly more likely to spend more on their spouse or significant other
• Almost one-third of participants said they would spend the most money on clothes
• Almost one-quarter of participants said they would spend the most money on toys, including video games
• 10 per cent of participants expected to spend the most money on luxury items such as jewelry, perfume, and technology
• Larger households and those with young children were less likely to stick to their budgets

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