Hosting a holiday meal can be quite expensive, and it’s totally normal to try and lower that expense by asking guests to bring a dish or dessert. But would you ever ask those you’ve invited to pay for their meal? Well, that’s what’s happening with one woman and she’s not at all happy.
A woman recently shared on Mumsnet that she’s going to her brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s house for Christmas this year, and they are charging them for their meal. She notes, “I've never charged them before but apparently because they've got a lot of people going this year they have decided to charge.”
The woman is particularly upset because she’s hosted in the past and never asked for money. Plus, her in-laws kept boasting about how a lot of the money would be going towards champagne, which she wouldn’t even be able to drink because she’s the family’s driver.
“I don't want to seem tight but charging for Christmas dinner for me just feels wrong,” she says, noting she’d rather contribute in other ways. She shares, “I would, of course, have taken things round or would have been perfectly happy if they'd ask me to bring a certain course.” The woman says her husband thinks it’s okay for them to charge because “they are doing all the hard work,” but again, she says she’s hosted in the past and never charged. She adds, “It’s really put me off going, but of course I will go to keep the peace!”
- And judging by the online feedback the OP has a right to be put off by the money request.
- “I do not understand this mentality,” one person commented. “I’d stay at home. You do not charge people for dinner in your own home no matter day of year it is.”
- Another added, “you don't invite people over to your house and then charge them.”
- But the in-laws did have a few supporters.
- “One of my siblings always hosts Christmas because they have the space,” they write. “The rest of us chip in with the cost. We aren’t being ‘charged’ we just recognize that it isn’t fair for one family to bear the significant expense.”
- Another added, “I’ve lost count of the number of Christmas dinners I’ve cooked and hosted at 200-400 quid a pop and nobody offered to contribute!”
Source: The Mirror