Doing a buffet on Xmas day instead of traditional sit down meal?

[guestofclanmackenzie]

I'm hosting this year.. For approx 12/14.

Due to the disaster the year before last which consisted of stress/lack of space/bad layout of my living and eating areas I've decided to do a Xmas day buffet instead of a traditional Xmas meal.

Im a bit stumped as to what dishes to do that are special but easy to prepare ahead?

Any suggestions?

I can understand your reasoning but have you told the people who are coming because you may find that some of them drop out

I agree. You do need to let them know.

@AnnieOH1 It's about being with family and friends not about recreating Downton Abbey!

Can’t you see the irony in what you’re saying? It’s about family (it is) so you should make the dinner people expect (err, no, because it’s about being with family, not killing yourself in the kitchen).

And, frankly, if people dropped out because of it then good riddance.

How delightful

People are entitled to their down invitations for whatever reason they want to.

It's a case of not being able to comfortably accommodate everyone for a sit down meal as our table and dining room isn't big enough for a sit down meal for so many people. We experimented with moving our dining room table into the lounge but it didn't work out well.

I've mentioned the buffet idea to everyone who is coming and everyone is fine with it! My close family wouldnt decline my invitation because we are having a Xmas Buffet! We all once went out to an Indian restaurant on Xmas day! Everyone is grateful and appreciative that I have offered to host! And we all muck in and nearer the time I will be asked what I want people to bring. I used to live down under so I've done many successful years of doing a massive baked ham joint with lots of hot and cold salads etc so I was thinking of doing the same thing but the addition of some traditional xmassy dishes too.

Just as delightful as family only coming if they only get a turkey dinner. It's about family getting together, surely, not about the host being knackered hosting for them?

But yes, people can decline if they like.

We order in a massive curry and serve it buffet style - nice change after all the turkey / ham / potatoes etc

I used to do 23 for a Xmas dinner (then I moved far far away to cut it to 6). I also did various dos throughout the year for similar numbers (summer BBQ, Autumn curry and jacket potatoes night) so I have a bit of experience.
TBH, a buffet can be more work than a roast.

Skip a starter in favour of more pigs in blankets and stuffing balls (which will have been pre-cooked and served at room temp as gravy will warm them),
People love to fill up on Yorkshires even though not strictly Xmas fare (Tescos value pre-cooked ones)
Ask people to bring a trifle, a cheesecake, whatever to help with desserts.
You can precook and carve the meat, lay it out onto platters, when ready to reheat just spray with a little water and cover in foil. I'm not a lover of that big 'wow look at the bird and now wait 20 minutes for some fool with no expertise to carve it to smithereens' moment.
Two microwaves and lots of lidded Pyrex dishes (or the non-foil) Chinese food containers) are your friends for the veg.
On the table, have a 'serving station' for every six guests so you haven't got one pot of parsnips travelling round 15 people. And use disposable serving dishes as far as poss. But never plates or cutlery.
When you take into account the table space required for a buffet, the time spent warming things, chopping things, setting things out, it's no more relaxing.
But if it must be a buffet, I catered for 30 last weekend and the Mary Berry chicken and avocado with pesto salad thingummy went down very well. As did Scotch eggs made with a loose paxo mix.

There's only 4 of us but I'm going to nick this idea as I'm sick of spending all day cooking, only to then have to force of humongous meal down my throat. Going to get everybody to write down what their favourites are and have a buffet that people can pick on as and when.

@Badders08 - if you don't like turkey (I used to find it very dry), have you tried duck? Or the traditional Christmas goose? Both nicer meats than turkey according to my family.

Both a bit gamey for me tbh.
I did venison one boxing day...ugh!!

Ah.
I can sympathise with that. My mother gave us rabbit at one meal. We hated it, but she wouldn't tell us what it was until the end.
Quite horrible. And we had rabbits as pets at the time!

I quite liked hare when I had it in austria.
Don't mind rabbit stew.
But goose is very fatty isn't it?
Maybe I could do salmon en croute?

Blimey. Some of you don’t like your families much, do you? Would you really decline a family Christmas in a fit of pique because the person kind enough to feed 14 people decide, after the hell that was the previous time, not to spend all day slaving over a roast for you all?

But I would be quite happy to host for 14 people and would cook a traditional sit down meal. It is a big part of our family experience- auto generations sitting together in a shared meal.

It takes no real effort to cook Christmas lunch- it is just a big Sunday lunch. It just takes longer as turkey takes longer but the work involved is minimal really if you cook roast regularly it is a habit.

Goose is fatty. More noticeable when the meat's cold.

Salmon would be great though. Gammon as well?

Oooh yes 😁
And lots of lovely stuff from my nigellas Christmas book 🎄

Personally I find it more time consuming doing a buffet , more oven space needed and more room needed to lay out but then my direct family with the exception of myself would not be happy with lots of different salads so I would be doing a hot buffet . If you have a family that will eat lots of different salads I suppose that can all be pre prepared quite easily.

Sorry, I'm not going to be helpful with suggestions of food to serve but....... .

If you are planning a buffet instead of traditional sit down meal, PLEASE make sure those you're hosting are aware!

Years ago my sil decided to host about 10 of us, I was heavily pregnant, Christmas day is also my birthday, nobody knew it was buffet and we all went there armed with desserts, as requested, expecting traditional Christmas dinner and got cold cuts, sausage rolls, cheese boards etc.

It was really nice, sil had went to a lot of effort and we helped out, showed our gratitude etc but once we got home I'm ashamed to say I had a pregnant, over emotional cry to dh that I didn't get Christmas dinner on my birthday (I'm not ungrateful, was a rubbish pregnancy and everything made me cry)

We started doing this a few years ago. It means we can spend time with our guests instead of madly running around the kitchen getting stressed. We have a cooked ham, smoked salmon, king prawns, potted shrimps, homemade pork pie, sausages in bacon, pate, cheeses, dips, homemade bread and various salads. Chocolate pavlova, mince pies, stollen and Christmas pudding for dessert. Everybody loves it. We have a roast dinner on Boxing Day instead and spend Christmas Day opening presents and playing games.

Go on Pinterest op and you will find LOADS of yummy buffet stuff on there!!

Have you told the guests? I have to say that I would decline

^ sounds like mil!! She declined last time we asked because NO way was she eating her xmas dinner of her lap! We'd just moved and had no table (or space!)

I've only done summer buffets but from that experience my tips are:
Think carefully about where people will sit because they will be inclined to try! Older generation will want a table if possible, middle generation seats and sofas, younger generation will sit on arm rests or floor.

Are you using crockery or paper plates? It's worth paying more for good quality disposable plates otherwise they bend in the middle.

Foods that can be eaten one-handed while holding a plate and a glass in the other hand are the key- dry rather than wet food is better; nibbles and bite-sized things rather than a slice of turkey that you need to cut up.

People probably won't eat as much as they would at a traditional sit-down-and-eat-til-you-roll-away Christmas meal.

I am doing a buffet this year - we will be self catering, and from experience a full roast is challenging, not least because there are rarely enough oven dishes. I do a full roast most Sundays so we won't be missing out.

I am planning turkey / ham, pasta bake with roast tomatoes and mozzarella, veggie sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, nachoes - Grandma's request , mini roast potatoes, baked Camembert, coleslaw, potato salad, gigandes.

Love that people stipulate naice bread and naice cheese, just in case someone is tempted to slap a value sliced loaf and a lump of value mild cheddar on the table.

You can cook a turkey the day before, slice and keep in the fridge. Same with ham. You can pop it in the oven drizzled in the meat juices and covered in foil to heat through on the day.
Veg (not potatoes) can be cooked and pinged in the microwave on the day.
Roasted veg can be prepped (peeled, chopped etc) and then just roasted in disposable foil trays on the day.
Get an instant gravy, serve it hotter than the sun and place everything else on serving platters (disposable too if you can!) and serve buffet style.

With organisation and prep the day before; you can 100% serve a Christmas lunch safely and effectively.

Check Amazon for good quality disposable plates and servingware for reasonable prices. Even with a dishwasher; you'll have 3-4 dishwasher loads and dishes stacked up through Christmas evening with that many people and it's too much. Same with glasses and cutlery. Don't risk people breaking your nice stuff, and they'll probably end up serving themselves.

I'm a bit taken aback by people who say their families wouldn't come if they were doing a buffet style meal!

I agree @ziggiestardust, it seems really ungrateful when someone has gone to so much trouble.