What’s the maximum number of people you reckon you could cater Christmas lunch for?

[Sidebeforeself]

Comfortably I mean. Taking into account chairs, table space, oven room etc?

Eight for me

10 comfortably around the main dining table

With a bit of jiggery easily another 30 including eating off laps.

Also I have enough linen, cutlery, crockery and serving dishes for all these place settings 🫣 I am aware I have too much but not ready to offload/declutter yet.

Cooking, I have an aga and a separate double oven and a gas hob.

I regularly cook from scratch for large numbers, this year I have 8 which is a nice number.

We do 20-24 most years. It’s really hard work but I love having everyone together.

I've never done more than 7. I'm not sure how I even did that as I only have six chairs! My oven is quite small, I don't think I could do much more even if I did have more chairs.

20 without drama. If I'm allowed to ask people to bring a chair and it can be outdoors I think 40.

I've done spur of the moment dinner for up to 15 people.

But we are a family of 5 so things get big fast.

For me it would be 8

I’ve had 18, 13 this year plus two tinies.

Just done it for 14, mix of kids and adults. Just our immediate family. Could add the other table on the end and fit another three or four.

6 no trouble, but we only have a small dining room so it wouldn't be easy to fit in any more.

8 around my table, bit am doing lunch for 11 this year. Will be bringing the patio table inside to assist. The china and glasses will not be all matching!

I catered for 50 last year at the end of a rugby match on a shoe string budget of about £70. All enjoyed it.

12 comfortably round the table with matching chairs, crockery and cutlery. Anymore and it gets messy.

16 - if ikea foot stools count as chairs

The most I’ve done for dinner here is 26. I could probably manage a few more. I used to work in a pub kitchen so I’m not phased by mass catering.

I’m doing 8 on Christmas Eve and 8 Christmas Day, that is enough.

And can you seat them all at your table?

But surely that wasn’t a sit down Xmas lunch?thats what I mean

20 comfortably
After that it’s dinners on laps

We used to do between 22 and 28 most years but stopped hosting a few years ago. I don’t miss it! DH and I choose to spend Christmas Day on our own now and go out for dinner. It’s wonderful 😊

I much prefer 8 or less . Have done 20 it was chaos.

Fifteen. Done it before doing it again this year.

I could seat 18 over two tables beside each other, another 6 on an outside deck (it’s Summer here). 12 is my ideal max though for a meal like Christmas lunch. This year there are only 7 of us, one child, so it’s super easy.

Our dining table seats 12 with ample space, so probably 14-16 at a squish? I may not have all matching plates though!

Our table seats 24 when fully extended, 2
people at each end and then 10
along the sides.
we’ve done for 27 before with some additional chairs squished in. Needs must and all that jazz!
we built a big kitchen diner extension and it’s fab, the table is almost never extended fully other than Christmas Day, we keep it closed up to seat 8 (and ignore it and sit and eat around the island together!).

I did a birthday party for 35 in a tiny flat with a kitchen smaller than a lot of people's fitted wardrobes, but that was with free ranging 13 year olds inside and out, so I didn't need to find anywhere to put them. It's not the cooking of the food that's the issue, it's the lack of space for table and chairs.

We usually have 6 of us (one a child) and honestly even that has been a stretch until this year, our house was tiny.

We’ve moved and have lots more room (and lots more oven space) now but we’re having to add furniture bit by bit and so we’ve still got our tiny dining table, which is meant for 4 so 6 will still be a bit of a squash but we always manage so it’ll be fine.

If there were more who wanted to come we’d make it work, but we tend to have a smaller Christmas Day with just DH’s parents and my aunt, and then do the big get togethers with my chaotic lot in the bit between Christmas and New Year. In fact we’re hosting one of those this year and will be feeding upwards of 20, but it won’t be a sit down dinner so it’ll be fine.