Is this too many people for Christmas?

I wouldn't do a cooked meal for this many people in my house. The kitchen simply isn't big enough. I'd hire a community centre / rugby club with a proper professional kitchen in it. I'd also divvy out preparing veg - my mind is boggled by the thought of how many potatoes you'd need to peel!

Sounds fantastic! Yes it’s a lot of work and planning but what a wonderful end to a year that, from the sounds of it, has been stressful for some of your family.

As others have mentioned, I would set up a WhatsApp group, outline the menu and start allocating who does/brings what. Also outline any specific items you need people to bring, e.g., chairs, games etc.

You are a lovely person to be offering your home up to host, it will be chaotic but it sounds like your family are a wonderful bunch and won’t leave you to shoulder the responsibility alone.

Have an amazing Christmas!

Some of my favourite Christmas memories are my grandparents hosting everyone

My best memories are of other people hosting as well 😂.

I think this sounds so stressful-how much food is going to be needed for 28 people?! It’s catering on an industrial scale. I would do Christmas dinner for your family of 5 on Xmas day and then invite people over for a buffet on Boxing Day. Everyone brings stuff-lay it all out. Help yourself to drinks, paper plates!

@PrincessFairyWren Some of the people on here are awful

For not liking the same thing as you?

Unless you’re used to doing this OP I think it would be a nightmare.

Why not just go to a hotel?

I think from your updates, it’s definitely doable.
a few tips I’ve found helpful over the years:- (admittedly my maximum has been 15, but with less help)
seating: if you have room, everyone should have a seat at a table. It doesn’t have to be the same table, nor anything fancy. Garden tables & chairs are great & family could bring them round a few days before & them stored in garden (also can easily get them out the way after the seated lunch) a festive table cloth & no one would know it’s a garden one.
Food:- preparation is key, I peel & chop all my veg the day before & store in either freezer bags or veg steam bags that go straight into microwave to pre cook or fully cook. (Saves room on hob). Mashed potato can be completely done the day before & warmed in microwave or oven.
Turkey I cook overnight, bring it out a couple hours before I want to carve, remove juices from dish to add to granules for fabulous gravy. Then wrap the turkey up: a layer of foil, then a couple of towels over the top, it stays warm & ends up so juicy. No need for endless basting during cooking either, just wrap it up in foil, water in base of pan to cause steam & leave it be (I give it an hour at high heat, then overnight at low heat) always juicy & delicious.
Brussels I slice really thinly, cook in the steam bag for couple mins, then add to precooked chopped bacon in the pan & cook until ready…. Delicious.
Aunt Bessie’s roasties are perfectly acceptable, as are their yorkshires if u like them with Xmas lunch
multiple jugs of gravy, so no one’s food gets cold waiting for it to be passed round.

I don’t do starters, but do have welcome drinks and nibbles (all finger food:prawns, pate or cream cheese on mini biscuits/blinis, carrot/cucumber sticks for kids) so no one starving if lunch not quite ready.

I always do a Christmas pudding, but bought deserts as options. (Aldi do a great Christmas selection)

Have a clear plan if you are getting help, who is bringing what and when, who is preparing each part etc
Dont get too adventurous for your first year.
keep it simple & allow yourself to actually enjoy it.
Good luck.

Create a whatsapp group chat with all the (responsible) adults and plan with them. The mental load shouldn't all be on you.

In the chat everyone can decide who is bringing which dish, sway them towards a buffet style which means they should be happy to stand/sit anywhere and maybe setup a little buffet for the kids in the play room so they're not constantly in and out.

That sounds like hell. Do dinner for a significantly smaller group and have everyone else round after for drinks/nibbles/a party.

Last Christmas we were 19 across 4 generations and we hired a local church hall. We were all responsible for different things and it went off well. We paid £50 for the hall which we had from Christmas eve to set up until Boxing Day so we could leave everything and go home on Christmas night. It was perfect.

It's a lot. I would do it, but it wouldn't be a formal sit down dinner. It'd be a big plate of meat, bowls of veg etc, and everyone helps themselves. Then you sit wherever you fit. It's often more fun like that, to be honest, but people would need to know what to expect!

Some of the people on here are awful. When we host Christmas dinner it is usually around thirty if it is my family year or 25 if it is DH’s. We do it because we care about each other and we want everyone to be together and included. We actually, believe it or not enjoy it.

I am not a natural organiser so I usually copy the menu from whomever hosted last time. Everyone brings something.

Christmas themed buffet -

Rearrange furniture - take the tv out and leave the stand as a seat for example , all bookcases etc etc

If you have 18 people - you need 8 seats in the dining area and 10 or more in the living room

Borrow seats, use camping chairs , make sure those in need get first dips at t here best seats - make sure parents know that you will expect kids to move/ sit on the floor

Tell people to bring trays if that would help them

Count your plates and cutlery

Maybe its easier for that many people to eat out on Christmas day instead? They can all chip in money or pay for themselves?

We did it once, but we had it catered. They did all the work and fed 30 people without any issues. I would never do it if I had to sort the food.

If you are friendly with your neighbours and they are going away ask if you can borrow some dinning room seats to scatter around for people to sit. My neighbour did that when she had a large party.

I am just imagining a roasting tin of roasties for 28 people…..

I suspect this will only work if you sign up some (about 2 or 3) of the other adults to take a full part in preparation and execution. That means staying sober and essentially being staff for the entire time. It also means coming round for planning meetings in the couple of weeks leading up to the day. Maybe one of the couples has slightly older children who can be trusted while their M&D help you run the show.

Continuing with the "staff" theme, I would also suggest that you and your helpers eat (something like an omelette; have your Xmas lunch a few days before or after) before the rest of the guests arrive. You will not have time to eat while looking after 30 other people.

If you and your DH are on your own trying to deal with 16 other adults who all want to drink and have a jolly time, while their kids let off steam around your house, you will remember it as the Worst Christmas Ever. You will end up roping in some of the other adults to help anyway, and they will either be slightly pissed or reluctant to help because X isn't also helping.

Some of my favourite Christmas memories are my grandparents hosting everyone. In a standard house . So looking back I'm impressed they got everyone in .
19 people in total.
I think it's a fab idea to do two sittings . And if you have plenty of help then it should be manageable.
As they got older they swapped to a buffet style dinner. All lovely foods but easier for people to help themselves and a lot of the prep could be done before hand.

We have had 16 adults and four kids. We bought a trestle table and had spare dining chairs and we were able to fit that and our dining table in a L shape in our kitchen/dining/living space. Kids sat at a little table in the same space. We moved the couch normally in that room to the other lounge.

Everyone bought a dish and we laid it out on the kitchen benches for people to serve themselves.

This is cocktail part or lunch in a pub numbers. Wouldn't it be better to have a post Christmas lunch afternoon get together?
This sounds like my idea of hell with a newborn in tow
May the force be with you!!!!

I used to spend Christmas with am extended family this size.
My friend always hosted Boxing day dinner.

They brought in garden tables and chairs and were able to seat 24 adults, with a couple of high chairs.
3 or 4 adults would be the 'servers' and ate dinner in the smaller kitchen table, for desert a different 4 adults would be the servers and the first 4 sat at the main table.
To be honest it was chaos and I think only worked because they had regular gatherings of that size, the cooks sat down for the whole thing, there was a different clearing up crew. And it was Boxing day so every one had already a more 'civilized" family Christmas dinner.
The last two years though they hired the local village hall and did it there. A lot less hassle.
It sounds like a nightmare for you to be honest

I think two sessions may be quite difficult, we regularly host big dinners in our not very big house (standard 3 bed semi, but with separate dining room). But the most we have had is 15 and we put two tables together diagonally across the room to fit those in, we do it often enough we have enough tables and chairs but if not borrow them off people and get them to bring them round the day before.

I would put up extra tables in the kitchen & playroom and try and feed everyone at the same time (ish), by strategically mixing the adults and children together, and make it a job of the adults to supervise their assigned children (including yours) as you and partner will be busy.

Give everyone a job to do.. glasses/drinks, serving, supervising, dishing up etc.

I generally cook early/day before and use the oven to reheat then keep everything warm, while doing the last bits and bobs, everything is then placed in the middle of the tables and people serve themselves, it keeps things warm until ready and the 'dishing up time' is removed because people do it themselves, or dish up for others, less hassle and people can have as much or as little as they like then, plus seconds! If you've got three tables you just need to triple everything when putting it in serving dishes, again, we have loads of dishes but if not borrow them before the day before, we find glass/ceramic is best as it keeps warm, borrow if you need to, as long as you prepare what you need in advance you can easily do this.. the problem you are going to have is keeping everything warm, so we find from oven to table and warmed up plates works best.

Or do a dedicated serving table with hotplates and do it like a carvery, look up chafing dishes online which you can keep warm with hot water underneath.

For every dish you need some way of serving it so borrow tongs, spoons & slotted spoons if you need to, make sure you have more than you need, for at least 3 people per table dishing up at the same time.

If you go for a paste table in the kitchen, make sure you reinforce it in the middle!

Good luck, it sounds fab!

We always have loads for Xmas. Its chaos, it loud, it GREAT. The kids all play, everyone mucks in and make fab memories.

It's a squash round the table and not relaxing but I couldn't imagine a small Christmas.

Do a drinks and nibbles party gathering on Boxing Day. What you are proposing quite frankly is overwhelming and impractical.

Sounds horrendous.