Who’s better at getting the Christmas shopping done, boys or girls?

It’s a debate that’s been had many times, so we went to Bluewater to carry out a little experiment for ourselves.

Lauren Meechan and Ali Iveson from KMTV were chosen to represent their respective sexes, donning Santa hats but temporarily swapping the festive spirit for a competitive one.

Watch: Who’s better at getting the Christmas shopping done?

Both were given an identical list of 25 items and an hour to find as many as possible from the more than 300 shops the centre has to offer.

While there was no gold, frankincense or myrrh on the list, it did feature some of the most-wanted items this Christmas.

They ranged from gadgets like an iPad and a Nespresso machine to fashion accessories including a handbag and a Superdry hoodie, plus children’s toys and some household goods.

Lauren and Ali could only tick one item off the list in each shop, so they couldn’t load up on gadgets from one electrical retailer, for example, or find all their toys in the same shop.

Some items proved fairly straightforward to get hold of, with both quickly finding a handbag, a DVD and aftershave, but others proved more elusive.

Lauren trawled through two different bookshops in search of Olly Murs’ autobiography, to no avail, and surprisingly neither competitor was able to find a basketball.

A Cath Kidston mug also escaped both of their grasps, despite the fashion designer having her own shop at Bluewater.

Other items like Molton Brown soap, a Swatch and Diesel jeans would go on to prove decisive, having only been found by one of our shoppers.

There was a clash of shopping techniques on show too, with Lauren targeting specific items from the list whereas Ali was happy to set off on a lap of Bluewater, going in to any shops that looked like they might be hiding one of the 25 treasures.

Things turned a bit frantic towards the end, with both Ali and Lauren in a mad dash to find items with the clock running down, and they even ran into each other in Vans... with them both taking the opportunity to grab a special Disney pair of the shoes.

Once the hour was over, the two competitors reconvened to compare lists and see who would emerge victorious from this particular battle of the sexes.

After a tense wait it emerged the winners would be the boys, with Ali having found 17 of the items on the list and Lauren only 13.

In this case at least, having a mooch around and letting the gifts come to you proved a more efficient way of shopping.

Both competitors found locating the presents hard going though, so it’s no surprise Father Christmas needs lots of elves to help keep him on top of things at this time of year.