Ideas to make our Christmas enjoyable and welcoming for our guests.

[NickNacks]

We are hosting Christmas for the first time in our home this year and its creeping up on us now.

We will have 5 guests (plus us 5) for actual Christmas lunch. We will also have an open house for breakfast as grandparents like to see the children and watch them open their presents. This will be no set time so will probably be something along the lines of Champagne/Bucks fizz/orange juice and bacon/sausage/egg rolls.

How can we make sure our guests have a good Christmas?

What sort of things might we forget?

Any secret tips for making it all look a breeze and run smoothly?

DH is the cook and I'm the prep/clearing up/hostess type so we have clearly defind the chores on the day and helpful but young children.

Christmas music in background?

I also have a lovely scented candle (not too strong) that smells like a Fir tree, and it always makes the house smell wonderful.

If you want to make them feel really at home you could allocate chores to them

Christmas music playlist on the iPod/Christmas cd's?
Is there somewhere nearby that's good for a nice festive walk to walk off dinner?
Cook as much as you can in advance, not so much so it looks breezy and smooth, but more so you can enjoy time with your guests
Board games?

I always wash all wine/champagne glasses a day or two before guests come, along with all serving platters, etc. If you have anything that needs polishing, do it a few days before.

I don't often host a group, so find that things that 'live' in the kitchen cabinets without being used for months often need a wash so they're sparkling.

Think about where you want people to sit - is there a leg of the table that shorter people who need less leg room should sit next to? Who needs easy access back to the kitchen to carry stuff in and out? Could do name places with this in mind to prevent any discussion!

Make as much as you can in advance. Stuffing can be frozen in advance, all veg prepared beforehand.

Christmas music, lots of mince pies! Mulled wine is always a winner - do you have a slow cooker? Lots of good recipes and can be left in there all day!

I like it when visitors make themselves at home in my house, so lots of cushions, beanbags for the children, areas to curl up and relax.

I leave snacky things out as well as drinks and glasses accessible and tea/coffee/hot chocolate visible. I think it's nice when people can help themselves and not feel obliged to ask if they can have a cuppa or a mince pie.

Glade do a scented candle called Glistening Snow that is gorgeous, a real Christmassy scent. Play some Christmas music quietly and have some funny books and games to hand so people can read or play as they like.

Make sure you have lots of loo roll, tissues, wipes, milk (freeze some beforehand if able), foil and binliners. Buy disposable roasting tins as there's nothing worse than standing in the kitchen scrubbing tins whilst everyone else is lazing in the lounge!

Thanks for this, lots of stuff I hadn't thought of. Disposable roasting tins, who knew?

Good point about washing the glasses as you're right, we don't use them too often.

I do have a slow cooker. What sort of things could it be used for? That always makes the house smell great!

Will delegate DH to sort out music as he's obsessed by Christmas music and will do a great job.

We live next to lots of fields and the DSs have got bikes for Christmas so will def have to factor in a lovely after dinner walk.

DS1 would love to make name place cards for everyone for that can be his job.

This is all great! I have a bible (from my FLYlady domain) and its all getting jotted down.

Can I suggest that you let people know the shape of the days... eg on Christmas morning we are usually up by 9.30 as GPs come over at 10.00am, we will have lunch at 2.00pm and supper at 7.00pm, cos there is nothing worse than wondering when the next meal will be.

Also give people some time for themselves, so that they can wind down a little bit and let them help... if they offer to stack the dishwasher say, wonderful and let them. Another thing, when you send them off to the pub or for a walk, you don't have to go with them, you can take the time to recharge your batteries if you want to. Have a wonderful time!

To add to Sidge's list, get stocks in of painkillers, indigestion medicine (not a slur on your cooking!) and stuff like that. Let them know where to find them. Someone always has a headache/backache/period pain, and overdoes the food and drink!

My dad used to have a pack of cheap toothbrushes in case any overnight guests forgot theirs, and extra toothpaste.

Slow cooker is the best ever way to do Christmas pud on the day. Put the pud in with boiling water when you get up , a foil cap on the slow cooker if your pud is too tall. It sits in the corner of the kitchen quietly doing it's job , frees up hob space and doesn't make your windows stream

A word to the wise.... one of our guests set fire to his fleece jumper by leaning back onto a badly placed candle. Luckily he had a cotton T shirt under but it was scary how fast the fleece caught and melted.

Don't have the heating on too hot as most people will be wearing jumpers and it will get warm very quickly with lots of bodies around.

foil roasting tin on Amazon

I agree that its a good idea to give people and idea of timings. That way the GPs will know when to turn up and leave and can sort out the timings for their own meal accordingly. It also means the guests who are staying will know when to slope off to their rooms for some peace & quiet without seeming to avoid chores & won't suggest taking the children to the park 10 mins before you're about to do something.
How long are the guests staying for? You may want to outline the schedule to them in advance so that they know what to expect and explain to their children - they may do something very differently and you don't want their children upset because some key bit of their Christmas is being left out. If they're turning up before lunchtime on Xmas Eve, I'd feel free to suggest that they take your DC to the park etc on the afternoon so that you can do some prep. Or one half of each couple goes leaving the other halves to prep.
On Xmas Eve, put out the champagne glasses, platters etc all together and, depending on how you want to do it, let one of the GPs know (possibly in advance) that you'd appreciate their help in serving up. Will breakfast be a sit down affair or a buffet? Perhaps eat it off paper plates with paper napkins so you won't have to do a full dishwasher load before lunch.
Let the guests who are staying know where tea, coffee, mugs, sugar etc are so that they can help themselves without going through all of the cupboards. Likewise with toiletries & medicines.

If there's anything in the fridge/cupboard that you're saving (eg the chocolate yule log is for Boxing Day not Xmas Day), let the guests know in advance so they don't get it out at the wrong time & you then feel awkward saying "actually, that's for tomorrow".

Thank you SO much for all these answers!

Luckily we don't have any of the staying overnight. DH's father and stepmother are travelling to us but are staying with another family member who has more room. The rest of them are local and ours are the only children/grandchildren in the family anyway.

So excited about the Christmas pud! The slow cooker was a gift last christmas and so it hadn't occured to either of us yet that it would come in useful.

I picked up some foil roasting tins yesterday in Sainsburys whilst I saw them. I worried I wouldn't be abe to get hold of them closer to the day. They are such a good idea and since I am chief washer upper, I aim to make my day as easy as possible.

Wonderful suggestion to give a timeline of the day. I know how annoying it is to be sitting around and not know when the next meal is coming. Breakfast will be buffet style- they'll mainly want to exchange gifts and since they are coming to us, it only seems right to feed them.

Would turn the heating off completely as we do have a very warm house anyway and usually at gatherings people spill into the garden to cool down. Only problem is we have an elderly grandfather coming...do you think he would feel the chill if the heating was off? Maybe leave some throws on the sofas?

Is it weird to be so excited about being the hosts this year? Everyone seems to get so stressed about it and BIL and SIL who did it last year did nothing but moan about the cost (they are much much better off than us!). I feel i'm missing something- like maybe we're a bit too relaxed about it all.

I think it's nice to have the outside of the house festive and welcoming.
Lights around the entrance, a garland on the door, an xmas tree if you have room, or a christmassy potted plant if you don't.

After that we're all about the candles, the music and the food and drink.

nicknacks I think the energy and enthusiasm one has for these things is in direct correlation to how many times you have done it and what else is happening in your life.

I'll enjoy it while it lasts then!

Oh where is your fir tree candle from what make pls earlybird

I don't think it's weird to be excited about hosting. We have been doing it since we moved into the house we're in 8 years ago (plenty of room), apart from the year we had just had DS and a year when we went away to the in-laws, and I still love it. That said, we are a small family so hosting is not a big deal. The funny thing is the first year I offered I thought DM would want to be at home as she had always hosted but it turned out she was just waiting for her children to get grown up and settled enough to do the hosting!

I think with family members let them help out (or give them tasks as WhatWouldLeoDo) rather than you and DH being frazzled rushing about.

When my parents come to stay (I know your guests are just for the day) I don't expect them to cook or tidy up/load dishwasher, but my dad will totter round to the shops quite happily and they take the DCs out.

When DCs were little they loved going out on Christmas Day to the park with G/Parents ,my dad would push swings for hours.
I got on with the dinner in peace which I enjoyed while DH set the table>

Hi, a couple of things could be nicely delegated:

Have a bin liner discreetly ready in the lounge for wrapping paper - when there are loads of people trampling about, frantically ripping open pressies etc it can make a huge mess, have someone ready to shove it all in a recycling bag.

A pad and paper ready on the coffee table to jot down who bought what, so that you can easily get the thank you letters done.

You can parboil, precook loads of the veg, Delia Smith has a Christmas book with a good list and meal plan for DH. And yes I am a lover of the disposable foil trays - it's just for one day as I look at it, and also one day where it's not too important that the vitamins may have leeched out of the veg by precooking!! I would even consider cooking the turkey on Christmas Eve.

We make mountains of tiny star topped mince pies and sausage rolls and box them up in the freezer, then I just get a couple out the night before entertaining. Have them on plates available to pick.

I personally wouldn't take on the hassle of a fried breakfast, bacon rolls etc. I'd offer warm croissants, a european style preprepared platter of jams, ham, cream cheese, bagels, muffins, crumpets for example.

Don't drink too much, you'll get tired too quickly.

Low level lighting makes people feel more comfortable, and the music level needs to be subtle.

Have a side table with drinks - soft ones, juice, etc

Do a regular loo cleanliness check, little ones in their excitement can quickly leave a trail of toilet paper, make a mess etc. And leave loads of paper available, it's amazing how much guests go through!

It's nice that you are excited to have family as guests, so many people on here seem to be dreadng entertaining the idea.

Oh one more - delegate an official photographer from one of the group, someone free to capture it all on the day?

Wow binfull thanks your day sounds super organised I got some good ideas from your post as my day seems to go by in a blur. Going to do veg ect night before now and have a look at delia Christmas book.

Wonderful tips! They are going in the 'bible' so I don't forget for next year either.

Thank you all.

I would definitely recommend getting out for a walk at some point in the day, if the weather is at all ok, so people can have a bit of fresh air/walk off the food etc. The other thing I would recommend would be having one or two activities up your sleeve, as sometimes people can end up getting a bit bored after a while with just sitting around chatting etc, even though I'm sure you will be a wonderful hostess.

If your family like playing games, you could maybe have some games planned, or last year I did a "Christmas Quiz" for my family. Also did a Christmas Carol quiz, where you provide the initials of the carol and everyone has to try and work out what it is (e.g. OIRDC = Once In Royal David's City). Or something like some indoor fireworks in the evening.

Obviously you don't have to enforce any of these activities, if people would prefer to just chat/read a book etc, but it's useful to have a few diversions for if you need them.

I'd agree with letting people pitch in - I usually give everyone a job too, I think it makes people feel more relaxed and less waited on. It's better to have everyone pitch in than just you running around in a flap.

We also have 2 traditions which I love. The first is a scratch card on each guest's plate at the table - it's great fun when somone wins, especially if it's one of the children. We also have amaretti biscuits with coffee afterwards which you can set the wrapping on fire, tradition dictates that the persons who's paper reaches the ceiling first will have the best year to come.