Commonwealth Bank forecasts Australians' total Christmas outlay to be more than $1000 each Christmas gifts .... are set to cost all more this year. SPENDING at Christmas will rise by $123 for every Australian this year, a study by Australia's biggest bank says. New Commonwealth Bank research forecasts our total Christmas outlay - including gifts, holidays, entertainment and the Boxing Day sales - will top $18.4 billion, or $1116 for every person, up from $993 a year ago. CBA's executive general manager of local business banking, Adam Bennett, said more than four million people were set to do the bulk of their Christmas shopping this weekend, buoyed by steady increases in consumer confidence. "The uplifting consumer confidence translates into people being willing to open their wallets more," Mr Bennett said. Gifts remain the biggest destination for our dollars over Christmas, at $7.9 billion nationally or $481 per Australian. However, the rise this year in gift spending is only slight - $6 per person - compared with bigger jumps expected in travel, entertainment and Boxing Day sales activity. "One of the outcomes of increased consumer confidence is that people appear to be more confident spending on lifestyle, leisure and entertainment categories," Mr Bennett said. Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said pre- Christmas sales were buoyant, although consumer confidence had been dented in some states by the Holden closure and, to a lesser extent, Qantas job cuts. Mr Zimmerman said electronics and sporting retailers had enjoyed jumps in sales in the past few weeks. "Department stores are saying that the biggest thing that's selling out there is anything with an 'i' on it," he said. A trend we are seeing a large volume increase in is gift cards, which are going through the roof. History suggested that about 90 per cent of those gift cards would be redeemed at retailers within a few days of Boxing Day, Mr Zimmerman said. The CBA research also found that Australians would spend $4.3 billion on vacations this Christmas, and $2.7 billion on the Boxing Day sales. Men were planning to spend more on entertaining friends than women, while people living in capital cities were more likely to do Christmas shopping online despite living closer to bricks and mortar stores.