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Christmas

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The cost of everyone coming to us

21 replies

NickyEds · 13/10/2015 20:55

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year but we seem to have ended up with everyone coming to us! In previous years we've gone to my sister's on Christmas Day, eaten out on Boxing day, In laws inbetween Christmas and New year and then we've hosted new year. However we now have 2 small dcs (ds is 22 months and dd is 12 weeks-so can't be accomodated at the in laws) and have moved into a bigger house so this year this is what we'll be hosting;

-ds's 2nd birthday- Ds's Gps, auntys and Uncles and cousins-13 of us+kids
-A "do" so that dp's auntys and uncles can meet dd-9 of us, 15 if I extend it to my Aunty and cousins
-Christmas Day-my family round to us 8 of us +kids
-Boxing Day-Dp's family round to us- 8+kids
-New years Eve, Day and the 2nd- two BIL+SIL so 6 of us +kids

Feeding everyone will cost a fortune!!! I need tips for cheap but nice mass catering please!

OP posts:
iwannadancewithsomebody · 13/10/2015 21:02

Ask everyone to bring a dish? Cheese and biscuits, puddings, pasta bake, left over turkey curry, turkey and ham pie?

Get take aways (and everyone to chip in). Probably go down well after all the festive food. We do this on the 2nd, a nice Chinese or pizza.

Or alternatively ask someone else to host on of the days!

Personally, I'd do the latter otherwise you will be in need of a holiday come first week of January

Snozberry · 13/10/2015 21:07

Definitely don't try and do it all yourself, boxing day could be christmas meat leftovers and various cold nibbles and for new years ask everyone to bring a plate of something to a theme. Could you combine the 'do' and the birthday? Is it the same family members coming?

NickyEds · 13/10/2015 21:18

No Snozberry the relatives are different so if we merged them we couldn't fit everyone in.

Do you reckon it's ok to ask people to bring food?? I used to take bits of cheese and wine to my sister's so wouldn't mind asking her but I'd feel a bit cheeky asking Dp's family as they're travelling/making the effort to come see us. I'm hoping people will bring some booze though

OP posts:
iwannadancewithsomebody · 13/10/2015 21:55

Absolutely get them to bring something and booze! When I host Christmas I provide some wine and fizz but everyone brings a bottle of gin and even mixers and port and liqueurs

Even for Christmas dinner if someone offers to bring a course I don't dream of declining! Works out I provide the main and biscuits and cheese.

Even if there is too much food it will keep for the following day.

Delegate delegate delegate

Callmecordelia · 14/10/2015 06:56

My Mum slipped me £50 on the year I hosted everyone with a knowing smile and hug. I didn't ask - she just said, "I know it's expensive for a young family to have us all, please take it." People do realise, and will help if you ask, I'm sure.

Personally, I would find it difficult not to turn up to someone's house without bringing something, and I always ask the hosts what they would like.

A cheapish mass catering option we did last year was a "Frozen" themed night (DD was at the height of her Frozen obsession). My memory is a little hazy, but we had sausages, and a couple of big dishes of potatoes with cream and onion, gherkins, and a big chocolate cake and ice cream, and we all watched the film. I admit, I picked from various Scandinavian recipes to come up with cheap easy crowd pleasers no herring. There are some good Frozen party games on mumsnet somewhere too.

Another thing we did at my Mum's one year was a "barbecue" in December. Everyone expects to bring food to a barbecue, and even though it was all done in the oven, having burgers and hot dogs was a good contrast to all the Christmassy food. Great for children too.

scarlets · 14/10/2015 07:54

Most adults will bring a bottle of wine I would have thought.

Ask your closest relatives (mum, sister) for food contributions.

The "meet the baby" event will be short (you'll be tired!) so have it in the mid-afternoon and just offer tea/coffee/juice and cakes. Make that one low-key.

HellKitty · 14/10/2015 07:57

I did a MN tip last year, it was about half roasting the potatoes the day before then finishing them on Christmas Day. Worked brilliantly!

Don't try and be supermum or super host, ask for help!

Shutthatdoor · 14/10/2015 08:00

What does your family normally do? Do you take things to others when you have gone to theirs over Christmas?

katienana · 14/10/2015 08:04

I think you need to ditch at least one of these events. Can you cancel one of the new year ones? It sounds too much with 2 young kids to look after. Could you go out for one of the others boxing day maybe?

clovenlum · 14/10/2015 08:13

TBH It sounds too much. I would be absolutely frazzled and not enjoy the christmas period with so much to do.

I would be particularly concerned about the christmas day/boxing day hosting- as on two consecutive days.

Christmas day leaves a lot of mess ( in my house anyway), so I tend to do much of that on boxing day.
We cook for the in-laws but not until the 28th or so, by that time we have time to sort out the food, get the house in order etc.

Remember christmas is a time for you to enjoy too- not just catering for others,

chanie44 · 14/10/2015 08:47

write a list of everything you need to buy. As you are hosting different people, you can take advantage of BOGOFs etc.

When you go shopping, pick up 1-2 items at a time, particularly if they are on offer. Put them away.

For the children's parties and New Year's Eve, I'd do a finger buffet eg cocktail sausages, quiche, pizza etc. Iceland is your friend and a cheap one at that.

Prepare what you can in advance and freeze.

When I'm hosting lots of people, I do the cooking the morning of the event. I cook everything in foil trays and serve from those. I'd also use paper plates etc for the children's party and New Year's Eve party.

Xmas dinner is a glorified roast. Don't go overboard on food as a lot of it wont get eaten anyway.

Snausage · 14/10/2015 08:58

Agree with scarlet - make the 'meet the baby' event low key! lots of cake and tea and sandwiches to please everyone, and then start yawning at about 4.30pm...
It does sound a bit much that you will be hosting so many days with such a young baby. If you have to host them all, I would suggest your DP gets in touch with his side of the family and arrange with them in advance how they can contribute, whether they bring some booze/dessert/loo roll.
HellKitty I read about the par-roasting of tatties and I'm going to give it a trial run in the next month or so. If it works out, I am definitely doing that!

Shutthatdoor · 14/10/2015 09:02

What is the timescales for all of these things though? apart from Christmas and New Year

Is the birthday and 'meet' parties in November/early December?

BiddyPop · 14/10/2015 10:15

If most adults coming normally bring a bottle of wine, could you ask them to bring something specific instead?

So say you did a couple of big trays of lasagna for the "Aunts and Uncles meeting DC" event - ask the visitors to bring
Couple 1 - a big bowl of salad
Couple 2 - a bowl of coleslaw or potato salad
Couple 3 - a bowl of fruit salad or something for desert
And you throw a few garlic breads or part baked baguettes in the oven with lasagna, and add a bowl of cherry tomatoes and some salad dressings. And lasagna can be bought, or made ahead of time (and frozen ahead too if you have space).

Christmas Day: Things to ask for could include
A starter - smoked salmon and a loaf of soda bread, couple of lemons to garnish; prawn cocktail ready to just serve out; LARGE pot of soup; or a few trays of nibbles to eat while final preparations are made and people are chatting and mingling (no "starter" at the table? Or as well as a starter?)
Side dish of veg 1 - say carrots
Side dish of veg 2 - say Brussels sprouts
Side dish of veg 3 - say French beans
Side dish of veg 4 - say red cabbage
Large bowl of mash
Stuffing? (Or do you like to stuff the bird yourself?)
Ham, cooked and sliced already - which can be eaten cold or heated through in oven while turkey rests
Is anyone FAB at gravy or bread sauce or something special?
Pudding and/or desert
Cheese and crackers?

You do turkey, 1 roast potato each (a few spares but expect people to load up on mash), have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer in case you need more veg, possibly stuffing, possibly gravy, and have ice cream and jelly for desert (jelly for kids, but lots of adults like it too I find!), possibly a bowl of whipped cream or some brandy butter etc might be needed too, and having tea/coffee, and choccies or biscuits for later as well.

Boxing Day:
People can bring things like sausage rolls, pork pies, "Auntie Maeve's turkey curry" or whatever.

You could do leftovers in sandwiches (we traditionally have ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, Christmas cake, mince pies and Guinness on Boxing Day). Use leftover veggies from Christmas Day to make soup.

New Year - do something simple that needs long slow cooking in the oven. A slow roast, or hearty stew type meal. Lots of those use cheaper cuts but taste divine having cooked slowly! Here, I'd ask for starters, cheese and desert to be brought, maybe a side dish of veg or mash.

Plan ahead now on all meals.
Write down your lists and start to gather ingredients as there are special deals on (BOGOFs, lots of threshold spend vouchers in supermarkets at present, etc).

Include things like plenty of bin liners, kitchen towels, loo roll, tissues, and some extra cleaning products. (Eg. keep a spare bathroom cleaner spray and bleach upstairs out of sight, to be able to do the bathroom in 5 minutes quickly, and adopt cleaning wipes for the duration for quick tidy ups). It's not that you will only "swish and swipe", but do a decent clean ahead of time and all you need do over Christmas week is a quick swish to make it all sparkle!.

If you have any freezer space, get ahead with things now. So things for meals in between times for your small family to cook and eat quickly with little fuss - pasta sauces, curries, chilli con carne etc. Side dishes for big meals, or things like sausage rolls/mince pies for passing around in large, "not really meal" gatherings.

Or whole dishes - so say you make a family sized lasagna this week for dinner but make 2 and freeze the 2nd for family meals over Christmas or the "meet the baby" event. Once frozen, pop it out of the dish, wrap in a couple of layers of tinfoil, LABEL, and pop back into freezer. When you want to defrost it, unwrap from tinfoil, put back into original oven tray and let it defrost there to cook when you want it. As long as you use different containers (or have more than 1 the exact same to use for larger events), you could do this a couple of times and have enough made for a bigger event to just cook on the day, no other work needed.

Also, once you have your menus done - DELEGATE.

Ask everyone who is coming to make something for it, and be specific if you can. "Could you please bring a bowl of salad leaves to serve 16 of us?", "You make such wonderful coleslaw, could you bring a bowl for the 16 of us please?", etc. Or ask them to be responsible for a course - "I can sort the turkey and Jane is bringing vegetables, but could you please organize the starters - I don't mind what it is as long as it doesn't need to cook in the oven", "You always have such a lovely mix of cheeses after dinner in your house, could you bring the cheeseboard and crackers?"

Prep ahead of time.

Peel veggies and potatoes, make stuffing etc, on Christmas Eve.
Give out jobs when people arrive - minding children, serving drinks, setting the table, gathering everyone's coats.

Although the more I think about it, THAT many events, in so few days, with a 22 week old and just turned 2 year old, sounds fairly full on. So if you cannot dampen down expectations (fewer events and low key ones), DEFINITELY build in time that is just for you 4 as a core family - to sleep and rest and enjoy together, and to catch up in the house.

DH needs to be on board and do lots. And I would be half inclined to have a cleaner come in the week before Christmas to blitz the house and make up any beds needed. And to buy in a lot of pre-prepared food.

And I m right back at the start then about high cost without having answered the original question. Sorry about that Xmas Grin

Funinthesun15 · 14/10/2015 10:19

What does your family normally do? Do you take things to others when you have gone to theirs over Christmas?

This is actually a really good question.

OffMyAyersRocker · 14/10/2015 11:33

Wow. We are having IL and SIL so 4 extra people and only hosting Christmas lunch and l was feeling frazzled (but l have a 23 day old dd so feeling frazzled easily! )

Mind though they're over for 3 nights and dh sees this as party time while l spend the evenings asking everyone to be quiet Hmm

Treats · 14/10/2015 13:09

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a link to the Marney letter

You need to Marney up OP Xmas Wink

NickyEds · 14/10/2015 20:25

Thanks so much for the replies.

What does your family normally do? Do you take things to others when you have gone to theirs over Christmas?

In previous years I've gone to my family and dp has gone to his. Dp took nothing and his family would have been very offended if he had. I used to take booze and perhaps a cheese board. The last 2 Christmases have been odd crap. Ds was born on the 22nd so two years ago I was a post partum mess- I can't honestly remember what we did! Last year I had really bad morning sickness and was the most miserable cow on the planet- we went to my sister's on Christmas day and did nothing else.

Previous New Years (pre kids) when we hosted we went all out-Champagne, loads of lovely home cooked food, full English breakfasts etc-it cost us a small fortune.It was great but it was when we had no kids and two jobs between us, now we have two kids and only one job!

I'm thinking that given dd will be 5 months by then maybe the aunties and uncles can wait another month to see her.....or come in November (we may now be hosting a BonfireConfused)or January.

Biddy-I do think I need to menu plan- I have a tendency to buy lots of food when we have people round. I definitely need to manage expectations- especially New Year. I hate the idea of people coming round and not having enough.

It will be fine asking my Dad, my sister and Dps brother to bring bits of food and wine. I'm not sure about asking our aunties and Uncles though.

We were thinking of getting a bigger freezer next year for when dd is weaned but we might bring that idea forward and stock up. I'm considering doing a big chilli to freeze for Boxing day to have with part baked bread, jacket potatos, homemade coleslaw, tortilla chips etc- That way it's all store cupboard stuff. It's not very Christmassy though.

Love the Marney letterGrin!!!

OP posts:
Davros · 14/10/2015 22:18

When we go to DSis for Xmas day it is our job to provide crackers (festive not cheese), games, extra pudding, cheese and biscuits, fireworks (left over from Nov), chocs, bread sauce, cranberry, some wine. And my DSis cooks the turkey on the barbecue because it's quick, yummy and leaves lots of room in the oven

Star2015 · 15/10/2015 08:35

Cold meats and salad sounds like a good idea for Boxing Day.

Could you make up a big chilli and then sides of nachos, jacket spuds and a salad one of the days?

Good luck!

girlywhirly · 15/10/2015 09:42

I think when cooking for a crowd, in order to economise on the expensive ingredients such as meat, provide plenty of bread, potato, veg and so on to fill people up. I'd ditch the full cooked breakfasts and just have something simple, have one main meal, and a simple supper each day. It is a good idea to plan menus for each day so that you can estimate how much to buy. Unless you have really greedy relatives, people tend not to eat as much as you think they will.

Do get your family to bring things, or help you make food and use their freezer.

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