Would you charge for Christmas dinner?
With turkey and all the trimmings, pudding and bubbly, hosting can get very expensive
Yes ‘It’s fine to ask family to pay £40 per person’
and lives in Crawley, West Sally Windsor, 38, is a journalist Ruby, 10, and Mabel, three. Sussex, with her daughters It’s the annual question that I dread… whose turn is it to cook the Christmas dinner? There’s the lists and lists, all the planning, followed by the depressing trudge to the supermarket with 100 bags for life equipped to carry the contents of the trolley filled to the brim. Being in charge of the kitchen in our house, I dread the mammoth task ahead. It’s a huge chore, often underestimated in size. Because of the onus it puts on the chef, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to charge family to cover the costs of Christmas dinner. The roast, booze and all the treats that I supply don’t come cheap. It’s not just the effort and time that goes into the preparation before the shop, it’s the choosing of the sumptuous goodies, the lugging them home, the storage, then the serving. With the heavy price of Christmas food, I see it as perfectly fine to charge a and minimum of £40 per head up. my family are happy to pay Some people may think that at the most wonderful time of the year, it’s going against the Christmas spirit to ask for cash. But let’s be realistic, Christmas costs money, and it’s not fair that the host is the only one who foots the bill while everyone else gets a free lunch.
No ‘You’d be spoiling the whole day’
Sally Jones, 63, is a media consultant and lives in Warwickshire with her husband John, 77. Up to 15 relatives descend on my house every year and I take great pleasure in cooking for them. I love hearing the house bustling with lively conversations and laughter, and one of the main advantages of hosting is having everyone at the table all at once. My husband, John, always gets some nice bottles of wine, rum and port, and I budget so we can get a good locally reared turkey and a home-boiled ham, plus all the trimmings. My 90-yearold mum, Christine, usually brings a Christmas pudding and also bakes a Christmas cake for my brother and me. Families spend enough money in the run-up to Christmas buying dozens of presents without having an extra charge to worry about. It’s my choice to host, and I’d feel bad asking anyone to pay for a meal that I’ve to cook. I’m more than happy to foot the bill, just to have all my family enjoying a meal together. Instead of paying, I value my guests giving me a hand in the kitchen and helping to clean up after. Christmas is all about quality time with family and an opportunity to enjoy yourself. Why spoil that by asking your guests to pay?