Woman charges family £30 per adult for Christmas dinner!

[Butterfr33]

There's a lady whose story is circulating online and has appeared on 'This Morning'. She charges the adults in her family £30 each for food and drinks for Christmas Day. This has caused a lot of outrage!

AIBU to agree with her? One person can't be expected to pay for 12+ people's food and drinks, of course the should contribute! In the past she's tried 'bring a dish' but people were unreliable and most would forget!

[noeffingidea]

a turkey can cost £80. It does't have to though, does it?
I've spent Christmas with extended family before and there was nothing like this kind of money being spent, and still masses of food to eat.

[daisychain01]

I couldn't bring myself to do it. I cringe at the thought, but i know of people who do it and it's their choice. I just think if you can't afford to do a full on sit down dinner for 12 then scale it back, or ask people to bring along a dish. If they cba to join in the arrangement and are too "unreliable" then they don't get to join the festivities.

So when does the £30 whip-round happen? does she take credit cards?

[MistressDeeCee]

Christmas should never be about pomp, greed, just showing off in general or wanting to be showered with praise for being the martyr one chooses to be.

So cringy and ostentatious to be equating Christmas with money and bragging and attention/praise seeking in this way. I'm not entirely sure I believe those who claim to do the "big host" anyway, with loads of people turning up yearly, money in hand. Sounds far-fetched.

[DivisionBelle]

We just have a big 3 generation Christmas meal. 2 actually: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

4 from grandparent generation, 8 ‘adults’ 5 teens and sometimes some teen boy/girlfriends.

Nothing ostentatious, a big roast dinner and desert, maybe cheese as well, on Xmas eve, and then Turkey , all usual trimmings, Christmas Pud, Brandy sauce. Prosecco as a welcome drink / toast / aperitif, wine with the meals.

The shopping bill is MASSIVE.

It is always at one or another house, the ones who can fit us in. We want to be together. We don’t want the hosts to bear all the cost or do all the work. So we in tne ‘adult’ generation chip in. The one with the bill let’s us know how much it all came to, and we just transfer the money, sometime.

[JanKind]

£30? Sounds like a bargain to me

[DivisionBelle]

I’ve just checked: a Tesco turkey that will feed a crowd is £60.

[MadForlt]

Really DivisionBelle? I've just gone on to the Tesco app, and a crown that serves 12-15 is £28.43, a whole turkey that serves 15-18 is £29.96 - they do have a free-range one for £58.59 that serves 13-15, but it can be half that to serve more if you have a lower budget.

[dangermouse7]

@MistressDeeCee

Christmas should never be about pomp, greed, just showing off in general or wanting to be showered with praise for being the martyr one chooses to be.

So cringy and ostentatious to be equating Christmas with money and bragging and attention/praise seeking in this way. I'm not entirely sure I believe those who claim to do the "big host" anyway, with loads of people turning up yearly, money in hand. Sounds far-fetched.

This ^ 100%.

Had to laugh at the post after yours by @DivisionBelle which proved your point!

Why do you all need to get together so desperately divisionbelle ???

Do you not see each other for the other 51 weeks and 6 days of the year? And do you give various extended family members an option to pay in instalments towards the day, or do you insist on money up front? (and no cheques!)

[DivisionBelle]

dangermouse We live a long way apart, we choose to get together as a family, we enjoy it. Some of us are single parents and enjoy not being alone, kids with cousins.... etc.

Why is that desperate or in any way a bad thing?

Would it be better to NOT see each other and spend Christmas together just because any one family would find it hard to pay the whole cost?

There is no pomp, only normal amounts of greed for a ‘feast’ day, and not really ostentatious.

I saw the first turkey big enough for our family on the Tesco website, and it happened to be free range.

We do like free range turkey, it tastes better than frozen, and is more moist. We can probably afford one precisely because we chip in and share the cost. And I am glad cheaper alternatives are available. If we couldn’t afford it we would get something we could, still share the cost (none of us is rich) and have a good time.

We don’t have massive tubs of chocs, rare breed smoked salmon, Yorkshire pudding with Xmas dinner, starters, any alchohol except just before and with the main meals (evening), so please explain how my family Christmas demonstrates pomp, greed and ostentation.

And why you think we should sit in our various individual nuclear families rather than being together.

[CharlieSierra]

Why so nasty dangermouse? We just all like to be together as an extended family at Christmas. It isn't ostentatious or greedy and no one is praise seeking or being a martyr, we share the cost and the work. My sister and I will split the shopping between us, and the adult offspring will turn up with booze and cheese probably. I don't see the issue. We will have free range turkey from the farm down the road because that's how we normally eat, I don't buy factory farmed meat. You can buy an intensively reared frozen turkey from Tesco if you want, I won't judge your choices.