Hosting a holiday for friends and family can be a very daunting task. Many people have to go shopping and spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars to ensure they have everything they need for a big holiday meal.
Many do not realize all that goes into making a special holiday dinner, depending on how many people you have coming over.
When you invite over your friends and family for the holidays, the number of people coming can add up right before your eyes.
There are parents, kids, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and then even family friends who may come, too. Feeding the entire family is no cheap venture.
Helen Robertson is a busy mom of two that is hosting Christmas dinner this year, with a twist—she's charging her guests to come.
The mom says that previously, she has racked up quite the amount of debt to have her whole family over for a holiday.
So, hosting a large Christmas dinner isn't going to help her with her "News Year's Resolution" to stat 2022 off debt-free.
Previously, the mom of two managed to rack up $3,000+ worth of debt when she hosted a Christmas dinner in the past.
With lockdowns and regulations on how many people could eat in certain homes at a given time, the previous holiday season was not nearly as bad, nor expensive, for Robertson to host.
But, this year, she claimed she had 12 people coming for dinner and she just couldn't make that work.
"I’m not a charity and while I love entertaining people it isn’t sustainable to cook a full Christmas meal with all the trimmings for friends and family," Robertson told The Sun. So, she decided to go a different route this year.
However, Robertson is being considerate in the sense that she is including all the works. It's not just your regular old family dinner where you have some salad and a meal.
Instead, Robertson says that "everyone gets a starter, mains, desserts, canapes and snacks as well as a glass of Champagne or juice."
Not only does she cook a whole meal with the works, but she has different options for everyone's dietary restrictions and choices, including vegetarian and vegan, as well.
In addition, people always have "requests" to add, too.
Charging family and friends was not something done "easily," and some of the reactions from people were mixed.
"But of course people’s reactions have been mixed - and there was a certain amount of surprise when I sent people an invoice attached to their Christmas dinner invite," she said.
"Within half-an-hour of the email going out I had five people tell me it was a great idea. And two even put a deposit into my special Christmas dinner day account," Robertson said.
But, as expected there were also some who were not so excited to be "charged" for a homecooked meal.
Some people were not interested nor happy to receive an invoice with their invite to dinner and opted out of coming entirely because they were being charged.
Despite the high price of planning and executing the meal, they still said no.
"Some mums and dads at George’s school have even asked me for copies of my menus, spreadsheet guides and emails I send telling people about the cost structure and how to pay me," said the mom of two.
It's definitely a tricky situation, and all I can say is that everyone has different financial situations!
