Isle of Man mother hits back at criticism for buying her children 300 Christmas presents

Emma Tapping said she started wrapping presents from the sales in August

The mother of three said she scoured the January sales to find presents for her children (Facebook, Emma Tapping)

A mother who was criticised for a picture of the 300 Christmas presents she has bought her children has defended her parenting.

Emma Tapping, who is from the Isle of Man and has three children, said she saved throughout the year to buy about 85 presents each for them.

She was responding to strong criticism by online commentators of the £1,500 she had chosen to spend.

Speak to This Morning on ITV, Ms Tapping said: "I'm not rich. I literally start from January, use every bargain that I can and I shop all year round to make the pile as big as it is, and I start wrapping presents in August.

"Martin Money Expert, I follow him religiously. I do all the sales. Anything that's full price, I refuse to pay for.

"And I do it all year round to give my kids the best Christmas I can."

Her Instagram and Facebook post of the presents under the Christmas tree only went viral after someone else tagged it on Instagram with the message: "Nearly time for all the materialistic parents to compete and broadcast how many presents their kids have on Facebook!

"Just remember there's some children who don't get much."

Facebook users and Twitter users took to the internet to express their views, with some accusing her of abuse.

Others, however, came to her defence.

Ms Tapping told ITV News that her children were not spoiled throughout the year and had to save their pocket money to replace belongings they broke.