Shoppers splashed out more than ever before and spent an extra €79m on alcohol in December, figures show.
Families spent €1.4bn on food and drink last month – making it a record-breaking Christmas.
The only time a monthly record was bigger was when families rushed to stock up on food in March 2020 as Covid struck and the country went into lockdown.
And as well as lashings of extra food, people enjoyed plenty of tipples, spending more than ever before on drink, with an extra €79m on alcohol in December in comparison to November, sales figures from analysts Kantar show.
Kantar director Emer Healy said: “December was the busiest trading month we have seen – not just this year but since the pre-lockdown rush in 2020.
“As anticipated, December 23 was the most popular shopping day of the year, with consumers spending €107million that day, €11.9m more than the highest trading day last year.
“In typical festive spirit, many of us looked for ways to treat ourselves, while the retailers rolled out their seasonal lines to help us celebrate in style.”
Take-home value sales over the four weeks to December 29 increased by 4.4% to reach nearly €1.4bn, making it the biggest sales month of the year and the busiest December on record, despite grocery price inflation increasing by 3.6%.
In December, Irish shoppers made 23 trips on average to stores to pick up essentials and luxuries, compared to just 17 trips on average in Britain.
Shoppers were willing to spend slightly more than usual with sales of branded products up 5.9%.
Meanwhile, premium ownlabel lines saw a sharp increase of 10.5%, outdoing the overall growth of own label products, which stood at 3.2%.
Over the latest 12 week period, shoppers spent nearly €140m on premium own-label ranges.
Sales on promotion hit a high of 23.8% in December, growing 5.2% which meant shoppers grabbed the chance to indulge and spend a bit more than usual on festive treats, with beer and cider and pastries and biscuits seeing the highest levels of buying on deal.
Ms Healy added: “Alcohol took centre stage in this year’s festive shopping carts.”
