Is this too many people for Christmas?

How much does it cost to hire the local village/school hall? Might be less than you imagine, I've known people do this for big Christmas day dinners. They have kitchens.

Village hall idea is genius, if you can get the person who opens up on side. Find one with a good kitchen and you're away!

How I imagine it looking on the day...

It's doable, the worry might be they all really enjoy it and you end up doing it every year! But not eating in shifts....

And you'll have to borrow some catering tips, my chef brother always cooked the meat the night before and then warmed it up with gravy. Roast potatoes cooked and frozen so you cook from frozen. Blanch the veg.

Personally I'd do a buffet for that many though.

We used to have a kid's table and an adult table...and usually found people with babies weren't always sitting down anyway.

We had 20 one year (only 3 of them kids) and we did a buffet and a BBQ, that was much easier. So there was plates of roast potatoes, a turkey sliced, , roasted veg and all the sides and some burgers in buns!

See I'd love this so I think tbh it's down to you as a person. We don't have a particularly huge house but we had all of my family over last year for xmas (20 in total) and it was brilliant fun. Everyone was relaxed full of food and very tipsy, we all had a real laugh and the kids loved it. We brought some garden chairs in from outside and put the kids in the kitchen around the camping tables while the adults ate in the dining room. This sort of thing doesn't phase me at all though and we are all really close so I just saw it as a really fun day. If a family doesn't get on I can see how people wouldn't really understand it/get stressed by it. Honestly, just relax and go for it.

This sounds amazing. We have a family boxing day party for about 50 people annually, and it's all bring and share food, flexible arrival times, it's great!

No way in HELL would I be doing that. Change the plans now, before it's too late.

Sounds fun! I've cooked a full dinner for 12 but for this many people just a buffet. Set up a spreadsheet and get the 18 adults to choose what they want to take, make sure you include everything that will be consumed. Split between puddings, meat dishes, veg dishes, carbs, salads, drinks. We do this for work events for bigger groups than you are having and it works well. You'll need people to take their slow cookers if you want hot food, a hostess trolley might also be helpful if serving hot food. Make sure you are doing no more than anyone else. I'd hire glasses, plates and cutlery rather than getting disposable. Delegate washing up, and use the short cycle on the dishwasher.

For example (warning, I tend to over cater)
Quiche or spanish omelette
Cheese board
Deli meat platter/charcuterie board
Cold Poached salmon
Christmas Ham
Sausages/pigs in blankets

Green salad
Caprese salad
Crudités
Olives/artichoke hearts/other deli type veg
Dips
Other salads - guest to specify
Veg dishes - guests to specify
Garlic bread (will need heating)
Rice salad
Pasta salad
Potato salad
Nice bread
Crackers

Christmas pudding and brandy butter
Christmas cake
Mince Pies
Profiteroles
Trifle
Pavlova
Chocolates
Fruit salad
Other pudding - guest to specify

Sparking wine
Red wine
White wine
Spirit - guest to specify
Soft drnks and Mixers -guest to specify
Baileys
Port
Sherry
Fresh fruit juice
Other drink - guest to specify

32 people 😮buffet is surely only way to do this. If you want a sit down meal I would reschedule the wider family to Boxing Day buffet. Even if you could seat everyone you would all be in different rooms
edit sorry just read update and you seem keen to do it this way and adapt so go for it. Not sure it would be for me (well there is no way I could host that many) and also I prefer to eat with the children but Xmas is about family and doing it the way you like / your traditions so if you are all happy with it then go for it

From the info you've given in your follow up post, I think it sounds wonderful. You've got loads of willing pairs of hands to help, and I bet you'll have a fantastic time. I'm from a tiny family and although I find hosting quite stressful, I do feel a bit envious of your plans!

I think I’d consider looking for a village hall or community centre nearby and enquiring about hiring it. It’d have trestle tables and chairs etc. Everyone cook the food at home and bring it across, covered.

We regularly have over 30 people, with a huge range of ages. Not usually at our house, but it might be this year.

However, it's a hot Christmas here so a simple, cold buffet of meat & salad. Houses are open plan so bigger area. Everyone brings their share of food & helps set up & clean up. Extra chairs & tables are sourced from whoever has them. No one person is stuck in a kitchen hosting or cleaning up.

I couldn't do a cooked meal & think it's horrific that one person does it all. I'd run away!!

I would book Christmas dinner at a pub/ restaurant (everyone pays for their own meal) then maybe offer to host drinks/pudding at your's in the afternoon.

Issue here is whether you have oven space to cook the food required for that many people to eat at the same time? We have a range cooker with 2 ovens and a separate electric/fan oven… struggles to do food for 13-14 at Christmas. And do you have the cutler/crockery and space to stack it between courses, or will someone have to wash up in order to have plates for desert etc?

I’d say seating was far from the main concern, unless you are doing (as other PP’s suggest) a buffet arrangement where you can serve cold food amongst the hot. The second factor is - will you/they really enjoy a formal meal with so many people and so much work involved.

IMHO, this is too many for Christmas Lunch, but fine for a Boxing day party/buffet.

Not enough oven space for a traditional Christmas dinner.
Not enough sitting space for general entertaining and or a buffet either.
Replan or repent I say!

I'd put the (borrowed) tables and chairs in the playroom, use the kitchen table to place all the dishes etc, kids play in the lounge and paper plates. I'd have a go I think!

We often have this level of nonsense in my family.
The elders go at the tables always, but if capable then after the meal they move to the sofa with dessert in hand to free up a few spaces.
Us adults sit on the floors sofas etc and watch over the kids in shifts. Christmas Dinner for elders is served to a standard. The rest of us treat it like a buffet or snack or once a space is free we go to table. Usually underserve a plate and keep going for more so that we don't drop food.
Kids kept in one area only with 2x adults or more keeping an eye in total so we don't lose any, unless they're over 10.

My aunt was a professional caterer though - I think you may have it harder keeping up with the food rather than seating people. Us younger adults also kept out the kitchen in general unless we got summoned to fill dishwasher and do a bit of washing or serve something to keep it running like clockwork.
Have fun!
We also do above madness for many bbqs in summer and birthdays etc. Rule, elders and less able at table. The rest picnic or make do.

I have catered for various events of this size and more.
Including family parties of around 50 people, 30-50 at club events and 30+ camping.

If you want to do a sit down meal, you must sort out the seating. You have 18 adults (plus 4 babies who would probably need to be next to a parent) and 10 children.
That is a huge amount of food to cook! If, and only if, you can sort out the seating (make the playroom into a temporary dining room with extra folding tables and chairs?) then it's just doable but 1/ Give others things to bring (have a list or you will get 10 bowls of potato salad and no stuffing) including starters, puddings, snacks, sides like stuffing, bread sauce ect.
2/ Hire huge pans for the veg- imagine how many spuds/ carrots/peas/sprouts 😳 and gallons of gravy!
3/ How big is your oven? Roasties for 30 plus a turkey the size of an ostrich!

I have hired a commercial cooker before- it had 8 burners iirc - and put it in the garage.

4/ have a rota for washing up!

A much better solution would be a Christmas buffet- again, play room as temporary dining room, list of things for guests to bring.
Menu: whole ham and turkey cooked the day before. Cheese, sausage rolls (frozen) salads, jacket potatoes, plus whatever else everyone wants.

It will be chaos! It will be noisy! It will be hard work, but it could be fun.

Finally- put up a gazebo in the garden for smokers and anyone who wants a bit of peace and quiet!

Realistically as others have said it's too many for a sit down dinner, although as someone who has no family I'm envious. I think you have several options you just need to pick one. You either do a buffet type affair where the majority of stuff is cold, like salads cold cuts etc . Or a version of Christmas dinner where you have whole joints of meat carved with say a massive bowls of roasties, but that's it, so folks can help themselves, or you say actually it's not doable and downsize the affair. Unless you have done this before you won't have the utensils, big pots etc. let alone table settings cutlery etc. Glasses even. Good luck.

Ha that's way too many, you're mad! But this is part of the joy of Christmas, and I admire your attitude and wanting everyone to be welcome, it's lovely!

I read Nigella Lawson once said she puts a picnic blanket under the Christmas tree for the kids to eat their dinner on, you could do that? It'll be messy, but they'll probably love it!

Will half the older kids be willing to look after younger ones? Seems a little unfair

I would invite one side of the family for lunch and one for an evening meal with a couple of hours crossover in the middle between meals. Big houseful 2-5 ish but 2 smaller more manageable meals.

I cook for about 18 every year but about a week before Christmas and that takes pressure off the day itself. The first year I found it stressful but have the hang of it now. Harder when you have a couple of vegetarians or fussy eaters who don’t want this and that.
I have trestle tables and stacking chairs stored. Bought enough plates and cutlery. I clear a room and set up the tables a few days before. Make Jamie Oliver’s make ahead gravy many times in the weeks leading up to the day and store it in the freezer. Don’t use the star anise if you do it. I have maybe a gallon on gravy! I have two ovens and on this day, I could do with a third.
I put all the plates in the dishwasher so they are warm when I want them.
Cook the turkey well in advance of starting the dinner, it keeps warm if you cover it with foil and towels and in fact is much more tender for standing longer.
I also put a plug in, two ring hob in the utility room to steam the pudding as it’s out of the way.
I have 2 big aga trays for the roast potatoes and can do about 60 of them happily. I have about three separate steamers going for the veg and those can be steamed earlier to a point, turned off, then finished off when needed.
Dish up the first 8/10 plates completely then lay the remainder out to dish those up. Doing it like that ensures that dinners are completed quicker and stay warmer longer.
You have 28 people, could probably do it at a push but it sounds extremely stressful. Would be tempted to hire a hall with a kitchen for that, although you’d loose the ability to open a cupboard to grab something when needed.