Mum asks if she’s being unreasonable to ask friends to pay for husband’s 40th party

Would you go?

If your friends invited you to a holiday home for a weekend, and then asked you to pay for a dinner party, would you? A mum has taken to Mumsnet to ask if she's being unreasonable to ask her friends to pay for caterers. She wrote:

"It's my dh 40th birthday soon. He doesn't want a fuss but I have managed to persuade him to mark the occasion in a small way. "We are going to go to my parents holiday house for the weekend with 3 couples and their dcs. I had the idea to have a sit down meal provided by and served by caterers. This will be adults only after kids gone to bed. This works out about £25 pp for three course meal plus cheeses. AIBU to ask people to pay for this? "We are providing the house and all facilities so apart from food it would be only expense for everyone. "We were planning on providing and paying for the drinks that evening for everyone too OR the food and people bring own drinks? Which do you think would be best?"

Many mums replied to the post, saying that it's definitely unreasonable and they would not attend if asked to pay. One said: "No absolutely not ok to ask people to pay for the caterers. Pay for the food and if you must ask people to bring their own alcohol." While another wrote: "No, don’t ask people to pay for food if you’ve invited them!! If it’s at s house they’ll surely come prepared with drinks and if they afk what they should bring ask for a bottle, but don’t invite and ask them to pay for food." What would you do in this situation?