To think serving a starter with Christmas dinner is unnecessary. And weird.

[Kavalier]

Am hosting DH's family for Xmas dinner for the first time this year. MIL always does a prawn cocktail starter and they will miss a starter if I don't serve one, so I will. I think it's very odd though. AIBU?

sometimes do a selection of 4 starters. all on platters handed around the table. feel need to provide every one with a favourite.

Just serve Yorkshire Pudding and gravy as the starter. Any decent Christmas lunch/dinner should have Yorkshire Pudding (regardless of whether or not you're eating beef). You'll be making it anyway and just need to ensure you've got plenty of extra gravy.

Broccoli & Stilton soup or it just isn't Christmas!!

Lulu that's difficult for you love.

Hugs and xx

Single malt truffle fluff...

Double cream, whipped until stiff (fnaaarrr)
Dark chocolate, melted
Slosh of single malt

Fold together. Pipe/spoon before it sets.

Works with white chocolate and pink champagne too. Or brandy. Or Grand Marnier. Just that single malt with ginger is Food Of The Gods.

Mermaidstale, can't believe you've never heard of soup being a starter before! Obviously it's not the same size portion that you'd have if it was your lunch. It's a starter, so it's not a full size portion.
My favourite Christmas starter is a smorgasbord of prawns, smoked salmon, avacado and bread.

YANBU.

We don't stop eating all day, so a starter to add to the big breakfast, chocolate oranges, nuts, biscuits, dates etc would do me in!

Plus less washing up with a chocolate orange

Well I never ! All this palaver about having a starter at Christmas Dinner. I've never heard of such nonsense personally and I love prawn cocktail.

(Provided it's made with North Atlantic prawns and I live in New Zealand where the prawns are from China or Thailand and are tasteless and orange rather than succulent and pink.)

My husband and I discuss having a starter on Christmas Day and agreed between us that the soup bowls then have to be used for a starter will then have to be washed so they are ready for dessert. To much aggravation when the main meal will be HUGE and the dessert/pudding will be great too.

Well I never ! All this palaver about having a starter at Christmas Dinner. I've never heard of such nonsense personally and I love prawn cocktail.

(Provided it's made with North Atlantic prawns and I live in New Zealand where the prawns are from China or Thailand and are tasteless and orange rather than succulent and pink.)

My husband and I discuss having a starter on Christmas Day and agreed between us that the soup bowls then have to be used for a starter will then have to be washed so they are ready for dessert. To much aggravation when the main meal will be HUGE and the dessert/pudding will be great too.

Thank you mrshathaway
It's got to be worth a go - anything with single malt, chocolate and ginger can't go too far wrong!

If anyone would appreciate it and I didn't have children, I'd do starters again. At college I managed starter and soup. Then many years at ILs where we spent hours drinking while cooking and snacking until I deemed the turkey done, so no starters. Now I have small children and my parents, so it's one main cooked course, with cheese straws and canapes to snack on while the roasties and gravy are finished.

Do tree chocolates count?

I will have to hide this thread. Because if Dh sees it he'll be planning a starter for Christmas day. Anything to increase the work.

Love reading all of these.

We don't do a starter but that's because it's only four of us and it'd just be silly on top of all the other food. If I was hosting a proper big family christmas I'd do one for sure.

Not unnecessary, not weird

We have food around, like cheese, pate, olives, chocolates, to nibble as the meal cooks, but stopped serving an appetizer, soup or salad at the table. Although the past 2 years I didn't host dinner and just toted food over to ds's place. And they do the same thing, only they have even more food around for snacks then I did!

I didn't make the meal exactly the same as my mother did or mother in law, it is ok to make your own traditions. For instance, my mother did not serve alcohol or Christmas pudding. I did steal mil's cracker's though, we need those paper hats for it to be Christmas! And my mother's pumpkin pie, as well as the Christmas Pudding.

Christmas dinner is hectic enough for us without throwing a starter into the mix. We usually go to my mums... Huge family, we have to set up 2 specially bought in 6 foot tables to seat us all (people all the way around each one) and even then there will be a couple of strays eating on the couch! All of this in a standard 3 bed semi, it is honestly chaos. We love it though, it makes Christmas, but no way would we ever be mad enough to add another course for everyone

On the few occasions we have had Christmas dinner at MILs she has done a starter - either soup,prawn cocktail or pâté and toast, and I just didn't enjoy my main event as much. It was nice, but it's just unnecessary when such a huge meal is about to be served.

I can't eat very much in one go. I have a bite of starter and my main and no pudding. My mum always gets really offended but I genuinely can't fit that much in my stomach! To be honest, I'd much rather skip the main and just have pudding, but that would be a big no in her book.

chrome that is the same as me. I usually have a small dinner like a 3 year old would have. Often only have a salad or soup for dinner.

Me too chrome. I love food but can't manage large portions. I prefer to help myself to a selection rather than be presented with a large plate, but I hate it if people then judge my portion sizes. I'm happy with something very light like smoked salmon as a starter if someone else has prepared the meal but we are all in agreement in our house that we'd rather have room for the main meal. Pudding often gets served after a good rest.

I agree that it's not really a starter unless you're not getting up from the table before the main though. Which means that either there's a 20 minute wait between courses (not practical with young children), or the cook has to keep jumping up to check the sprouts or whatever (cba with that), or the food has to be kept waiting and going cold or reheated and I'm not a huge fan of that either (sorry MIL).

I think I'll go for the light lunch/canapés option a couple of hours before and no formal starter. MIL won't complain as such, but she is likely to express her astonishment and then visibly refrain from saying anything about it .

Yabu, I would be very disappointed with a Christmas dinner with no starter!

I always do a starter, because I never normally have one, and it's part of what makes the meal special and different, as opposed to just being a big roast dinner. It's often soup, one year did a whole salmon baked in oven (not as impressive as it sounds, it was a little frozen one, £5 from Asda), sometimes pate with toast. I think the ponciest thing I did was grilled asparagus wrapped in parma ham (once).

not practical with young children.
Exactly.

I think not having a starter is weird.

I also remember being flabbergasted when I read on here that a lot of people plate up Christmas dinner - we always have everything on the table and people help themselves. One of have best things about Christmas dinner is seeing the turkey and ham, and everything else, all laid out on thee table.

Christmas dinner is emotive though - everyone seems to th