A mum of four has revealed she is charging her friends a whopping £200 for Christmas dinner this festive season, something that she says has caused a “mixed reaction”.
But Carla Bellucci, 42, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, plans no ordinary Christmas dinner as the big day will see a private chef serve up the eagerly awaited festive meals.
The £200 price tag also helps pay for guests to sip on multiple bottles of Dom Perignon champagne while choosing between a menu of butternut squash soup or salmon tarts as a starter, beef wellington or a traditional turkey roast for their main course and a choice of tiramisu or Christmas pudding for dessert.
The pricey dinner has not gone down well with everyone, with some of Ms Bellucci’s family members being so strongly against the idea that they decided to spend Christmas elsewhere.
She said: “People might say you can go to a restaurant for that money, but a restaurant is going to be for one or two hours.
“Whereas my guests will be coming from midday and staying until 8 o’clock. They are getting a private chef, champagne plus my lovely entertainment – what more could anyone want?”
The mum of four insists she will not bag any of the profits and said any leftover money after paying the private chef £1,000 for their services will go towards buying “a few bottles of Dom Perignon champagne and then some cheaper versions based on what is leftover”.
It is not the first time Ms Bellucci has charged her guests for dinner on Christmas Day. Last year, she asked friends to pay £150 for her home-cooked dinner.
She said, as reported by the Telegraph: “There was money left over, but the cost of heating was crazy last year, the gas and electricity bill went through the roof.”
The cost of Christmas dinner has surged for millions of Brits, with a festive meal for four now averaging £32.57, a 6.5% increase from last year.
Retail analysts at Kantar attribute the rise to soaring prices for key ingredients like potatoes, carrots, parsnips and cauliflower, with potatoes alone seeing a staggering 16.3% increase.
