Batteries, Sellotape and crackers have topped the list of the most commonly forgotten items at Christmas, research has shown. The study also reminded us that brandy, gravy and napkins also escape many of us by the time the day of festivities is upon us.

Running out of gift tags is commonplace, while pigs in blankets, chocolate coins and Grandma’s sherry are regularly missed off the shopping list.

One in six people has even had to make a drastic change to their Christmas day meal after forgetting a crucial ingredient while surprisingly, one in 20 people even forget to buy a turkey.

The research, commissioned by UK firm Budgens, found a quarter of the 2000 people polled had given someone an IOU after forgetting to buy them a present.

Hopefully the results may act as a memory jog, because the average person forgets at least five items for Christmas Day each and every year.

"With so much to plan and the pressure we all put ourselves under to enjoy that perfect Christmas, it’s only natural that we’ll forget a thing or two," a spokesperson for Budgens said.

"So many hosts take pride in putting on a great Christmas dinner or ensuring everyone is having a good time that sometimes realising you've forgotten something can dampen the celebration."

Forgetting to buy enough beer is a common blooper too, while Pressstick and bread sauce are likely to slip the mind and feature high on the list of forgotten items year in, year out.

The shopping list is definitely worth checking twice, with those surveyed confessing to regularly missing stuffing, pickle and even the Christmas pudding.

A fifth admit to suffering a disrupted night's sleep worrying about what they've forgotten as the holidays creep ever closer, and one in four say being forgetful has led them to turn up at a drinks party without a gift.

But being organised doesn't always payoff – 40 percent said they have bought a present way in advance only to lose it or forget where they put it.

Of these, more than half didn't ever find the present again and were either compelled to buy another or just decided not to mention they'd had one and lost it.

30 percent have run short of things when cooking on Christmas Day and had to go without, while one in seven have resorted to driving around on Christmas Day, desperately searching for an open shop in which to buy crucial ingredients.