Grandmother billed relatives for Christmas dinner: 'those who haven't paid by December 1 may not come'

The woman came up with a way to ease the financial burden at Christmas. To gather the family around the festive table, she charges everyone for dinner. Writes about it The Guardian.

Photo: IStock

Caroline Duddridge has developed a tiered payment system for her relatives. This year, this approach brought her about 180 pounds ($217) and helped cover the cost of a turkey, as well as all the side dishes for her five adult children and their families.

"Some people think I'm a bit of a Scrooge, but my friends think it's not a bad idea," Duddridge, 63, said.

The idea came about after her husband's death in 2015 left her with only half of the family's income. At first, she asked relatives to regularly save small amounts by the end of the year, but keeping track of this was difficult.

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“I told my children: a birthday dinner costs a lot of money, and I’m going to put a small jar so that you can start saving £2 in it from September.” Sounds good, doesn't it? But over time, things got a little confused. It turned out to be difficult to keep track of everyone, and there were a few stragglers, ”she admitted.

Instead, a Fairwater teaching assistant in Cardiff decided to charge her two sons £15 ($18) each and three daughters £10 ($12), while her four grandchildren, aged five and over, are charged pay £5 ($6) each, while her two three-year-old grandchildren paid £2,50 ($3).

She explained that she charges her sons more because they work full time and her daughters work part time, plus they take care of their families.

“If you don’t pay by December 1, you won’t come. Obviously, there was a bit of grumbling about them having kids, but in the end, it's not really my problem, is it?" Duddridge noted.

She said about half of the money she raised was spent on meat, which she says she "doesn't even eat."

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She said that in the past, "hundreds of sausages and a sack of potatoes always left her, but no more" because her relatives did not bring food. “So I have a bit of autonomy over what I can buy. This saves food waste, which is another important point,” she explained.

But after weighing the cost, she concluded: “Why should the host party bear the entire financial burden? Hopefully people won't think it's terrible, they'll think, "Hmm, good idea." This is very fair. I'm not going to make a profit. I’m just doing this to help with the costs a little,” Duddridge concluded.

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