THEY may have 22 kids but Sue and Noel Radford pull out all the stops to give their family a magical Christmas.
But it certainly doesn’t come cheap, with Sue revealing she typically spends between £100 and £250 on each of their children.
Sue Radford pulls out all the stops at Christmas for her kids[/caption]
Sue has previously shown the lounge piled high with presents[/caption]
The busy mum just uploaded a vlog showing her kids making their lists for this year[/caption]
Shopping can be a mission, with Sue sharing she usually gives around 300 presents in total.
With this huge task in mind, the Morecambe-based mum, 49, shared on her YouTube channel how she was helping her kids write their Christmas lists.
In the clip, Sue and Noel read out some of the requests, and this year the kids are hoping for slime, make-up, sweets, headphones, a PlayStation 5 controller, and a colouring set, among other toys.
Noel said: “Slime seems to be quite popular across the board here.”
This seems a lot more affordable than previous years, with Sue sharing one Christmas how she had spent hours searching for a PS5 and a particular Barbie doll’s house but had to have a rethink when she saw the price.
“We have had to give up on the PS5 and we got the doll’s house eventually, but the cost was disgusting.
“It is supposed to be £240 but one site was offering it for over £700,” she explained.
In a previous vlog, Sue shared how they had given one of their kids an Evade bike, which can retail for £200.
In the months leading up to Christmas, the parents pinch their pennies to save £5,500 to buy the kids’ presents.
And while most families simply chuck their presents under the tree when they’re wrapped, Sue has a personalised sack for each child so the gifts don’t get mixed up – and to save herself having to buy hundreds of tags.
Of course, wrapping doesn’t come easy, and Noel and Sue also get through a staggering 70 rolls of wrapping paper every year.
Thankfully, Sue considers herself a “demon wrapper”, according to MailOnline, as she can wrap a whopping 20 presents in just 15 minutes and has got her process down to a tee.
She added: “I buy presents through the year, and wrap them as they come in.
“One of our biggest headaches at Christmas is where to hide all the gifts. We have them everywhere — even in the boiler cupboard. The trick is remembering where.”
Dolls and make-up sets were on a lot of the Radford girls’ lists this year[/caption]
Christmas day is chaotic but fun with all the presents[/caption]
Sue and Noel also pull out all the stops with their decorations[/caption]
Sue has received some pretty posh gifts over the years as well, in 2022 Noel splashed the cash on a bottle of Penhaligon’s Halfeti Cedar perfume, which costs a whopping £190.
He also forked out on a bottle of Bvlgari Le Gemme Tygar perfume too, which retails at £268.
And in 2020 the doting dad even treated Sue to a brand new engagement ring, since the diamond fell out of her original one, and the same year he also got her the slightly less romantic gift of a Shark vacuum.
The kids get to open one present on Christmas Eve, which is usually a set of matching pyjamas, before the main event the next day.
During the day, the family play separate games of Monopoly, watch films and play with their presents.
Their huge 10 bedroom home in Morcombe gets fully decked out too – there’s four Christmas trees with personalised baubles and 25 stockings.
The family famously doesn’t rely on benefits and is totally supported by their pie shop business and have previously revealed they budget all year long to make Christmas as magical as possible.
How does family-of-22 the Radfords afford to live?
AS Britain’s biggest family, it may come as no surprise that Sue and Noel Radford must have some hefty bills.
Between them, they have a whopping 22 children and seven dogs, which often has some people wonder how they manage their money.
The Radfords support themselves with the proceeds of Noel’s bakery, The Radford Pie Company, which is located near their home.
On their website, it says: “We have owned our own lovely bakery since 1999 which is how we manage to provide for (and feed) our huge and expanding family as well as for the local people of Heysham and Morecambe.”
The family expanded their business to cater to online orders placed across the UK.
The business is a family affair, with Noel at the helm, and some of their children helping out.
The older kids, who are working at least part-time, don’t get a free ride as they’re made to pay a small amount of rent to their parents.
“Us older ones do pay a little bit of board. Granted it’s not a lot but I’m also trying to save up for my own house at the moment.” their daughter Chloe said in a video on the YouTube channel.
Sue added: “We’ve always said if you want to buy somewhere, renting is a bit of dead money, so we’d rather you saved that money up and stayed at home a bit longer.
“I also do believe they should pay board if they are earning. We’ve always been brought up by our parents that we had to pay board.”
Noel and Sue famously don’t rely on benefits for their bumper brood and live off their pie shop for income.
They also revealed they make money from brand partnerships on social media.
The Radford family stars in their own reality TV show 22 Kids and Counting – which has run for four series.
Brand expert Andy Barr believes Noel and Sue have been paid less than £10,000 for each show.
He told the Daily Mail: “The typical fee per episode is going to be in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands that people often think is the case with TV shows of this nature.
“If they continue to get commissioned for a fourth or fifth season, then they are going to be able to command a higher fee.”
He estimates that the Radfords make £ 5,000 an episode.
