Mum-Of-Ten Reveals How Much It Costs To Celebrate Christmas

Getting organised for Christmas is no mean feat especially for this mum-of-ten who manages to make their Christmas the merriest — wrapping more than 150 presents for her kids.

Christmas has always been a grand time for Malinda and her husband, Erik, both 33, — from planning monster meals to wrapping more than 150 presents making sure every child get has enough gifts under the tree.

In an interview with Daily Mail Australia with one of Australia’s large families, Malinda, who is pregnant with baby number 11, shared how she keeps everything in place, despite the chaos, as the festive season arrives.

Malinda revealed that they had to spend about $5000 on food, with any spare cash going toward the celebration. She said that they work out what the Christmas budget is on a year-to-year basis, spending whatever they can afford. “On average its about $5000 with everything like food, teacher gifts and kids presents,” she said.

She said that since Erik is Finnish, their dinner on a Christmas Eve would be a traditional roast dinner with both chicken and beef. The following day, their feast includes ham, pasta salad, four cakes and a Christmas turkey.

However, Malinda said that presents take the most organisation most especially for her 10 kids — Andrew, 14; Kaitlyn, 12; Stephen, 10; Cooper, 8; Lachlan, 7; Tyler, 5; Isabella, 4; Harry, 3; Joel, 2; and Zoe, 1.

She said that she buys gifts and starts wrapping each once it’s complete, and doing it as silently as possible and once everyone is asleep. She also carefully hides the gifts every year and finds new hiding spots as her family grows to continuously surprising the family.

“For gifts I have a list hidden where I list everything the kids have or is on lay-by. Each child would get about 10 or so gifts depending on the year but we keep it even or as close as possible,” she said. “This year no one is getting a big item like a bike so they have 15 smaller gifts.”

Malinda added that she only lets the kids open up their gifts once everyone is awake – with the older children helping the younger ones with unwrapping their presents.

She keeps everyone posted about the family’s adventure on their Facebook and YouTube channel,

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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