Woman charges her family for Christmas dinner including 3-year-old grandkids

Caroline Duddridge, a 63-year-old woman, started charging for Christmas dinner after she noticed it was draining her income. She charges up to $18 for adults, $6 for her 12-year-old and 9-year-old grandkids, and $3 for her two 3-year-old grandchildren. The adult women attending the dinner have lower charges because they have families and work part-time jobs.

Caroline shared that all her children, aged 37, 34, 32, 29 and 24, get notifications on their phone about the charges. Despite that, some of them will moan and give excuses like their pay hasn’t gone in and their bank account is frozen. In the end, she receives the amount.

Caroline started this tradition in 2016 after she observed that every week her meal budget bought her less than what she got before. Since she receives $1,200 every month as a widower’s pension, feeding and buying gifts for 12 worried her. She told The New York Post that she was afraid she would have to pay the whole amount off during the New Year.

The mother of five also added that she goes through several grocery stores for the cheapest and best deals.

Initially, she started a ‘Christmas kitty jar’ so that her two sons could put in $2 per week and the daughters about $1 per week. But this ended up with some of her kids paying more than others.

So she started charging her kids a fixed price. In return, she provides a dinner including pudding, Christmas crackers, nuts and cheese, wine, soft drinks, and traditional table decor.

As per her rule, if dinner guests don’t pay on time, they might get uninvited.