Christmas Dinner - Do you pay?!?

[Apple In My Pie]

I’d never pay, and i’d never charge. It’s family ffs not a Michelin star restaurant. I’d contribute towards it e.g. bring a drink or food or whatever but never outright pay

 

[Satisfying Click]

If I was being charged as a guest, I wouldn't go and I'd never dream of charging others. I've been invited to someone's home, not a restaurant. My aunt likes to host Christmas and she'd take great offence at anyone suggesting they contribute towards it.

 

[watermelon sugar]

No… I’ve been for Christmas dinner at many places and no one has ever asked me/us to pay. We usually bring our own drinks or a dessert, though. Imo if you have offered to make dinner that’s you offering to pay. I wouldn’t ask someone over for Christmas dinner and say ‘can you bring the £1 for the potatoes and the 54p for the sprouts please’

 

[StrawberryCream]

No I would never ask anyone to pay if I invited them to my home, if they want to bring alcohol or any food then that is up to them but it’s not something I would expect them to do.
If we had arranged to go out for Christmas dinner to a restaurant/hotel then that would be different, I would assume each person was paying for their meal.

 

[DCICassieStuart]

No. I'd never pay to go to someone else's for dinner and I wouldn't expect anyone to pay me if I was the one hosting either. Why would you invite someone to dinner and then expect them to pay for it?
I'd bring wine/chocolates/flowers etc, but not cash.

 

[Peaches_xox]

So I would never expect anybody to pay, but one Christmas I hosted for 15 people most being my fellas family and not one of them offered to help in any way and I thought that was quite rude. I think if there’s a lot of people at the dinner then as a guest you should at least offer to bring something. It was very expensive to provide Christmas dinner, dessert and alcohol for 14 adults not to mention the cleaning up after that I didn’t get help with. Won’t be having people over again

 

[Scorpihoe]

I personally think it’s a quite rude to ask someone to pay for the food, if you have invited them over.

Should I tip them and write a trip advisor review too?

 

[Briar Rose]

My grandparents always hosted the big Christmas lunch when I was growing up and they would have been aghast at the thought of people charging their relatives cash to attend. They were not rich either, just average working class.

I think asking people to bring something to the table is absolutely fine and totally different, but this rising trend of people demanding cold hard cast and a set amount too is horrifying to me.

 

[Peaches_xox]

This has stressed me slightly as we always go to my Mum’s for Christmas, she’s a single parent and doesn’t earn a huge amount but it’s literally never occurred to me that we should maybe offer to pay I think she would be offended though. We do often take a dessert and wine, and we host on Christmas Eve which obviously we pay for. Christmas dinner must cost a fortune though.

I think if you take dessert and wine and host Christmas Eve it’s fine! It’s more when you do nothing and just turn up on Christmas Day without even so much as a box of chocolates it’s quite rude

 

[judgejohndeed]

This has stressed me slightly as we always go to my Mum’s for Christmas, she’s a single parent and doesn’t earn a huge amount but it’s literally never occurred to me that we should maybe offer to pay I think she would be offended though. We do often take a dessert and wine, and we host on Christmas Eve which obviously we pay for. Christmas dinner must cost a fortune though.

 

[TooFarScone]

I'd be happy to bring a bottle of wine or dessert or something, but if someone (especially family) tried to charge me I'd tell them where to stick the Christmas dinner.

 

[Dickydoo123]

I wouldn’t offer to host what I couldn’t afford. Some of our guests drink, some don’t. Some eat a lot, some don’t. But I do find they don’t come empty handed, so bring a bottle or cheese board etc. It’s fine we’re all catered for. However, I do know in between Christmas and New Year we go to other houses and a spread plus drinks will be put on for us and we return the favour by taking treats plus a bottle and we always help clear away.
I wouldn’t ask for a financial contribution but an extra pair of hands washing up is always gratefully received

 

[HoGi]

I host each year and pay for all of Christmas Dinner.

But my mum always pays for a take away on Xmas eve that easily comes to about £80 and my sister pays for bits on Boxing Day buffet.

I also only supply a limited amount of booze (I have expensive/good taste in wine and my family don't they will happily drink cheap shit) so I ask everyone to bring a bottle or two or whatever they want to drink, as I don't want to waste the good stuff on them or be left with crap I wouldn't drink.

 

[CatCafe234]

I would never dream of charging someone for a meal, especially not if I’ve invited them for something like Christmas dinner. However, if we are asked somewhere then I will always ask (discretely if necessary) if I can contribute or if there is anything that I can bring to help. We often go to my parents for Christmas and I always take some things and offer to pay for a big shop or something specific, like the turkey. To me, that’s polite - I would hate for someone to feel stressed because it’s all fallen on them and they’re struggling.

 

[Niamhm]

I'd never pay and I'd never charge. I would offer to bring a dish or drinks. I think if a family agree to take turns hosting each year and split the cost every year then that's great but I would never invite people for dinner, then say 'oh and you have to pay x amount'.

 

[emm]

So I would never expect anybody to pay, but one Christmas I hosted for 15 people most being my fellas family and not one of them offered to help in any way and I thought that was quite rude. I think if there’s a lot of people at the dinner then as a guest you should at least offer to bring something. It was very expensive to provide Christmas dinner, dessert and alcohol for 14 adults not to mention the cleaning up after that I didn’t get help with. Won’t be having people over again

I agree with this, I would never charge people, but I have also been disappointed when people have come over for a group dinner (albeit not an xmas one) on more than one occasion (the sam person) and not brought one thing with them.... even when people ask me if they want to me to bring something I say no people generally do bring something (flowers/chocolates or whatever) for me it just seems polite to bring something, obviously does not cover the price of the food etc but it is just a gesture of thanks

 

[lemonlime]

Never heard of guests being asked to pay their share for the Christmas dinner tbh

I've never been asked to pay and while I never hosted an xmas dinner before, I don't think I could ask people to pay if I'm inviting them over. (That being said, I'm not married and I don't have in laws or relatives that expect/hope/demand to be guests and I am free to choose whether I want to entertain or not. Not saying that married people can't choose but as far as I can see, the whole Christmas dinner thing can be more tedious if you have a bunch of in-laws to consider.)

I personally wouldn't be offended if someone asked me to chip in but I'd rather do that in the form of bringing a side dish, drinks, dessert or what have you.

 

[ElektraWintour]

We’ve got my in laws and husbands grandad coming for Christmas. I would never charge them but they insisted they help with costs so I wrote the shopping list and asked them to let me know what they’re bringing. We’re definitely still spending the most by the looks of it but I think it’s to be expected when you host so I’m not complaining. Plus we’ve been to them for Christmas a good few times and never paid a penny so it goes both ways.

 

[JGJB]

We always offer to contribute to the meal either with money or by taking a dish with us. On the other hand if we're hosting, we would never expect anyone to pay us. We do ask my mum to make the dauphinoise because she makes it 1000x nicer than I ever could. We'll happily pay for and drop off the ingredients at her house beforehand though.

 

[emm]

When I was a uni student and did xmas dinners we each put in money to buy the food. Now though whenever I have been to big xmas dinners with lots of people we oragnise between us the menu, so someone brings the sides/someone else the turkey etc. but it has always been more about convenience rather than money.
I think if you invite someone over you have kind of offered to pay imo, that said I would never turn up at anyone's house for any kind of dinner without anything regardless of the occasion