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Yonkers, NY, United States (AHN) – A new Consumer Reports holiday shopping poll has found that the average American expects to spend about 42 hours buying, wrapping, and returning gifts, as well as partying and traveling to visit family and friends during the 2010 holiday season.

“When you break down the numbers you really get an idea of how much so many of us have invested in the holidays,” said Tod Marks, Consumer Reports senior editor and resident shopping expert. “And it’s nice to see that it’s not all about shopping, but it’s also about coming together.”

According to the findings Americans will spend the next few weeks doing the following:

Gifts

• Consumers will spend lots of time gift-shopping, 15 hours on average. Women plan to spend twice as long as their male counterparts, 20 hours versus 10 hours respectively.

• Shoppers estimate they will wait on checkout lines in stores for about three and a half hours, on average; one in four expect to stand in line four hours or more.

• Once they get home, Americans plan to spend about three hours, on average, wrapping gifts; one in four expect to spend four or more hours doing so.

• Americans anticipate that they will devote about an hour, on average, to returning holiday gifts; half say they won’t spend any time making returns.

Entertainment

• About 15 hours, on average, will be spent attending holiday parties, gatherings or events with friends or family; a quarter (24 percent) of Americans plan to will spend 20 hours or more.

The poll also found that Americans estimate that they will spend 7.4 hours on average traveling to or from their holiday destinations. Nearly a quarter say they will spend 10 hours or more travelling.

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