The Christmas Love Curve: what 163,527 real gift messages reveal about how Britain says it with a hamper
Britain’s last-minute Christmas senders aren’t disorganised. They’re in love.
Every hamper we send leaves our Dorset packing rooms with a hand-attached message card, written by the person who ordered it. Over the past two Christmases, that added up to 163,527 personal messages — and together they form a remarkable record of how Britain expresses affection, gratitude and festive cheer. We analysed all of them (anonymised and in aggregate) for this study. Here is what we found.
Finding one: the later the gift, the more loving the message
In October, Christmas gifting is business. Fewer than one message in five mentions love, fewer than one in seven is signed with a kiss, and the average order value is at its highest of the season (£131.60) — driven by companies thanking clients formally and early.
Then, as Christmas approaches, Britain’s heart takes over. In the final days before Christmas (21–26 December), 56.5% of all gift messages contain the word “love” — more than three times the October rate — and 41.4% are signed with kisses. Average spend falls to £61.16. The gifts get smaller; the feelings get bigger.
| Ordering period | Messages | Signed with kisses | Contain “love” | Contain “thank you” | Average order value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | 22,353 | 13.9% | 17.8% | 23.8% | £131.60 |
| November | 46,589 | 12.8% | 21.4% | 28.1% | £84.46 |
| 1–14 December | 53,159 | 18.3% | 24.3% | 28.2% | £82.91 |
| 15–20 December | 33,372 | 25.0% | 33.2% | 27.3% | £67.93 |
| 21–26 December | 7,456 | 41.4% | 56.5% | 15.7% | £61.16 |
Finding two: nothing says love like cheese
Your choice of hamper says more about your relationship than you might think. Cheese hampers are Britain’s most affectionate gift: 61.3% of the messages attached to them contain “love”, and nearly half are signed with kisses — more than double the rate of wine hampers. Tea and coffee hampers run cheese close, suggesting cosy gifts attract warm words.
Champagne and prosecco, by contrast, are the currency of gratitude — they carry the season’s highest rate of thank-yous (37.8%) and its longest messages (115 characters on average). Wine is the dependable thank-you workhorse, and spirits hampers receive the shortest messages of any category: just 77 characters.
Finding three: the personal message is thriving in the age of AI
At a time when machines can write anything for us, Britons are writing more to each other, not less. 83.1% of hampers were sent with a personal message in 2025, up from 79.0% in 2024. Kiss rates rose from 16.8% to 20.1%. And the corporate stalwart “kind regards” halved year-on-year in Christmas gift messages — even business Britain is warming up.
And some things we simply loved
The two-year record for kisses in one message stands at 25 — and 145 devoted senders signed off with ten or more. Some 44% of October senders were already writing “Merry Christmas” with three months to spare. And 60 hampers were sent, in the proper spirit of the season, by “Santa” himself: “Merry Christmas to you all, Love Santa xx”.
Methodology
This study analyses 163,527 customer gift messages from 201,609 orders placed between 1 October and 31 December in 2024 and 2025, extracted from Virginia Hayward’s order management system. Cancelled orders and placeholder text (e.g. “no message”) were excluded. Phrase rates are case-insensitive text matches; kiss counts match standalone runs of the letter “x”. Hamper categories were classified from product names; smaller samples are flagged where cited. All analysis was conducted in aggregate: no individual customer or recipient is identifiable, quoted examples have been stripped of identifying details, and raw messages are never shared. The dataset reflects Virginia Hayward customers — a premium food-and-drink gifting audience — and is presented as a study of gift-message behaviour, not a nationally representative survey. Emoji use cannot be measured, as the order system strips emoji at capture.
Press enquiries
For interviews, imagery, the full stat pack or bespoke data cuts (including corporate-only analysis), contact Gavin Paye at [email protected] or call 01747 852598. High-res photography of our Dorset packing rooms is available.
About Virginia Hayward
Virginia Hayward is a family-run hamper company, handcrafting food and drink gift hampers in Shaftesbury, Dorset since 1984. Every hamper is hand-packed and every gift message hand-attached. Explore our Christmas hampers or corporate gifting service.
