Why I charge my family for Christmas dinner: Even the children have to pay their way and I bill those with bigger appetites more, reveals CAROLINE DUDDRIDGE
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Christmas, they say, is the season of giving and goodwill, and I'm no exception to the rule. As a 65-year-old mother of five and grandmother of seven, I pull out all the stops to host a perfect family Christmas. I'm talking hundreds of pounds worth of food, festive decor and presents galore.
![[As a 65-year-old mother of five and grandmother of seven, I pull out all the stops to host a perfect family Christmas]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/09/93347771-14210783-image-m-58_1734687710512.jpg)
Those letters to Father Christmas may be addressed to the North Pole, but somehow they manage to find their way to my home in Cardiff each year. But there's one detail about my perfect festive get-togethers that might make your toes curl. I charge my family to come and eat their turkey dinner at my house every year.
Why? Well, as miserly as my choice might sound, I'm a retired pensioner and the cost of it all takes a big chunk out of my £1,000-a-month pension. The outlay just for the food usually matches my normal £300 monthly food budget, just for one meal!. I don't ask for contributions towards the cost of the electricity (although perhaps I should now I've lost my winter fuel payment!) but I genuinely believe that in this day and age, it's only fair that us baby boomers get some financial help from our offspring.
And it seems I'm not alone: 46 per cent of Brits will be asking our guests to contribute towards food and alcohol on the big day, according to a recent survey by MoneySuperMarket. Yet though you might see such behaviour as positively Grinch-like, what I'm charging them won't even cover half of the cost of cooking for 13 people, it's just a contribution to relieve some of the financial strain on their poor mum.
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