Every year, my stepsister Karen throws a huge Fourth of July BBQ, and this time, I was shocked when she hit me with a $500 bill for my “share” of the party costs. At first, I thought she was joking, but nope — Karen was serious. She claimed the food and fireworks weren’t cheap and expected me to pay up, turning what was supposed to be a fun family gathering into a stressful money dispute.

Refusing to just pay, I decided to turn the tables. I dug through receipts from all the family events I had hosted over the years — holidays, birthdays, you name it — and tallied the costs. The grand total? A whopping $3,750. I sent Karen an itemized invoice for her share, reminding her that if we were going to keep score, it had to be fair. Her reaction was priceless — she was flustered and couldn’t argue with the numbers.

A couple of weeks later, my husband and I hosted our own family get-together and handed out “bills” to everyone based on what they ate. Karen was visibly uncomfortable as the rest of the family caught on to the joke, and the atmosphere shifted from amusement to awkwardness. It was my way of showing that family gatherings shouldn’t be about money, but about coming together and sharing good times.

After that, Karen finally backed down, texting that she was “forgetting the money” and even started pitching in more at future events. Maybe I went a little overboard with my payback, but sometimes you need to give a little taste of your own medicine to teach a lesson — especially when it comes to family.