The questionable excuses for making a quick escape from social gatherings this Christmas include “I need to wash my hair”, “I left the oven on” – and “my burglar alarm is going off”, research has found. A study of 2,000 adults revealed 38 percent admit they feel obligated to attend gatherings during the festive period, even if they don’t want to go.

For those who do attend, commonly-used excuses to flee a festive scene include “I want to beat the traffic”, “my elderly…