What to take as a food contribution to Inlaws at christmas?

[GoEasyPudding]

We alternate Christmas between my parents and my DH parents. This year it?s at the In-laws and I always ask if we can bring anything. They always say no. I always suggest to my DH that we should take something anyway and he says they don?t need anything and doesn?t support me by helping me choose or by supporting my ideas.

We have of course turned up with things anyway, Wine of course but it?s never good enough as they are really into wine and we never get it right! (We are told at each stage what we are drinking and how much it cost!) We took the starter last time by arrangement, a pate', but this was served with "From waitrose! Not homemade!"

If I have tried to impress in the past and got a generous selection of posh & well regarded cakes but this was proclaimed to be too much cake and was laughed about for the entire holiday. (The in-laws are a very tiring bunch!!!)

What do I take that?s not too cheap and not too posh and wont take up Christmas fridge space? I want to make an effort and feel confident in the choices I make, (so when they laugh at my humble offerings I can just shrug it off)

mmmmmm?
my ' have turned to ?'s .
sorry about that...

How about Chutney/pickle? Can get some nice posh ones around Xmas.

Chutney? Quince jelly?

They sound rather rude.

You're never going to win this battle or impress people like this - whether they like what you've brought or not, they should at least feign politeness. Bring nothing.

They sound really annoying. My ex-inlaws are similar (stay in touch because of DS). They decided to meet in a coffee shop, so we went to cafe nero. They complained about the prices. So I took them to a cheap cafe. They complained about the coffee. Eventually found somewhere with reasonably priced coffee which has free refills before a certain time and they still managed to complain that the second coffee was stronger than the first and with the first one the machine must not have had enough time to warm up

Anyway. I'd be tempted to take something really ridiculous to piss them off How about a prawn ring from iceland and a tin of value fruit salad?

God they sound annoying! So the problem with the pate was that Waitrose is posh not that you hadn't made it yourself?

do you have any delis near you that do home made cranberry sauce? (Or make some!)

Could you offer to do the cheese board?

Lebkuchen is aways a hit in our house.

Expensive crackers?

Find yourself a good quality cheese shop and take cheese, some nice biscuits and some good quality chutney/jellies

BertieBotts' right. But also gave me another idea , how about posh coffee or posh tea?

yy to a posh cheese board. Complete with grapes, chutneys and smart biscuits. (Or Cream crackers if that's what you prefer).

Or would they berate you for not making your own cheese?

Panettone in a tin? Then if they sneer at it in front of you, at least they can eat it in private. Also it will be minimal effort to buy it.

Smoked salmon. It takes up little space and that generation go ooooh over it. They sound yukky.

How about sending them a copy of the Waitrose Christmas entertaining catalogue and invite them to choose what they would like to receive to meet their overall catering plan, giving them a budget? And then order it and have it delivered at a time convenient to them. I think it will be much easier for them to choose from a catalogue to a budget than to think of a random contribution.

Thanks chaps - these are all great ideas and funny replies too. D0G!! Thats what my DH said (Said with a Paul Calf voice!) when I brought the subject up recently!

The pate', I think it was a killer combination of those two very factors, both because it wasnt homemade and it came from waitrose, so was a bit posh!

I cant win!

The cakes were from Bettys and I thought I had done a good deed, but MIL laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed until it got really annoying.... and all I had done is bought enough so everyone could have one each.....and this was deemed too fattening, and no one eats this much cake!! ha ha ha! whilst she eyed up my post baby extra stone or two....

I shall make my own cheese, starting now... theres some unattended highland cows near to my house.....

What about some sweets/seasonal treats - go to a deli and pick up some traditional Turkish Delight, or Pannetone, Amaretti biscuits etc. Posh but not too expensive, won't need being kept in the fridge and a nice bottle of desert wine or port. They might well be wine snobs, but desert wine is fairly easy to get right - go to a nice wine shop and ask for some advice.

at the unattended highland cows!

Wholelottarosie, yes please that would be most kind. Feel free to post that up here or pm me.

I am rather afraid to make something myself though, I can imagine them blaming me for food poisoning or something.
MIL or FIL would be saying whilst lying down on sofa "I just havent felt right since GoEasys HOMEMADE pate, grumble grumble...."

A whole trickle of cheddar, a whole salami and a bottle of Benedictine?

A trickle of cheddar?

they sound boring.

Bring a bottle of (real) champagne (not a fakey brand for 11 pounds, just get a Moet or something) and a box of nice quality chocs, maybe from somewhere good like Montezuma, or just nice Belgian ones.

Then smile and relax

Gin. It sounds like some gin wouldn't go amiss in this scenario.