If you’ve ever hosted a Christmas dinner, then you know it’s not an easy thing to do.
Actually, it couldn’t be any farther than that.
Especially when you’re hosting other families with younger or older children, it can get really tough.
It takes anywhere from weeks to even months to plan the menu, making sure you take into account all the allergies they may have, and any food preferences- vegetarian, vegan, or even raw eating.
With prices going up over the last few years, it can cost a host some hundreds of dollars to be able to host a decent Christmas dinner that will please everyone.
A grandma from Filey, North Yorkshire, came up with a clever idea a few years ago.
She thought, why not charge money for hosting the Christmas dinner every year?
As she explained in an interview with This Morning, Hayley Garbutt, now 54, sat down and discussed with her family whether that would be a good idea.
“The family grew,” she said, “and I was getting more and more grandchildren, and I have my son and my daughter’s around as well, and their partners. It was just too much. We all sat down and we discussed it and they were happy.”
So, as Garbutt explained, months before the family dinner, they sit down and plan the Christmas dinner together.
The woman said she charges about $37 per person, which is actually half the price they would pay for Christmas dinner at a restaurant.
The grandmother added that they have also tried eating out that day, but it was not as comfortable as having dinner at home.
The children are all over the place, which means her children don’t enjoy their meals as they would at home with all this tension.
Well, this might sound a little off when you first hear it, but when you think about what you usually bring at Christmas dinners (maybe a bottle of expensive wine, different kinds of cheese, a nice pie, desserts), it might actually be the case that you already pay the same amount without realizing it.
This story sparked comments from Internet users. Some said they would never charge their family members for Christmas dinner.
“I would never charge a penny ..it’s my treat to my family who work hard all year. My reward is seeing everyone together and happy” a Facebook user wrote.
Others said it’s fine as long as the whole family agrees.
Someone else said:
“We go to my mum’s every year and always help towards it. This year were buying the turkey. Even if she wanted to charge us I would pay.”
Another wrote:
“Whatever works for you and your family, it’s none of my business really. Just enjoy Christmas as you like.”
Indeed, this seems to be the right approach. We may or may not agree with Garbutt, but if this setup works for her family, we don’t really have a say, do we?
We’re still curious if other families do that as well. So, do you think you’d ever charge for Christmas dinner?
Watch the grandmother talk about this interesting topic in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
