One mum charges her family for Christmas dinner while another thinks it’s ‘criminal’… so who’s in the right?
Primary school teacher Leah Wright, from Brixton, south London, asks couples to pay £50 for attending her festive lunch, but writer Su Karney reckons asking guests for money is not in-keeping with the spirit of Christmas
HOSTING Christmas can be an expensive business, especially if you've got a large family.
But would you ever consider charging your nearest and dearest for their festive lunch?
While it might sound like something Scrooge would do, primary school teacher and mum-of-two Leah Wright, 29, sees no shame in asking friends and family to cough up.
She said she didn't see why she and partner Andrew, 34, a chef in the fine dining industry, should take the full financial hit just because they were hosting, and for the past two years they have charged couples £50 each.
Leah explained: "Often what used to happen was people would bring something, like a bottle of wine.
"But then it wouldn’t be consistent – there wouldn’t be a full spread, or the right amount of alcohol.
"So I decided that when we were hosting, we would ask everyone to split the cost."
After buying the food and booze, Leah and Andrew calculated the per-head charge for their 18 guests, including four children.
She admitted: "It wasn’t initially great news for everybody and didn’t go down well with some.
"My partner’s family made comments like, ‘What’s the point of inviting people if you’re going to charge them?’
"But the reason behind it was the fact that we’d just had a baby, I was on maternity leave, and the only reason we chose to host Christmas was because we felt we had the biggest amount of space and it was important to us to have both his and my family in the same space.
"We felt obliged to be the hosts but we didn’t want to take on the financial cost.
"It was a massive amount of people, we had to completely change the house around to have that many in it, it took a look of work. But it was nice to not be really skint after Christmas."
While £50 sounds steep, Leah explained that they asked people what they wanted, then Andrew sourced the meat from quality butchers.
"It was very fancy and nicely done - different to your typical family grub," she said.
"The wines complimented the meats that were there - we had duck breast, turkey, gammon and pork.
"Afterwards they did take the mick out of us for having the audacity to send a bill! But it was never mentioned again – though maybe it still is an elephant in the room!
"But I’d definitely do it again.
"It was really nice to have a meal that everyone had contributed to in terms of money and what they wanted, as it meant you weren’t having that awful feeling of, ‘Oh I hope everyone’s enjoying what they’ve got,’ and not having the financial hit.
"I do wonder, if somebody else asked me for £50 to come for dinner, I would stop in my tracks, if I’m honest. But I think because my family were so good about it, it didn’t make me feel bad.
"For me, Christmas is expensive anyway with the children, and the extra cost of then having to pay for dinner just because you’re hosting doesn’t seem fair.
"I think a lot more people would offer to host Christmas if they didn’t have to take on the cost of having 14-odd people to feed.
"I don’t think it’s embarrassing to ask to split it so that you are able to host – I think you just need the guts to ask!"
But writer Su Karney, 36, from Bedford, disagrees...
I can’t think of anything more criminal at Christmas time than charging your loved ones to participate in the festive family feast.
Just picture the scene. Everyone crowded around the dining table, pulling crackers, wearing paper hats and sharing silly jokes, while Christmas tunes tinkle in the background.
Your loved ones tuck into turkey with all the trimmings, Christmas pud and sink a few bottles of wine. Feeling full on food and love, everyone is ready for a sofa snooze.
“But wait! You all need to settle the bill first,” you say, waving your Tesco receipt in their shocked faces.
A big kerfuffle follows. People produce wallets and handbags and everyone looks embarrassed as Aunty Esther carefully counts out her pension pennies while little Charlie breaks open his piggy bank to hand over his pocket money.
Erm, no thanks. Not on my watch!
Sounds like a hideous case of eat, drink and be thoroughly miserable.
If you don’t charge your family for dinner on the other 364 days of the year, why would you start on December 25? The very essence of which is TO GIVE? It’s outrageous.
When I think back to my childhood Christmases, it isn’t the presents I remember. Bikes, dolls, computer games; they came and went. But what has survived them all are the warm, fuzzy memories of my family, gathered around the table for the annual feast.
Everything tasted better on Christmas Day. Like the food was laced with the spirit of the season.
Now that I am a mum, I want that for my family too. For my children to look back one day and have this same sensation, that they were part of something special. If my mum had charged everyone £12.50 for her festive roast, I can guarantee my memories would be rather sour!
How would it work anyway? Charge people per spud and sprout? Or does everyone pay the same, regardless of the fact that Great Nana only eats a fraction of what Cousin Peter puts away?
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Do you charge simply for the food, or your time too? In which case you are actually making money out of your relatives. Shame on you!
Whatever next? Telling your little ones they have to leave out £2.99 or the Easter Bunny won’t bring them a chocolate egg?
Yes, Christmas is a crazy expensive time of year. So cut back on the less important things, like the presents no one will remember in six months times, and go all out on creating memories you can all cherish!
If there's only two of you this year, Co-op is selling a ready-to-cook Christmas dinner in a box for £12, while Morrisons is stocking a MAGNUM of Prosecco for £10.