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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think starters with Christmas dinner are superfluous?

244 replies

thatsgotit · 15/12/2025 17:14

Just what the thread title says, really. How does anyone manage to do full justice to a turkey dinner if they've had their appetite blunted by a starter beforehand? (I do realise not everyone has turkey or even a roast, obviously, but I'm mainly talking here about those who do.)

This might be partly a generational thing, but personally I'd much rather leave myself more room to enjoy the main (and some Christmas pudding afterwards, which again I realise not everyone has) and it wouldn't even occur to me to plan a starter for Christmas Day. It just feels entirely superfluous. Surely I'm not the only one?

OP posts:

Twiglets1 · 15/12/2025 18:00

We have a starter but there's only 4 of us to organise.

Plus the starter is light - smoked salmon with a wedge of lemon.

Luxio · 15/12/2025 18:00

DontGoJasonWaterfalls · 15/12/2025 17:54

Because we aren't all teeny weeny Mumsnet waifs who think "we've lost sight of what a Christmas dinner looks like" or whatever. If I want a plate of melon before Christmas dinner I'm going to have it 🤷‍♀️

Don't think any of us wanting to wait for the main event of just the Christmas dinner rather than three courses are going to be in the waif category...

Clefable · 15/12/2025 17:58

Oh and the obligatory chocolates throughout the morning and afternoon (and evening)

Original poster

thatsgotit · 15/12/2025 17:58

DontGoJasonWaterfalls · 15/12/2025 17:54

From my own perspective this is very much not why the question is being asked, is all I can say to that! 😄 I’ve never been anywhere near teeny, weeny or a waif, there’s just a limit to how much I can comfortably manage to eat in a sitting - but surely that’s the case for most/all of us?

OP posts:

Clefable · 15/12/2025 17:57

No starters here, but we do Santa pancakes for breakfast. But as we have young kids and are up at the crack of dawn, breakfast is a long time before dinner!

dailyconniptions · 15/12/2025 17:56

Yep, completely agree OP. No starters. We have a couple of warm canapés around 11am though and a glass of bucks fizz. A nice way to bring everyone together for 15 mins or so then back to the kitchen/toys/whatever! Lunch at 1pm ish.

FalseSpring · 15/12/2025 17:55

We always have our main Christmas meal at lunchtime so have never had a starter on Christmas Day at home and I would only ever cook a three course meal for dinner, not lunch.

I am aware that starters are often served with a Christmas meal in a restaurant. I don't eat enough to want a starter taking the edge of my main Christmas meal.

Original poster

thatsgotit · 15/12/2025 17:54

SeaShellsSanctuary1 · 15/12/2025 17:45

Three course meals are a thing, they've been around a while

Erm… I know?? 🤔

OP posts:

DontGoJasonWaterfalls · 15/12/2025 17:54

FanofLeaves · 15/12/2025 17:51

ah yes and melon balls in a little silver dish! They make a nice palette cleanser actually

ArabellaSaurus · 15/12/2025 17:51

YABVVVVU

I'm unreasonably affronted by your post, though, so we're quits.

ScrambledEggs12 · 15/12/2025 17:49

HobnobsChoice · 15/12/2025 17:26

No starters in this household and never when my mum and I used to cook in her house for 14 to 20 people all through the 90s! Not enough time, stomach capacity or plates!
My mother in law always did a starter. It was always melon with some ginger powder on it . Occasionally she'd dribble a splash of red wine on it too and we had no idea where this idea originated but it was not an enhancement

Not at Christmas but this brought back a memory as a child of having melon with port on it - now that was nice!

Disasterclass · 15/12/2025 17:48

We don’t have starters or pudding but do get stuck into a cheese board about an hour after dinner. Probably the only time of year we have a cheeseboard

SeaShellsSanctuary1 · 15/12/2025 17:45

Three course meals are a thing, they've been around a while

HansHolbein · 15/12/2025 17:45

Love starters. We don’t eat huge portions so don’t feel full up. A little break in between courses and it’s fine. I love making food/cooking/hosting though, so it’s right up my street.

BeenChangedForGood · 15/12/2025 17:43

We don’t do starters either @thatsgotit - I like to save myself for the main event 🤣

Its just me, DH and DS (5yo) on Christmas morning so we just have whatever we fancy for breakfast.
Then we usually have various family members popping in to us for an hour or so each between maybe 11-3ish while on their way to their various dinner plans. I pre-make a big soup which I have in the slow cooker and have some nice crusty bread in and people are welcome to help themselves to some if they fancy something at lunchtime. DS and DH will usually want some but I don’t bother.

We usually sit down to dinner (turkey and all the trimmings) at about 5ish

CoastalCalm · 15/12/2025 17:42

Meh the main is just a Sunday roast really so we have a starter and don’t go crazy portion wise with main , dessert is usually a couple of hours later

Iamnicehonest · 15/12/2025 17:40

Love a starter!! But then i dont eat dessert or the chocolates after.

Crikeyalmighty · 15/12/2025 17:36

TyneTeas · 15/12/2025 17:22

That's what we do too : )

Show quote history

And us

TheAlcott · 15/12/2025 17:36

ChocolateCinderToffee · 15/12/2025 17:28

Dunno what the non-starters on here would think of the six courses I’m aiming for!

I'd be delighted to eat it - cook it, not so much!

FanofLeaves · 15/12/2025 17:35

ComtesseDeSpair · 15/12/2025 17:31

My mum has been making prawn cocktails in the green prawn cocktail glasses she and my dad received as a wedding gift for the starter for as long as I can remember. It’s the only prawn cocktail I ever have in a year, and it may be superfluous in terms of quantity of food to come, but I like the tradition. Loads of things about Christmas don’t “need” to be there, but why not.

Ah!!! I love it. We had green ones too, they were sort of like glass lettuce leaves. When my mum departs these will be one of the first things I look for in the absolute hoarding paradise that is her loft.

collectkdsasmed · 15/12/2025 17:35

I agree, for me a Christmas dinner, if you’re having a full roast with all the trimmings, means there is no place for a starter. I only have starters generally if it’s a 3 course type meal with a more reasonably sized main, but with the amount of sides we have with it there’s so way we could fit in a starter! We also tend to have dessert in the evening after having Christmas lunch due to volume of food!

TheAlcott · 15/12/2025 17:34

Don't do starters on Christmas Day, but will have canapes/crisps/nuts/olives etc dotted around before lunch, for snackage accompanied by champagne, g&t or Bloody Marys. I cannot be arsed with sorting starters alongside The Turkey and all the trimmings, plus several different puds.

We do have a starter on Boxing Day though, usually soup. Goes nicely with the baked potatoes, pickles and cold cuts that make up an easy BD lunch (and is much more enjoyable than the Christmas Day lunch, imo)

StrawberrySquash · 15/12/2025 17:34

Also I need starters so that I can set the table with multiple sets of cutlery per person à la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

Beerlzebub · 15/12/2025 17:33

EuroTour · 15/12/2025 17:17

We have starters for lunch. Loads of room for a roast at around 6.

They're not starters then, are they? They're lunch, and your roast is a different meal!

OP, we never do starters either. I grew up with starters and by the time the main event made it to the table, I could easily have done without.

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