CF ILS - anyone else want to vent?

[CheshGirl]

Cooked and hosted Christmas dinner for in-laws as well as my family including my 2 small children (also currently 12 weeks pregnant).

In-laws asked what they could "bring" earlier in Dec, I said nothing really as I had it ordered from Ocado.

By this MIL assumed it was all prepared as her response was "how lovely, Christmas in a box", throughout the day she continued to question what I had made and what had come "done".

We agreed they would bring "drinks"...

Considering there were 7 adults and 2 children, any guesses what they turned up with...?!

What did you give them all that for??

"Oh sorry, we planned for you to bring the drinks as agreed so didn't buy any, there's tap water, milk, tea, or coffee, or if you fancy a walk there's an off licence that'll be open down the road" insert tinkly laugh here.

Husband could have had beer in a mug and pretended it was coffee, but the inlaws wouldn't have seen any of our booze!

What does 'CF' mean? I see it a lot here usually when talking of SIL or MILs as here.

I think you saying you had everything sorted and then agreeing they could bring drinks later confused matters and they didn’t realise they were responsible for all drinks.
as for the Christmas in a box comment she clearly didn’t understand what ocado is and that’s why she was interested on the day in what you had prepared versus what came pre-prepared. Surely when she said Christmas in a box you then should have just explained what it was.

Cheeky Fucker

Thank you. It is less offensive than I thought, for which I am glad lol🤣

tea bags!

A tartiflette?

The last time I hosted my in laws(many years ago now) I asked them to bring dessert and drinks

They rocked up with a handbag mini sized bottle of wine for mil and 1 bottle of bulmers for fil and asked me to put it at the bak of the fridge as it was theirs

They also produced a two pack of mini tiramisu's for themselves.

They dined on a three course dinner,ate a whole tub of celebrations and drank probably four time than they brought.

Also had the nerves to request they take the rest of the meat home for cold cuts.

Never ever again

I always provided wipes, nappies etc for child care.

Yeah, this. You provide the stuff your kid needs, why would you expect other people to?
More fool you, allowing them to glug your drinks. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Wipes nappies I get, but me driving an egg down the M60 with some bread, snacks etc is utterly ridiculous.

He is their grandchild, you would think they would insist on feeding him.

Oh here we go. You were sitting waiting to pounce. You must have been rubbing yours hands when you seen the wipes comment. This site is getting beyond ridiculous. I haven't read one thread recently where the OP wasn't attacked over the tiniest little detail. If I ever have grandchildren, I'd hate to think I'd be so begrudging that I couldn't/wouldn't keep a packet of wipes handy in the house. Get a life.

Well she MIGHT think you wouldn't approve of whatever food she gave him......

Not the point of the thread @CheshGirl but did you post once about having to drive some fish fingers down the M6 🤣

some people are strange with food/ money. It might be that in-laws think that because they are providing free childcare they shouldn’t then have financial cost of feeding your child, no matter how small. That being said- I think things should be equal. So if you feed guests in your home they should then feed you in theirs. It doesn’t matter how big the meal is but it’s the gesture.

This 'you bring the drinks' has cropped up more than once over the Christmas season. You say bring enough wine for one or two days, they here bring A BOTTLE. I think on future people should list the drinks. You bring the drinks - so will SMS you how much. 3 whites 3 red, 2 fizzers and some Fanta for the kids

They are lucky you had a stock of alcohol. If they said they were doing drinks I wouldn't have brought anything alcohol 😳

Cook's perks.

I did the same 😄

Just be happy you are all well and above ground to be quite honest
life is too short for this
Truly nothing in life is guaranteed
enjoy .. just forget it … is it really worth this ?
im a mum in law twice im keeping the peace on any things .. especially the grandchildren … life is far to fleeting 🫶 sincerely … this is not a whinge post to you … just want you to see a different perspective

Buckfast and a jumbo bottle of white lightning

some of my family brought masses some jack 🤷‍♀️it’s the way peeps are xxxxx

We hosted DPs family one night between Christmas and New Year (there were 15 of us in total) - we provided a buffet (cost around £80) and I had also bought drinks in, expecting that people would also bring their own to contribute as they usually do.

However none of them brought ANYTHING!!! Oh apart from MIL who brought one small bottle of cider for herself. Just the one!!! 😂

So consequently I offered just one glass of Prosecco to everyone!!! 👏and they were offered pop/tea/coffee thereafter - and I drank my Prosecco all to myself.

We had Christmas Dinner out at DD's in-laws but it was made quite clear who was providing what - we provided the Christmas crackers, gammon joint, 3 jars of various condiments that the hosts requested and two presents for a game. Other guests also made their contributions - when you are catering for 14 people you have to be prepared.
If people don't bring what's expected of them then it really should been made clearer - it's no wonder there's a lot of ill-feeling created over Christmas over CF's who take the mickey and others who are just tight! But OP I would have hidden everything and made everyone else have a dry Christmas along with you!!

OP states: "We agreed they would bring "drinks"...'

OP states: "We agreed they would bring "drinks"...'