Sam Faiers has revealed she is not giving her children Christmas presents this year – and is donating the money to charity instead.

The 27-year-old and her partner Paul Knightley are keen for their children Paul Jr., three, and 10-month-old Rosie to realise how lucky they are.

This year the family are spending the festive period in the Maldives, so Sam isn’t going to shower them with gifts.

She told Closer magazine: “This year, the money I would have spent on Rosie and Paul I’m actually going to donate to charity.

“My kids are so fortunate – they get everything they want and brands are always gifting them things. You have to make sure they don’t expect that all the time. I’m not about giving them hundreds of presents – I want them to grow up appreciating what they have.”

Sam and Paul decided to go away to celebrate his mum Gaynor’s 60th birthday with a luxurious trip to the Maldives and while Sam was excited about the trip, she admitted she'll miss her close knit family.

Speaking ahead of her holiday, Sam said: “This is my first Christmas going away somewhere. Billie and I have spent every festive period for the last 27 years together so this will be our first one apart. I’ll be Facetiming them all on Christmas Day though!”

Meanwhile Sam recently revealed her plans to expand her family, telling us: "I definitely want more children. I'm going to wait until Paul's in school and then plan to have more.

"Maybe two more, but I'll have them really close in age so I can do the whole nappy and sleep thing all together. I don't want to spread it out."

The couple have been together since 2014 but still don't feel "ready" to get married.

Laughing off speculation Paul will propose at her sister Billie's wedding to Greg Shepherd next year, she said: "He would never do it in front of an audience.

"He'll do it when I least expect it. We want to get married, but we're not ready yet."