It's an indulgent season and Santa Claus does it better than anyone else. We found out how much the big man eats on his busiest night of the year.

Two in three (64%) Irish people will take part in the annual tradition of leaving food and drink out for Santa Claus this Christmas Eve, meaning that Santa will consume over 430,000 biscuits and 1.6 million units of alcohol in Ireland alone.

On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus will consume 5.7 million calories as he makes his way to homes across Ireland. Some 1 million households plan to leave out some nibbles and drinks to sustain him on his long journey.

In fact, such is the generosity of spirit among the Irish that it will take Santa 6,333 hours of exercise, walking at 4mph, to burn off all the calories if he eats and drinks all on offer at every home.

More worryingly, Santa may be extremely uneasy on his feet by the time he reaches his 50th house in the Ireland, having consumed almost 50 units of alcohol.

If he manages to complete his deliveries and make it back to the North Pole, it would take until November 29th 2017 for the all of the alcohol to wear off, leaving less than a month to prepare for his next Xmas trip.

The majority of Irish households stick with tradition by leaving out biscuits and mince pies, but 7% of people go to the trouble of making Santa a bacon sarnie to help fuel his long journey!

Not every household sticks with tradition. Among the weirdest items left out for Santa on Christmas Eve are; a full Sunday dinner, cigars, coddle, a hot water bottle, indigestion tablets, painkillers, protein balls and sushi!

The reindeer get a healthier offering with the majority of homes (79%) leaving out healthy carrots and almost one in ten (9%) say their Santa offering has become healthier in recent years.

This research came from on demand delivery service Deliveroo. Joe Groves, from Deliveroo, said: “Leaving treats out for Santa is an age-old tradition that is still going strong today. That said, using our research, we have worked out the calories and units of alcohol Santa will consume and it may be beneficial for him to pass on a few treats this year, or take a bite or three less!”

It’s not just Santa that gets to chow down as he makes his way across the home nations, an estimated 1.2 million carrots will be left out for his reindeer in Ireland. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen will have 24,375 each to digest as they make their way around Ireland.