Hosting Christmas for first time- where do I start?

[olivo]

We finally have room to host people on Christmas Day. We will have 9 or 10 adults and 4 children. Where do I start? I need to start buying things that won't go off soon, as we are pretty tight on money. What can/ should I buy in advance?

The Good Housekeeping Christmas plan is really good, and their recipes super reliable imo. The November edition (bizzarely, just out) has stuff to do in advance and freeze

In addition to working out your timings for lunch, make a note of what is being cooked in what pan/dish and put them in and out of the oven as though you were cooking.

I have three shelves and two racks in my oven and bought a tray that is the width of the oven. This gives me four shelves (also using the bottom of the oven) for cooking on once the turkey comes out. Had I not calculated this in Nov and gone tray shopping, I'd have run out of space for all of the potatoes I wanted to roast.

Keep your list online - or on your phone. Then you always have it with you if you see a bargain

You are all so wise

Not really, but we have made the mistakes so that you don't have to

:)

No, we are not so wise, just have done it a few times, I've been doing Christmas lunch since I was 21 and am over 60 now!! (unfortunately ha ha)

You mention nibbles a few times, they can be quite expensive if bought, but quick and cheap to make yourself, toast fingers spead very thinly with Gentleman's Relish is popular here, or bought smoked salmon pate extended with philly works well too, I garnish it with cayenne pepper or if I am out to impress, a tiny blob of lumpfish caviar and call it Admiral's Relish and everyone loves it!

Lists will help you enormously, and search the various on line food stores for good deals.

But most of all enjoy it, and have fun.

Roast potatoes can be completely cooked beforehand and then just stuck in the top shelf of the oven for twenty minutes or so to heat through and crisp up, mash can be ready also and heated up in the microwave.

As you have quite a few guests, it is a good idea to make sure you have enough table space and chairs for them all. Another consideration is larger pans and roasting tins (making sure they fit your oven) serving dishes, enough glasses, crockery and cutlery. You could ask to borrow stuff from your family guests.

Another consideration is making sure you have enough stuff like foil, kitchen roll, and cling-film, extra loo rolls, soap and tissues, wash-up liquid, dishwasher tabs, something to clean up food and drink stains.

As someone said upthread, extra milk and bread, and also some extra long-life cartons of fruit juice might come in useful, also longlife milk if you don't mind it, especially if you use it in custard for a trifle for example.

Check your first aid and medicine supplies. In my experience someone always burns or cuts themselves in the kitchen, or starts with a cold/flu, or even just has a hangover, having plenty of plasters and painkillers is a must.

Plan your menus. It is a lot easier to do this and budget for it. Sometimes it can be cheaper to do a meal than a buffet.

I did it for the first time last year, and my one piece of advice would be KEEP IT SIMPLE. I balk at all the magazine articles that suggest you jazz up your vegetables. I can't begin to imagine why you would want to fry up bacon and chestnuts to serve with your Brussels sprouts, at the same time that you're trying to crisp up your roasties, get the turkey out to rest and get started on the gravy.

If you do fancy trying something a bit adventurous, make it in advance and freeze it so that it just has to be heated through on the day - ideally in the microwave to free up oven/stove top space. You'll have the extra hassle of simultaneous vegetarian/ meat-eater menus, so you really will have to plan ahead to make sure everything's ready at the right moment.

Don't serve too many different vegetables. But stock up on some bags of frozen veg in advance so if you have a last-minute crisis of confidence that you haven't done enough, you can just bung some extra peas on.

Don't be too bound by tradition - if everyone hates sprouts/ Christmas pudding - then don't serve them. Make the most of the opportunity to try something different.

Go with the flow -especially if you have young children or difficult family members. Timetables are useful, but not everybody wants to stick to a rigid schedule on Christmas Day. Cook the turkey first and then get it out to rest. Then wait until you're sure that everyone is ready to eat, before putting the veg on and heating anything else through. It doesn't really matter how long the turkey is out for - it won't go cold if you wrap it in foil and a teatowel. And you can always warm it up with the gravy.

Be honest about what you want to do. Don't flog yourself serving up a homemade meal if you absolutely hate cooking. Pick and choose the bits you'll enjoy doing and buy in the rest. Nobody's handing out prizes.

Hope it goes well. I'm looking forward to a calmer, more relaxed Christmas lunch this year.......

Great advice from waitingforme there, and many others!
Working out what is going to go on which baking tray and on which shelf and which time is an absolute must.
I did Christmas dinner for the first time ever for us 5 plus 5 in laws - and it was a brilliant day! It wasn't perfect, some key things went wrong (the gravy) but I still loved it and I think they did too.
I did plan it for 2 months, not kidding, and wrote down timings and lists for everything but it was worth it.
I have kept all my notes and will reuse them again and again until it comes naturally to me to just do it- if that ever happens to anyone.
Ask people to bring stuff, do as much as poss on Xmas eve including setting your table, buy good ingredients/veg/potato/meat, keep alcohol and drinks in garage or at back door (if cold country) to free up fridge etc etc
Good luck and prep as much now and you can get away with being tipsy all day

Oh I definitely plan to be tipsy all day! The main bonus of us hosting is that we don't have to take our annual turns in driving

Loads of great tips here, thank you. Please feel free to come back and add if yo I think of anything. I shall raise a toast to MN o nthe day itself

I have a Christmas box, hidden at the back of the top shelf of the pantry cupboard, DH thinks it contains the steam cleaner.
What it actually contains is...

Glass bottles of coca cola
Appletise
Baileys
Various spices for my mulled wine
Stuffing mix
Crisps and nibbles
It has contained brandy and chocolate at various points but, erm, the mice, yes the mice keep eating them.

Also, I do a lot of cheating (cookery-wise) at Christmas, so there are the following secreted at the back of my freezer...

3 bags of tesco finest duck fat roast potatoes
Mashed carrot and swede
Brussels sprouts (I will ponce them up by cooking with pancetta and chestnuts)
A raspberry brûlée cheesecake

What a great thread!

It's my first time this year too (after all am only 40) and we have six adults coming, who'll all stay one or more nights.

The first thing we have to get is some more beds, I kid you not.

What Treats said.

Let people help - they love it. MIL for eg here makes a legendary Christmas pud - I make a fab Christmas cake, my mum is fab at gravy and M & S bread sauce is very good.....

Don't think you have to do it all yourself and remember the most important thing is that you have the very best wine/Prosecco at your side in the kitchen. In this house, that means chaining it to the sink.

If they are staying for a couple of nights do a big ham and beef joint for cold cuts boxing day, christmas eve etc. if you pre do some posh potatoes and freeze you will have a much easier time.

I find preparing it all the day before way easier, even your table can be set if you have the room.

I'd forget about starters. And just have main course and pudding. And give people half an hour or so after finishing their first course. For pudding I'd just do easy straight-forward stuff. Say like choice of warmed mince pie, trifle, apple pie with cream ice-cream or custard. That usually suits most people. They can even have a bit of everything.

You have much good advice on this thread already, OP, so all I have to offer is... don't do this

I did my first big Christmas last year.

I broke all the tasks down into the smallest possible bits, wrote them on Post-Its, and stuck them on the wall with times. That way, if someone wandered in asking for a job, I could say, yes, do this and it would say eg 12pm put roasties in right oven. Everything was on there, from "peel and chop carrots" to "turn oven up to 220" to "set table" and as they were done they were removed.

Everything that could be done the night before was done the night before. We had frozen pizza for tea (minimal fridge/freezer space, no pans). I peeled and chopped everything, boiled the giblets, par-boiled things, dressed the goose, etc. The day itself was therefore mostly sticking stuff in the oven or on the hob at the right time.

Yy to planning pots and pans and serving dishes.

Like the others have said - lists!!! I always do Christmas because I am the only one in my family that can cook love it!

Obviously you'll need a shopping list and do as much as you can on Xmas Eve. My mum always comes over and peels spuds, carrots etc and we set the table, get serving dishes out etc etc. If you are doing it all a simple starter like soup that can be prepared in advance and just heated up along with part bake rolls (4 for 39p in Lidl!!) or something cold thats assembly really rather than cooking. Again as the others have said get people to bring things - alcohol, a pudding etc. Xmas puds can be pricey for a big one so shop around, again the Lidl one is nice and pretty cheap.

The other thing is to do your turkey, roasties, stuffing, parsnips and other oven stuff in those foil dishes. It will cost you a few quid but saves you hunting for loads of roasting dishes and more improtantly scrubbing them all after as you can just throw them out.

For tea I do cold cuts of whats left a few bung in the oven party nibbles and a cheese board.

Enjoy

at lexilicious!

Throw away foil trays are a good idea, I think they have that kind of thing at local pound type shop. Will investigate sooner rather than later.

I guess it's the meat thing that worries me most. We usually have the m and a mini sponge individual puddings, so should be ok there, happy to chop and steam loads of veg. Pre prepared gravy sounds good, will work out rosaries, but having been a veggie since I was a teen, turkey is scary. and then people are talking about giblets and things - much too scary

Do a posh chicken, no one likes turkey ( sticks out neck as a fellow veggie) MUCH easier.

Or do a chicken plus a beef, then you have enough for leftover boxing day.

Do not do turkey.

Ham is seasonal, and it's tasty, and it doesn't look too like a body. Nigella's coke ham recipe is a firm favourite here, and you can do lots of it in advance. I'd recommend a ham and a huge cauliflower cheese - they go together beautifully (drooool) and the cauliflower can star as the main attraction for vegetarians too, reducing your "two menus" issue. Roasts and vegetarians rarely go, I think, but I have previously found this a neat solution.

Yy to cheeseboard for supper on the day, with lots of crunchy fruit (apples, grapes), crusty bread (homemade or partbaked) and chutney.

Between now and Xmas I will be buying a few non-perishables each week. Stuffing mix, wine and other booze first. Closer to Xmas I will pick up crisps, nuts and goose fat for the roasties.

I always buy a large turkey crown. This absolves me from knowing what to do with the innards . I either buy ready made pigs in blankets or make my own in advance and stash them in the freezer.

Gravy can be made in advance and re-heated on the day.

I buy veg that you can microwave in the bag and then just stick some garden peas on at the last minute.

Disposable foil trays for the turkey, roast gammon and spuds. I have been known to do the gammon on Xmas Eve and just put some slices wrapped in foil to heat through before dinner.

Xmas pud for DH goes in the microwave, the rest of us have fancy ice-cream.

We also don't have our meal until about 4 or 5 in the afternoon. I like to eat with just the candles on the table and the fairy lights on the tree. This effect is spoilt if it is still daylight. The downside of this is that Xmas Day is the one day of the year that you can start on the booze with breakfast so by late afternoon...

Yy about letting the meat rest while fart-fannying about with veg, gravy etc. I always cook the meat (nearly always a full set of beef ribs, sone of us hate turkey), then cart it to whichever sister has drawn the short straw. Current record between out of oven and actual eating is five hours... and that was the best ever. Wrapped in foil, tea-towels, a bin liner and an old sleeping bag for the car journey. Made the gravy from the meat juices, transported in two large Thermos.