Do you give your household staff a Christmas bonus

[BercowsFestiveFlamingo]

From the maids and the cook to the butler and the chauffeur it's getting to be a rather dear do these days what with the leaks in the old roof and the terrible state of the stable block I might have to sell off some of the family jewels.
I suppose one is expected to give one's staff a Christmas bonus but is it really necessary? There's tradition and then there's one's roof and its leaks. Not to mention the damage Great Aunt Annie did to the ruddy estate wall after an ill-advised mixture of tequila and the gardener's ride-on mower. She always was a rum one and that trip to Mexico has a lot to answer for.
Anyway, I digress, back to the question in hand: bonuses-yes or no? They are a good bunch apart from that time they had a soirée orgy in the lodge and had raided the wine cellar and pantry. Great uncle Albert and the cook have not seen eye to eye since. Probably best after the eye-full of her nether regions he got went he went to investigate the noise.
Alas, I fear I may cause a rumpus if the usual bonus is not there this year.

@Shortpoet

That reminds me I bought my cook some new oven gloves for her Christmas present because her old ones are so thin she keeps burning her hands on the Aga.

There were tears of gratitude in her eyes as she accepted them.

I told her not to worry, I’ll spread the cost out over several weeks so she will barely notice the difference in her wages. She’ll have paid them off by the late May bank holiday, just in time for her birthday present (a new rolling pin).

I hope she’s more careful with this set of gloves. Due to her carelessness the old ones lasted less than 20 years!

You are obviously new to Aga ownership. Ours has been in the family since 1927

They are gauntlets not gloves.

You burn your arms between your wrists and your elbows- how to spot a new money Aga owner

@Fromthebirdsnest

We give our housekeeper £200 Christmas bonus and our gardener £100 .. We also get them both a present x

They must be very part-time Thats well below the going rate for Christmas bonuses.

No they're not at all. They're mocking the people who treat their staff like this.

Exactly. Unfortunately there are few things more amusement-destroying than having to explain jokes to the humourless or hard-of-thinking.

I'm very fortunate.

I've just procured from my local Oxfam a large box of tat recently donated from a strange shop I've never heard of named ''B&M''.

My staff will be free to help themselves to it on Boxing Day.

TheHoptimist

You obviously are much more familiar with the workings of a kitchen than I am. I leave all the day-to-day details to be dealt with by my housekeeper.

@Shortpoet

TheHoptimist

You obviously are much more familiar with the workings of a kitchen than I am. I leave all the day-to-day details to be dealt with by my housekeeper.

Poor you- cant you afford even a plain cook? It must be awful to have the housekeeper have to work in the kitchen. Even worse if she also cleans

The housekeeper manages the cook and the maid and keeps the house running so I just give her instructions in the morning before I go to my hot yoga session. I wouldn’t dream of making her cook or clean herself!

My husband deals with the the gardeners send the stable boy. I’m not sure why we employee the stable boy really, my husband spends a surprising amount of time down there helping him muck out the horses. He always comes back so hot and sweaty. I keep telling him to leave him to get on with it but he insists.

@LizzieSiddal

No certainly not!

Our staff line up in the hall on Christmas Eve and I hand them a gift (a framed photo of Dh and l).

I find that quite sufficient.

I loved this one

The children are basically household staff and they get very lovely gifts and a fuckton of food thrown in to sweeten the deal...

I don't know. Our steward deals with these matters.

fun police

I am staff. My cats won't get me anything because they are indoor cats and don't know how to order online.

Once or twice. In more recent years we've taken to allowing the unoccupied staff to observe the final 3-3.30pm round of present opening with a glass of fizz. It makes for a jolly efficient staff Christmas party

Goodness there are some party poopers on here-maybe they are my staff They are loyal to me so I must be doing something right. Maybe it's the homemade cookies that do it. I allow them one each at Christmas. If they are lucky they might get a bit of a broken one too if there are any pieces available. I'm very generous like that.

I hope everyone's staff are truly appreciating the glad tidings bestowed on them tonight. I really do.

This year I did some thorough research about what to gift the staff. I really wanted to show them my appreciation, and having read on Mumsnet about Baylis and Harding gift sets, I got them each a set.