This year mum Emma Tapping says she will be giving her children 96 gifts each. Photo / Emma Tapping
This year mum Emma Tapping says she will be giving her children 96 gifts each. Photo / Emma Tapping
Last year she received widespread condemnation for showering her three children with 87 presents each.
This year Emma Tapping will be making sure they each get 96 gifts - even though they still haven't used many of the items they were given last festive season.
The 28-year-old, from the Isle of Man, hit the headlines last December after a picture of her Christmas tree with 300 presents piled underneath went viral.
Emma is determined to top last year's record. Photo / Emma Tapping, Facebook
She was accused of "abusing" and spoiling her children by lavishing them with the gifts that cost £1,500 ($2639).
But the mother-of-three said the criticism hasn't put her off spending lavishly again this Christmas and this year she started her present-buying in July when she armed herself with a suitcase to carry everything home.
Appearing on Channel 5's Xmas Excess: Parents Splash The Cash, she admitted she's bought her daughters - teenager Mia and nine-year-old Ella - and toddler son, Tatum, even more presents this year - around 96 each compared to last year's 87 - as well as getting gifts for her partner James.
Emma, who runs a holiday cottage, said she hasn't been deterred from her excess spending as she said seeing her children's faces when they open all their presents on Christmas Day is priceless.
Speaking of the notoriety she gained last year, Emma said: "When it first happened I felt like I had to stick up for the kids and say they are not spoilt. I felt I had to justify what I was doing, but now I couldn't give a toss what anyone thinks.
Emma Tapping's Christmas tree this year with an enormous amount of presents for her children. Photo / Emma Tapping
"I will put a picture of my Christmas tree up this year, if you don't like it scroll on and it is a good job I am not your mum."
When Emma shared a picture of her tree last year, it was taken from her Instagram account and circulated with the caption: "Nearly time for all the materialistic parents to compete and broadcast how many presents their kids have on Facebook! Just remember theres some children who don't get much."
Emma spoke to news sites including MailOnline and appeared on shows in the UK and USA to defend her spending and to insist her children aren't spoilt. She said she's just a 'normal mum' who saves and bargain hunts all year in order to have an indulgent Christmas.
She said: "If you ask me if I spoil my kids, I say at Christmas yes I do but I don't throughout the year. They get the necessities, the school uniform, the things they need but we don't go on holidays abroad or big shopping sprees.
"Anything they want they get for Christmas."
However, she admitted she can get carried away at Christmas as she loves the "magic of it".
"I do go overboard at Christmas definitely. It is loads of pressies, loads of food, stuffing your face, just relaxing having a good day," she said.
Speaking to Channel 5 about this year's Christmas haul, she revealed she keeps a detailled notebook of all her purchases to ensure all three children get the same amount.
The channel's cameras followed her as she began shopping for this year's gifts back in July. She took a giant suitcase with her so she could carry everything she bought home.
She said of her first shopping trip, during which she spent at least £450: "That's not even a fraction of what I get, it is just a suitcase full, that has not even touched the sides."
She had bought and wrapped everything by the end of November, and then said she had banned herself from going shopping again as she is always "tempted to buy more".
Last year's gifts
Last year's tree had 87 gifts each for her three children under the tree. Photo / Emma Tapping
She said of this year's mountain of presents, which she shared a picture of on her Instagram again: "This year they have a few more bits - 96 presents each. I am proud of this year's pile!"
Her daughters told Channel 5 they love being showered with gifts - even though they are still yet to use some of the presents they were given last year.
Mia said: "I love getting the amount of presents we do, who wouldn't? I wouldn't say we are spoilt.
"Everything we might of got throughout the year we get on one day. I love it. My rooms was a state for a while (after Christmas 2015), I couldn't be bothered putting it all away. Some of it got boxed on top of my wardrobe as there wasn't room for it."
Ella added that a number of her gifts from last year were also now unused, including an expensive tablet.
