President Donald Trump likes to claim Thanksgiving costs are down this year, but some holiday hosts are considering extraordinary measures to keep their meals under budget.
The president has claimed costs for this year's meal are down 25 percent, citing a misleadingly priced Thanksgiving meal basket listed online by Walmart, but the Washington Post reported on social media debates over the ethics of charging guests for their dinner.
"Nothing says happy holidays like a cover charge," the newspaper reported.
"With Thanksgiving here soon, you may have noticed online postings by would-be hosts asking whether it is okay to charge guests for their roast turkey and cranberry sauce" the report continued. "But it is part of a larger trend of people billing guests for food and drink that, depending on your point of view, is either a major breach of etiquette or simply pragmatic."
A caller on a recent episode of the “Maney and LauRen Morning Show” recounted that her aunt charges guests $10 each for their meal, which left the radio hosts aghast, and debates broke out on Reddit over a graduate student charging $12 to help pay for turkey at a “Friendsgiving” potluck dinner.
“It’s the inflated price that gets me,” wrote one person who disagreed with charging guests a fee. “That’s way more than a fair contribution to a turkey alone … it’s fair for the friends to contribute, but the way this is presented just looks like friends being asked to pay for a dinner party they were invited to.”
However, not everyone was opposed to charging guests.
“Hosting a dinner can be expensive," one person wrote, "[so] it’s not uncommon to ask people to chip in.”
Consumer costs are rising across the board, and the Post suggested several options for helping to keep costs down for Thanksgiving hosts.
"If you’re tired of being the annual host because of the cost and labor, change the dynamics of your function by hosting a potluck," wrote personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary. "This is often the big cost-saver. Don’t just say: 'Bring something' Be specific."
The columnist also advised serving only three of the most crowd-pleasing side dishes and not cooking enough to provide leftovers, and if the meal is too expensive to serve without charging guests, skip it altogether.
"Just because you have always been the host doesn’t mean you have to accept the duty when you know your finances can’t handle it," Singletary wrote. "As I always say: Live your financial truth. If the truth is that your money is tight, don’t shift the cost to your guests."