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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Chiara Fiorillo

Mum of Britain's biggest family starts Christmas shopping and shows boot full of gifts

The mum of Britain's biggest family has revealed she started her Christmas shopping for her children just a few days ago.

Sue Radford usually begins buying presents for her kids early to avoid any panic as we approach the festive period.

But while average-size families in the country have two or three kids, Sue has 22 children to keep in mind.

Last week, she revealed on Instagram that she has started buying gifts and shared a photo of her car's boot full of toys for her children.

She told her 493,000 followers: "Christmas shopping has begun. Anyone else like me this year and so not organised?

"Just can't seem to get in the mood for it this year."

She shared a photo of some gifts she bought for her kids (Instagram)

The photo shows toys including Baby Annabelle dolls, a Nintendo Switch and other gifts concealed by Christmas emojis.

She also shared photos of the family's Christmas decorations and their front door, declaring: "Loving our front door."

Last year, Sue also announced she had started her massive festive haul showing a screenshot of an order from Smyths Toys with the caption: "So it begins."

Unsurprisingly, the huge haul of gifts means the family spends a lot each year - with the spending for all the kids' gifts stretching to over £5,000.

The Radfords are Britain's biggest family (Instagram)

For their Christmas dinner, the Radfords have to budget another £300 for food.

Each child has around £100-£250 spent on them, and to make sure there are no mix-ups on the day, Sue usually buys each of them a personalised sack to keep them all in.

Sue hand-wraps each gift she buys, and it has previously been reported she can wrap around 20 presents every 15 minutes.

She and her husband Noel get through around 70 rolls of wrapping paper each year to cater to their massive brood.

Sue and Noel are parents to Chris, 32, Sophie, 27, Chloe, 26, Jack, 24, Daniel, 22, Luke, 21, Millie, 20, Katie, 19, James, 18, Ellie, 16, Aimee, 15, Josh, 14, Max, 12, Tillie, 11, Oscar, 10, Casper, nine, Hallie, six, Phoebe, five, Archie, four, Bonnie, three, and Heidie, one.

The couple's 17th child Alfie was stillborn on July 6, 2014.

The family don't claim benefits except for child benefit and are supported by their pie shop business.

Due to the cost of living crisis, however, many families are cutting back on spending this year.

A survey of 2,772 Brits, who celebrate Christmas, revealed that more than one in three (35%) plan to spend less money on presents this year.

Other top reasons for seeking to spend less include not wanting to get into debt (24%), trying to be thriftier (39%), and concerns over paying gas and electricity bills (42%).

And two in five (39%) would like their money to go further with presents this Christmas – as one in ten are worried their kids won't have enough presents this year.

In a bid to cut outgoings, more than half of respondents (56%) will spend less per person – reducing their overall budget from £485 to £259, on average.

And 35% won’t be buying gifts outside of their immediate family – such as for friends or work colleagues – while 15% will only buy presents for children in their family.

However, the research, commissioned by Oxfam, brings some comfort – as almost three-quarters (74%) of those polled say meaningful gifts, that don’t cost a lot, are the best.

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