(Christmas) AIBU to not cook chips with Christmas dinner

[Palomb]

I've just been asked by one of our potential guests via DH if we'll do chips for the kids. My answers was absolutely 100% not under any circumstances.

Dh said I'm being absolutely unreasonable.

Hell will freeze over before I'll cook fries on Christmas Day.

AIBU?

I'd be more annoyed too.

Unless you're allergic or something, you just way what your given. And even if you're allergic, you just say "no thanks" when the item is offered.

The kids won't melt for not having chips

If you're a guest, you don't ask for certain things unless there are allergies or vegans etc.

OP can I ask...what are these kids like? Are they always given what they want?

I have to say I am always irritated re people doing separate things for kids to eat at gatherings.

My kids eat what we eat. We went to a friend's for a big dinner and they had made amazing curries...around 4 different types.

They said "Oh and we're doing pasta and cheese plus pizza for the kids"

My 12 year old went because she'd rather curry! Luckily the host saw she wasn't into the kids food and offered her curry which she ate!

What a fuss over nothing. It will be Christmas! The season of goodwill and all that.

It honestly wouldn't bother me one bit to put on some chips for the children who would prefer them with their meal - It's their Christmas too so I would want them to enjoy it as much as possible.

A bag of frozen chips cost £1 and will cook happily at the bottom of the oven along with the other sides.

TBH, I would be really fucked off if DH tried to tell me I wasn't allowed to cook something for my nieces and nephews at any time of the year let alone Christmas.

Why can't you just leave him too it?

Bloody hell, its some oven chips for the kids at Christmas, not some extravagant recipe calling for many exotic ingredients. Jut bung a few in. Smiles all round.

One year my DM was in charge of the roasties (we don’t mind Aunt Bessie’s in out house). She grabbed to wrong bag from the freezer and we had oven chips instead of roasties. We laughed a lot and ate them. Christmas was not spoiled one little bit. I also allow tomato ketchup on the table. I love my family, all off them with all their little foibles. I am happy to cater for everyone.

No I wouldn't do it. It's bad enough fitting everything in the oven never mind adding chips!!

I'm with the OP on this, surely the kids can survive for one day without chips! My oven wouldn't have room for a tray of chips either on Christmas Day.

I think that if you have been invited somewhere you take what is offered, even if you don't eat very much, and even if it isn't nice. It's called good manners, and maybe if chips aren't available the kids might actually try a differently cooked potato and like it. If they don't there must be plenty of other things to eat, puddings, sweets etc. It doesn't matter if they don't have a balanced diet for one day.

Just another example of weak parenting and entitled kids. OP, tell the parents yourself that you will not be cooking chips, tell them what is on offer and they can then decide whether or not they will come to your Christmas meal.

My three DC all prefer roast potatoes to chips but two of them will eat them with ketchup, even on Christmas day

Here - Christmas dinner (ostrich-sized turkey, 53 different types of vegetables, 12 gallons of gravy, a pudding the size of a small planet and enough custard/brandy sauce/whitesauce to float a small battleship is enough of a faff without starting to cater for chips as well!

And it will set a bad precedent . . . after all, if you're doing chips this year, won't it be just as easy to stick a pizza in for the kids next year? Or burgers? And so on and so on.

You are a braver woman than me to cater for a family dinner where there will be that many kids anyway - stick to your guns.

Or get p*ssed out of your skull on cooking sherry and let somebody else do the dinner and then they can have whatever the hell they like . . . .

We also have yorkshire puds on our Christmas dinner - there's no way I could get chips in as well even if I wanted to - and I would't want to.

MrsJayy

Too late for apologies - you've already lowered the tone!

TBH I probably would do it as it would annoy me even more if my lovingly prepared food was wasted on people who wouldn't even appreciate it.

But YANBU at all to not make them, it's rude to request it and ridiculous for children over 8 to be unable to eat a different kind of potato for one meal (SNs aside). They'll be mainlining chocolate all day, they're not going to starve without chips.

aaaaaargh
I simply sliced off some of the turkey breast in a chunk and told her it was chicken

That's the most evil thing I've ever read.

Can I be your friend?

cut your roasties in the shape of chips? win win?

chips on a roast dinner is not cool, chips at christmas?! fuck off!

The kids in question aren't getting a say about where they eat at Christmas, they're going to be overexcited and anxious and there's going to be unfamiliar food. For the sake of harmony the easiest option is probably to assure them there's some oven chips in the freezer in case their kids struggle with the food.

I now have a ds with an autism diagnosis. The previous six Christmasses I just had a fussy brat, according to everyone. He gets Yorkshire puddings for Christmas dinner and will be fine, but anyone refusing a simple request for familiar food for a small child isnt a kind host in my book.

There is no way I'd be able to fit enough chips for 5 kids in the oven alongside a Christmas dinner. So here, options would be:

a) Eat Christmas dinner along with everyone else.

b) Yes the kids can have chips, but they have to wait until Christmas dinner is cooked, eaten, tidied away, then your DH will cook chips.

c) Everyone eats chips, no Christmas dinner.

There's so much food at Christmas how can they need anything more? There must be something they'll eat- as pp have said roasties are pretty much the same. I'm veggie but don't go without skipping the turkey, plenty else to eat...

I now have a ds with an autism diagnosis. The previous six Christmasses I just had a fussy brat, according to everyone. He gets Yorkshire puddings for Christmas dinner and will be fine, but anyone refusing a simple request for familiar food for a small child isnt a kind host in my book

It's not one small tiny little starving child, (with or without SN) to take pity on an indulge in their whim though is it?

It's FIVE 8-13 year olds, who are all old enough to understand that no, they can't have chips on christmas day.

Cooking chips for FIVE 8-13 year olds isn't a "simple request" either is it? That would be about 4 trays of oven chips, which in your average oven you'd have to do in two batches, each about 40 mins, on top of your Christmas stuff.

Another no here ! I have a DS with autism and I wouldn't expect anybody to made separate food for him.

It's Christmas Day - you don't have chips on Christmas Day

Unfamiliar food?

They serve Xmas dinners every year at school ffs

I'm an incredibly fussy eater. DS has asd, food/sensory issues & is a fussy eater.

I would not cook chips on Xmas day

I might cut some roast potatoes into more of a wedge/chip type shape & pop them in with the roasts for an Sen child (as it is roasts is one thing DS loves) & I might bring along a DS friendly starter if a starter is being served (crusty roll & spreading cheese)

If I knew someone very well I might ask for a quorn sausage to he cooked instead of meat, if not he would just eat roasts, peas & carrots.

If they are going to eat all the other foods on offer then I would. Seeing as you are already doing three types of spud.
I do homemade chips and roast potatoes are the same anyway just different shapes so I'd probably just cut a few chip shapes ones.

I can't believe they even asked if you could do chips...I wonder if the children have asked their parents specifically if they can have chips? If so I would have told them that no, they would not be having chips!

In our house chips are always served on boxing day with cold cuts and pickles. Tell them to come to mine on boxing day (I over cater on the chip front) and to be gracious and have the manners to not complain.

I dont wholly agree that "Christmas is about the children" Christmas is about everyone who is celebrating with you. The meal, for us, is a big part of the day (because we love eating a matterhorn of dinner) and I don't want to make it anymore work than as absolutely necessary because I want to spend time with the people who are in my home.

I know it isn't hard to fling a few chips on a tray and put it in the oven but quite honestly it sounds as though it could descend into "can Billy have beans instead of peas" "Fred wont eat anything other than sausages" "they'd like rhubarb crumble for pudding, is that okay".

Nah. Stick to them guns OP. Here >> you might need one of these on Christmas Day.

Agree. They're old enough not to be pandered to, especially in the absence of SEN/veganism/allergies etc. Are the parents not embarrassed to be asking?!?

The Chinese takeaway near my late grandmother's house did a steady trade on Christmas afternoon in the 1970s and 1980s when I was a kid. One family always had six portions of egg fried rice to go with their turkey.

This is when mumsnet makes me howl!!! Know I'm going against the masses but they're guests, if they want chips just give them chips!!! Why invite people if you aren't catering to their wants? If I was your hubby I'd be miffed too!

This is when Mumsnet makes me howl too!! How big are people's ovens that they can cook an entire Christmas dinner for a large family- with all the oven juggling that that entails at the best of times- and still find room to cook an oven tray full of chips for 5 children and teenagers? Must be Mary Poppins oven- plenty of room for all the chips you can eat,plus a hatstand!