The Aussie real estate agent spreading holiday joy one pudding at a time

Forget sleighs and reindeer – real estate agent Karyn O’Dea delivers festive cheer to her Gold Coast community each year with two cars, thousands of free Christmas puddings and a small but dedicated team.

It’s an enormous operation for the Ray White Robina agent and her team, who have hand-delivered 2,764 Christmas puddings to property owners throughout her patch this year.

Ms O’Dea has been running the annual Christmas giveaway for the past 14 years, a tradition that began as a small gesture and has since grown into a full-scale community operation. 

“It’s about giving back to the community at Christmas,” she said.  

“We have a big mix of people in our community from young families and professionals, but there’s a lot of older people in our community too and at Christmas time, you want to make sure everyone’s okay.” 

Working in the Robina area on the Gold Coast, Ms O’Dea said the idea began with 300 puddings in her first year, which were chosen carefully for practicality. 

One of this year’s lucky Christmas pudding recipients. Picture: Supplied

---

“At first, I wanted to give something little back to the community because the community really does support us,” she said.  

“I thought about what you can give to someone at Christmas and leave for them if they weren’t home. You wouldn’t leave a bottle of wine or chocolates, so we went with Christmas puddings.” 

The team spends weeks sourcing and then delivering thousands of puddings each year. Picture: Supplied

---

What started as a modest giveaway has steadily expanded as her client database grew. Last year, Ms O’Dea and her team delivered 2,221 puddings, and she said her client list has grown by hundreds of new property owners this year.  

Sourcing that many Christmas puddings has become one of the biggest logistical challenges, forcing Ms O’Dea and her team to scour supermarkets in the weeks leading up to the festive season. 

The team has been giving away Christmas puddings for the past 14 years. Picture: Supplied

---

“As soon as we see a pudding on the shelves, we go to every supermarket around and clear out the shelves,” she said. “Even the staff in the store know who I am.”  

Delivering the puddings is no small feat either, as it becomes a full-time job for four staff in two cars over about two weeks.  

Ms O’Dea says she continues to giveaway Christmas puddings each year to give back to the community. Picture: Supplied

---

But Ms O’Dea said the response from the community has kept the tradition alive year after year. 

“I get a lot of calls and a lot of text messages, and I get a lot of photos of the pudding on the table,” she said.  

For Ms O’Dea, the motivation remains simple: “It’s just nice to be able to say Merry Christmas to people in the community.”