How to invite a stranger/lonely neighbour for Xmas without sounding weird or doing it for attention?r

[movemamamove]

We normally have a big family Christmas but for various reasons, it will be just 5 of us this year. It seems a shame not to fill our table and share our food and festive cheer with a few extras who might be at home and lonely. DH/DS all on board & we've had various random houseguests over the years so all quite au fait with welcoming a stranger

But how do you find people who might be keen to join a local family for Xmas dinner? I'm loathe to publically post on Nextdoor or local SM pages as those sort of posts usually end up with loads of cringeworthy "oh aren't you wonderful" messages which is absolutely not the point, but can't see anyone responding to an anonymous post in case I'm a nutter! . Is there an app that links lonely people with families looking to adopt a granny?! Or any ideas for organisations who might be able to match us to someone (or maybe even a couple/family - we have the space)

And finally, anyone else offered a stranger a place at your table on Christmas day?

Maybe contact your local church or other community groups?

Local charity for older people perhaps might help? Suggestion above of local church is a good one.

I think it's a nice thing to want to do but I really wouldn't invite a complete stranger for Christmas lunch. You might not get on at all and that would ruin the day for everyone.. I think I would just put some food in the food bank if I were you.

Op it's a very kind gesture but I wouldn't want to invite a complete stranger into the house on Christmas Day either.

In the longer term if you want to do adopt a Granny or some other sort of befriending scheme then you could do that and get to know the person make sure they'd fit in before you invite them for next Christmas

Likewise I’d suggest food in the food bank or similar, years ago I was the stranger at a Christmas, it wasn’t enjoyable for me tbh, just felt like I was intruding and didn’t really click with them and I felt they quickly regretted having a stranger at their Christmas dinner, Christmas rarely lends itself well to awkwardness like this.

I’d donate to a charity or local event that does Christmas dinners for people and then if you want to do this next do some build up before hand, such as with a local charity for older people or whatever throughout the year so it’s not a complete stranger