Christmas Eve: how many sherries and mince pies will Santa get through in Northern Ireland?

We have carried out some very scientific number crunching to find out just how excessive a night is in store for Father Christmas while households up and down the country are sleeping on Christmas Eve.

Boys and girls in the UK traditionally leave out a mince pie and a glass of sherry to help their favourite gift-giver through his delivery shift, alongside a carrot for Rudolph – although some might opt for milk, or even a distinctively non-traditional pint of beer or other beverage. Mum and dad’s tastes have no bearing on what is left out, of course.

How many homes are there in Northern Ireland with children?

According to figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), there are 220,039 households across Northern Ireland with children aged 15 and under. They are divided into the 11 local council areas as follows:

Antrim and Newtownabbey – 16,998.

Ards and North Down – 17,358.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon – 26,807.

Belfast – 40,052.

Causeway Coast and Glens – 15,705.

Derry City and Strabane – 18,411.

Fermanagh and Omagh – 12,992.

Lisburn and Castlereagh – 15,587.

Mid Ulster – 18,068.

Newry, Mourne and Down – 21,835.

Based on these figures, if every one of these household leaves out a traditional ‘thank you’ treat for Santa that will be 137.5 bathtubs full of sherry and enough calories to last him just over 66 years from the mince pies alone.

How many sherries will Santa be drinking in the UK?

Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates put the number of households with children across the UK at 8.1 million as of 2021.

Sherry typically has a strength of 17.5% ABV – at least that is according to a scan of the offering on shelves at major UK supermarkets.

That would mean that if every household with children leaves him a 50 ml serving, Santa can expect to guzzle his way through 7.1 million units during his travels tonight. That is more than 508,000 times his recommended weekly limit of 14 units. If everybody opted to leave him a stronger 20% glass, he would be 581,000 times over the weekly threshold.

In total, Father Christmas will be getting through 406,675 litres of liquor, the equivalent of over 5,000 bath tubs full.

That might sound like a lot – but it isn’t enough to fill even a fifth of an Olympic sized pool, so is it really that impressive?

What about mince pies?

We have also crunched the numbers on the 8.1 million mince pies Santa might find himself tucking into, to find out what it means for his waistline – and we can only assume he will be joining the rest of us in signing up for a gym membership come January 1.

All those pies will equate to 1.78 billion calories, based on the average of own brand mince pies at stores including Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s. Adult men typically need about 2,000 calories per day. That means Santa will be eating almost 891,000 times more than his recommended intake – or enough calories to last him 2,440 years, even before you take into account the calories in his liquid refreshments.

In terms of sugar content, these mince pies contain 119.4 million grams, or about 23.9 million rounded teaspoons’s worth. And when it comes to fat, he can expect to consume 64.9 million grams.

Let’s assume Santa is 5’10’’ tall and 15 stone (the minimum weight needed to classify the famously portly fellow as obese on Body Mass Index charts). This would mean he is set to eat over 10,000 times his body weight in fat.