This woman charges her family $60 for Christmas dinner
If you’ve ever hosted Christmas at your house before, you’ll know just how much time, money and effort it takes to make sure the day runs smoothly – and often, it turns out to be a rather thankless job.
So, sick of the soaring costs of organising Christmas dinner each year, UK mum Gemma Andrews came up with a genius (or evil, depending on how you see it!) idea – make the guests pay.
“I charge the adults £30 ($59), I don’t charge the children, and sometimes we have six children come to our house,” she explained on ITV brekkie show This Morning.
“The very first year I opened my house to everybody, Christmas Eve I got let down by five people, putting me out of pocket. The year after I tried asking everyone to bring a dish, come to Christmas Eve, and everyone says, ‘Oh, I forgot to get it’, and I’m left rambling around trying to find a bag of prawns.”
Unfortunately, passing the hosting duties to someone else isn’t an option, since Gemma’s son has severe allergies and she must be the one to prepare his food.
But despite the slightly steep price, Gemma’s family are happy to fork out – in fact, it was their idea – and no one has complained yet.
“I think if it were alternative years at different houses I wouldn’t feel the need to ask for cover,” she said. “The people that come to Christmas dinner are my grandparents-in-law, and my ex-husband and his family come ‘round. I’ve hosted for the last ten years because I have the house that’s big enough to host.”
Tell us in the comments below, do you think Gemma is on to something with this system? Or is it unfair to ask guests to pay?
Image credit: ITV.