If you have your Christmas dinner at a restaurant......

[OhFuds]

Do you add up the cost of one meal and think "holy cow" at the expense?

For the last couple of years I have booked our xmas meal at my favourite Indian restaurant, this year I asked my PIL if they wanted to join us and told them the set price. My MIL added up what it costs for me, DH, adult DD and 3 DC's and was totally shocked that we are happy to pay roughly £150 for one meal. My PIL turned down the offer lol

My DH says it's worth every penny and I just feel that I do all the shopping, wrapping etc so I deserve to be waited on at dinner time on Christmas day.

I think £150 sounds good value for 6 of you!

2 DC's are pre-school age so are allowed to choose a kids meal from the regular menu at £4.95 instead of the set menu.

It is decent value, particularly if you don't have to factor in the time spent planning, shopping, preparing, cooking, clearing up. And then bin the stuff you don't eat.

Loads of families would spend £150 on stuff for Christmas day, including all the snacks and booze, to have at home.

Have a lovely time with the kids in the morning, head out for your dinner, eat loads of stuff you actually want to eat, come home and relax. Sounds great.

£150 for six people on Xmas day is very cheap!

Definitely good value!

The hotel I work at is 80 per adult, 40 for kids aged 5-12, free for under 5s.

I agree. I was looking at going to a local hotel but the £100 per head was too much to justify.

The Indian charges £29.99 for adults (3 courses), £14.99 for kids and because my 2 little ones would never manage the meal sizes off the set menu they get the normal £4.95 menu. I just love knowing I don't need to set foot in the kitchen other than to grab some chocolate and snacks.

£100 per head now I definitely wouldn't pay that!

Sounds perfect to me, and in fact we might discuss a similar plan for next year...

When at PIL for Xmas we go out these days and that's £75 per head. I'm sure if you bought all the ingredients yourself you couldn't do it for £150 including drinks.
Plus you're paying someone to give up their Xmas day to serve you and wash up after you.

Yeah we used to go out and it was about 25 per person, was less stressful. We stay in now as i dont like leaving the dog on his own 😀

I'm having my birthday/Christmas present to myself at a restaurant with a friend in December and it's £100 ish a head, that said it's Michelin starred.
I don't think your meal sounds too dear at all, especially for Christmas day when you pay a premium anyway, it's also the type of food which is great to share and much h nicer than turkey dinners in restaurants which are always dried out old crap.

Mmmm. Indian food on Christmas day. Sounds amazing and an excellent price. I'm a bit to be honest. I've spent just over £50 on meat (pre ordered) alone so far. That will feed a few of us on Christmas eve but there will only be 3 of us Christmas day.

I want indian for my Christmas lunch now!! And very jealous of no preparation and clearing up!

£30 per person is very reasonable for Christmas Day!

You're getting a bargain OP.

On the year we got married (a few days before Christmas) we decided to go out for lunch so we didn't have to plan. We paid £60 per head and it was worth every penny - lovely 4 course meal, a bottle of wine and no cleaning up to do afterwards.

A few people pointed out that we could have bought a lot of food for the £120 we spent on one meal - but the stress it took away was with it.

Also, last year, with a few health stresses and other issues, we blew £1000 on going away for Christmas at the last minute - that made our restaurant Christmas dinner look frugal!

That cheap. Our local places are around £65 each. Not much less for kids.

I think it sounds a lot of money for one meal normally, but it's Christmas Day and you have to expect to pay a premium to eat out at Christmas. If you are happy to pay it and can afford it, I don't see the problem. It's not for me, I like to be at home but I can see why other people prefer to go out.

The cost is only relevant to what you can afford. Nothing else.

Besides, I'm sure just as many folks could add up the cost of their stay at home Christmas meal and be shocked!

Having been a waitress at a vey posh hotel on Christmas Day on my gap year, tbh I don't know if it's worth it. I totally get the lure of not having to cook yourself but we spent the whole week prior preparing the veg and sitting them in salted water. Thousands of Brussels sprouts I peeled and crisscrossed. The meat was also cooked the day before. Being young, I was more than happy to be getting quadruple pay and forsaking my own Christmas Day, but other kitchen staff had young families and missed out on spending time with them. That's why so many places are so expensive, the sheer cost of having to pay for staff who in all likelihood aren't thrilled to be there. But your place sounds like a bargain, not sure I could have Indian rather than a roast though!

Two christmases ago I spent about $300 on Christmas lunch. I put in a lot of effort and time. I threw most away (hot in Aust - too risky to try and keep it).

I'm having it catered this year for half that. When the youngest dc is older we'll eat at a restaurant. I think another benefit is it will break up the day and give something else to look forward to and dress up.

We used to eat Christmas lunch at a lovely restaurant and the atmosphere was great.

We're going out this year (about 35 a head in country pub). Never done so before.

Sorry to hijack but do you all still do a Xmas shop or what? I was thinking of making a few tarts, sausagey things etc. just to have in the fridge. Don't want anyone feeling deprived!

Should add, I got a bad bout of food poisoning off an optimistically cooked turkey last year! Think I made my mind up about this year's plans while prostrate over the toilet...