With the holiday season full underway, it’s the season of giving. Many people flood towards shopping centers and the internet to find the perfect gifts for their family and friends.
If you have a lot of family and friends, the holidays can be an expensive time. Especially if you host Christmas dinners on top of giving everybody a gift under the Christmas tree.
To help compensate for all the holiday costs, one woman came up with a controversial solution: she decided to charge her family £30 a head (or $40 in the United States) to attend her annual Christmas dinner.
This sparked a question that the This Morning show decided to tackle: Should you make your family pay for Christmas dinner?
According to This Morning, the average cost of a festive feast is up 16% this year.
Of course, every family is different. But this is Gemma Andrews’ situation.
Gemma Andrews is a 33-year-old mother to four children. She lives in the UK and has annually hosted a Christmas dinner in her home for the past 10 years because her home is big enough to host a large group.
The group usually consists of 16 guests that includes her parents, grandparents, and even her ex-husband and his family as well. Because of her son’s severe food allergies, Gemma prefers to do the cooking herself.
In the past, Gemma said her family tried to each bring a dish, but many would forget. This left Gemma to stressfully search for last-minute food to make sure everyone was fed. And if they did bring a dish, Gemma would have to make sure the food didn’t trigger her son’s allergies.
One day, Gemma’s grandparents offered to give her money as their contribution to the Christmas dinner. This is what inspired Gemma to begin charging her family for the expensive feast.
At first, she only charged £10 per head – but she only charged the adults, not the children. As time passed, the Christmas dinners became more expensive.
“The alcohol content has gone up as more children become adults, and there are more people who have had children,” she told This Morning. “No one has ever had any issue,” she later added.
With the money she earns from her Christmas dinner feast, all the food expenses are taken care of, and she makes sure that each family member has a present under the Christmas tree.
This Morning host Kathy Lette said, “I’m sorry, but I think you’re making Scrooge look like Mary Poppins,” in response to Gemma’s charge.
What do you think about charging your family for Christmas dinner? Does it make sense, or is it in bad taste considering the spirit of the holidays?
Please SHARE this controversial idea with your friends and family.
