“’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
Or so wrote Clement Clarke Moore in 1882. However, had Clarke Moore been living in Britain in 2025, his peaceful festive evening may well have been disturbed by something far more sinister than a mouse. New research from the experts at Hillarys – the blinds and curtain retailer – has revealed that burglaries soar during the festive period, with more than 6,000 burglaries taking place nationally between 24 December and 1 January from 2020 to 2024.
Festive season or burglary season?
This information in the Hillarys study, obtained via Freedom of Information requests sent to all UK police forces, revealed that of the 6,134 burglaries that occurred during the festive period, almost one third (31%) took place on New Year’s Eve, making the final day of the year the most common date for a festive break-in.
It is hardly surprising that opportunist thieves choose to strike on this night, with four in ten Brits (42%) leaving their homes unattended as they ring in the New Year.
Looking locally, the study showed that Lancashire has seen 352 burglaries during the festive period since 2020, ranking it fourth nationally for yuletide robberies.
Festive burglaries: The most targeted areas revealed
The full dataset, including all police forces analysed, can be found here.
*West Midlands Police did not provide 2020 data.
When your home is most at risk during the festive period
The full dataset can be found here
Thieves don’t need to break in to steal your gifts
And it isn’t just burglaries that can dampen the festive fun. As Christmas shoppers increasingly turn to online deliveries, doorstep parcel thefts – or so-called ‘porch piracy’, where delivered parcels are stolen from outside people’s homes – also skyrocket.
While ‘porch piracy’ isn’t unique to Christmas, with around 500 parcels vanishing each month across the UK, the number of reported thefts steadily increases as Christmas approaches. Since 2020, there have been 2,536 doorstep parcel thefts in October; this then climbs to 3,139 in November, before unsurprisingly peaking in December with 4,097 incidents.
Across Lancashire, which ranks fourth nationally for incidents of ‘porch piracy’, an average of 72 parcels disappear from doorsteps each month between January and November, before increasing by a staggering 110% to 152 in December.
Porch pirate hotspots: The UK areas most at risk this Christmas
The full dataset can be found here.
*West Midlands Police did not provide 2020 data.
Peace and goodwill, but not from everyone out there
So, as the early nights draw in and the season of good cheer sweeps the nation, just remember that, amongst the peace and goodwill to all men, there are those who seek to help themselves to what isn’t theirs.
With homes more frequently empty and expensive items often lying around, Christmas is the perfect time for thieves to take advantage. Make sure you take precautions to ensure the only visitors to your home are those bearing gifts – and that the only man breaking into your home is wearing a big red suit and doing so via the chimney.
