TV

Grandmother charges family £30 a head for their £500 Christmas dinner

This Morning viewers split over the idea

By Nancy Brown

A grandmother is charging her family £30 a head for their Christmas dinner after becoming overwhelmed by the £500 costs.

Mum-of-three Hayley Gurbett, 50, who also has four grandchildren, defended her decision on This Morning to charge her relatives for the food bill.

It comes just days after it was revealed another woman is asking her loved ones for £17 each to prepare their festive meal with all the trimmings.

Vanessa Feltz alongside Hayley (Credit: ITV)

Read more: Mother is charging her own family £17 a head for Christmas lunch!

Hayley said on the ITV daytime show that she decided to start charging for the Christmas Day feast as her family started to grow and there were suddenly 12 mouths to feed, including eight adults.

She said: “I would spend around £500 and it was like putting a quilt in a washing machine — I couldn’t even close the fridge. I was catering for everybody and overspent, really.

The grandmother charges her family £30 a head (Credit: ITV)

“The cost of living has gone up horrendously over the years. And it just came to the point where my family grew and I was getting more and more grandchildren.

“I would have my son and my daughters round and their partners too and it was just too much.”

Hayley said her family had given their full support to the idea of the financial contributions.

Hosts Rochelle Humes and Phillip Schofield (Credit: ITV)

“They understood that. We all sat down and discussed it and they were happy to come to my house and for me to cook it all,” she said.

The care worker said they had tried going out for Christmas lunch but found the experience too stressful and even more expensive.

Hayley added that being the host and doing the washing-up was her way of giving back to the family.

This Morning host Phillip Schofield said his family did similar to Hayley’s.

Vanessa backed Hayley (Credit: ITV)

Read more: Is work Secret Santa just an excuse to be mean to colleagues?

“This is such a good idea because people do find it tough at Christmas. It is expensive,” he said.

“We’re the same as you. My mum always pays for all the Christmas meat, my brother-in-law always brings the cheese, my other brother-in-law brings the sherry, my mother-in-law brings the vegetables.”

Phillip says his family are like Hayley’s at Christmas (Credit: ITV)

Guest Vanessa Feltz also voiced her support for Hayley.

She said: “I think this is the most incredible thing. It sounds a bit strict and a bit demanding but it’s actually a really good compromise.

“I think she’s so brave. The problem is I’m not a good enough cook to charge my kids.”

Hayley gets the discussion going (Credit: ITV)

Viewers were divided, however, with several opposed to the idea, including one woman who said it was “so wrong on every level”.

Another tweeted: “Charging family & guests £30 for a Christmas lunch..outrageous!!”

But the mum-of-three was also backed by lots of other viewers.

* This Morning is on ITV weekdays at 10.30am.

Is it right or wrong to charge your family for Christmas dinner? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!

Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

Related Topics

Christmas dinner Daytime TV This Morning