Nine mouths of Christmas fed for a song in $100 challenge

WHEN you've got nine mouths to feed for Christmas dinner and only $100 left in your pocket, how do you pull it off? Let this family show you...

AN EXTRAVAGANT Christmas was never on the cards for the Brownless family. Money is tight as they work to set up a new business.

But Holly and Lee show deep pockets are not the key to a perfect day. And with $100 they created a classy celebration for their seven children.

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The theme was royal purple and the table was stylishly designed with inexpensive trinkets and baubles.

“We amazed ourselves that with a tight budget and having to account for every cent how creative we became,” said Ms Brownless, of the Gold Coast.

“The whole family was delighted with the spread and we had more than enough lovely food for everyone.”

The tight-knit family relocated from Perth when things got tough financially.

“Basically we have no income and are just living off the money we made on our house sale,” she said.

“We are in the process of setting up a business called Mastermind Therapies which will help people struggling with anxiety and depression.

“My husband has suffered from depression and we know the impact. While we are working towards a better future we have to be really tight with money.”

They bought lots of cheap vegetables and in-season fruit, and an extra-large hormone-free chicken. They had all the trimmings too. Dessert was mince pies and cheesecake with cream, with lollies as treats.

“We bought everyone a small gift and had so much fun with this. The $3 paints gave hours of pleasure for the kids,” Ms Brownless said.

“I would probably opt to buy the kids a bigger gift – something like movie tickets for the whole family for Boxing Day.

“I don’t want to waste money on stuff that no one needs. We are a tight family and the best gift is that we spend time together.”

The couple insists that ­taking on the $100 challenge emphasised the importance of Christmas.

“Haven’t we all got caught up in the spend but really that $100 gave us as much pleasure as an extravagant celebration,” she said.

How they did it

Aldi

1kg carrots $1

1kg frozen peas $1.99

2 x cans of corn $1.80

600ml thickened cream $2.19

6 fruit mince pies $2.49

2 x Vanilla Cheesecakes $5.60

Helensvale Discount Fruit Barn

Bag of broccoli $1.99

2 x Kiwi fruit $1

2.5kg potatoes $2.99

Punnet strawberries $1

Coles

360g box Maltesers $5.00

175g bag Haribo fizzy cola bottles $2

175g bag Haribo Gold bears $2

180g bag Starburst jelly babies $2

Helensvale Butchers

Hormone-free extra-large chicken $16

Woolworths

200g gravox chicken gravy $2.85

4 x select dry ginger ale $3

3l home brand Apple juice $3

Kmart

Grid iron football (present) $5

T-shirt (present) $5

10 Christmas crackers $5

Art & Craft Riot

2 x hobby line paints (presents) $8

Choice discount store

Holographic wall picture (present) $5

2 x clear glass bottle with heart shaped jewel and ribbon (presents) $5

These we filled with the lollies we bought from Coles.

20 purple napkins $2.50

Plastic purple tablecloth $2

Purple and gold tinsel $2

TOTAL:$97.40