We’ve booked a holiday home for Christmas 2021

[Poppins17]

We have booked a lovely holiday home for 6 of us and 2 dogs from 24th to 28th December.

Any recommendations of what to take with us? We have never been away for Christmas in the UK before.

We will do a food shop when we arrive for drinks, snacks, breakfasts and food for Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, and hope to book somewhere for Christmas lunch and maybe head out somewhere on 27th.

But what should we not forget? I want to make a list of things and start a box off soon to spread the cost (obviously used by dates pending).

We (my husband, brother and brother in law) have bought the stay as a gift for my moms 65th birthday which is in October, so I want to do a lot of the organising so I can let my parents know what has been sorted when we reveal the present to her (them) in October.

We have a large car and a roof box so aren’t too limited in terms of what we can take with us.

Thanks in advance!

Take decorations and a tree (or see if anywhere local to the holiday home sells real trees). I think that would make it nice and festive for you. Some lovely smelling candles too. I’d also check with holiday home if they have adequate glassware for you all eg champagne flutes etc. If not there are some really nice disposable ones or take a new in box set for non-breakages.

Other thank that just think what food/drinks your normal family Christmas has. If eating out lunch you shouldn’t need to worry too much about big enough roasting trays etc. What do you like to do for entertainment together eg play games take some along with you etc. It’s sounds like a lovely plan.

Check with the cottage owner if they provide a tree. Both times we've hired a cottage over the Christmas period a tree has been provided and we've just taken extra decorations.

The main thing is making sure you're prepared with the food & drink you need as you don't know what shops there will be near by. Also do you have any particular traditions or games you normally have at Christmas, you might want to take those with you too.

Fab thanks both... a roasting tin would be a good shout as we have just got back from a cottage holiday in UK and we found the tins and trays sparse.. we will take games with us.... I’ll check re decorations, although I’d love to put a tree up I’m not sure the rest of the family would agree for 4 nights.. we’ll see!

I would take the disposable roasting tins/trays, very cheap in Home Bargains. Also check if the accommodation supplies things like washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets, washing powder etc. We got caught out in a very rural property where it was 8 euros for a small bottle of Fairy.

I echo the advice about checking if it will be decorated. We had a holiday home over Christmas once and when we arrived there was a tree, a tin of biscuits, a bottle of wine etc.

Depending on where you're staying I would see if there is scope for them to arrange a basics box for you, but this is very dependent on the owner and what they have around them. But if you could order eggs, milk, juice, butter, cream etc from them, and then take non perishables yourself it ought to make the food shop on arrival much easier and more fun - just the fancy bits!

On that note, I would think in advance about any non-negotiables. If you simply must have after eights, and nothing else will do, I'd add them to your list of things to buy in advance. If you have the space and are happy to do so, I'd take anything ambient with you: crackers for cheese/pulling, pringles, nuts, oil, tinfoil, tea/sugar/coffee, mixers. I'd also take along things like a roasting tray as mentioned above, sharp knife etc wine glasses too maybe.

I wouldn't ordinarily be quite so bothered nor take so much in advance to a holiday home but I think the last thing you will want to do on Christmas Eve is traipse round the shops buying stuff when they are likely to be manic. It is supposed to be a relaxing break after all! To be perfectly honest, I'd try and take it all, chilled stuff included, and avoid shopping when I got there unless it was to swan around a nice farm shop buying olives and organic sourdough charcoal stone ground crackers for cheese. But I appreciate there may be reasons that's not possible.

Definitely kitchen equipment - good knives, trays, dishes, scissors. You can guarantee there won't be enough.
Chargers and extension leads.

Fab thanks for all the great recommendations- I’ve started a list!

Xmas crackers

We will do a food shop when we arrive

If you're arriving Christmas Eve, I don't think I'd risk waiting to shop until then.

Hope you have a lovely stay.

We have booked 3 x air bnb over the past year and get ocado or Waitrose to deliver to the property, it works very well. I would suggest getting a delivery for the afternoon of the 24th (and making sure you can be there in time to get it, of course) and then leaving yourself enough time to pick up any important items that might have been missed off.

Thanks all. We can’t check in until 3pm unfortunately so I don’t want to risk a food shop being delivered then in case there’s things we cannot get. My brother lives not far from the place, maybe 60/90 mins away so maybe he can pick up the most important things first thing and when we arrive we can stock up on everything else..

What things are you thinking you'll want to buy on Christmas Eve? It sounds stressful to me, if check in isn't until 3.

Ask the owners if they will be able to put the shopping away if it comes before you arrive. I wouldn't want to be going to do a food shop on the 24th PM where you need to buy loads for the next few days.

Also, depending on who you use for the food shop, you would know that morning what hasn't been delivered and if something you really need, you can buy it on your way.

Food shop delivered to your brother day before?

How lovely. No advice

I think the way to go is to have to food shop delivered to my brothers.. he’s the closest to the property. I’m also thinking it might be quite nice for my mom and I to go to the shops on 23rd when I finish work at lunch time to pick up non perishables, we’ll see.

What I’m struggling to do now is to find somewhere for lunch… we will have two dogs with us so need somewhere pet friendly which is going to be difficult as we want somewhere nice too…

Madness to go shopping on Christmas Eve. You should be enjoying your holiday not schlepping around Asda.

Book a slot for delivery, anything that is missing is missing. It'll be fine. You can buy things like Pringles and nuts and tins of roses before you go.

Just get the fresh stuff delivered.

I’d pack lots of fairy lights, as they will give max impact for minimum luggage space. LED tea lights, if you have them, would be lovely too and can be used generally for ambience but also as a table centrepiece too.

If there’s an oven you could bring some frozen mince pies and the house will smell like Christmas straight away!

Meal plan carefully and use that to see what you need in the kitchen. If you’re cooking you might need things like measuring jug and spoons, strainer, scales, potato masher - things that aren’t routinely included in holiday homes. But it really depends on what you’re cooking.

This is probably a bit daft but I always bring hot water bottles when we travel in winter or if we have guests staying over. They don’t take much space but they’re just an extra level of cosy.

Bring something you can easily reheat for the first meal as you’ll have enough to do with unpacking and sorting the shopping.

When I’m travelling by car I usually ditch the suitcases and either use a roll of bin bags or reusable shopping bags. It’s a much more effective use of space, and there’s no empty luggage to store. It’s not very glamorous though!

Thanks all, some great tips - love all your ideas @thelegohooverer

Meal plans are a good idea. Take fairy lights and leftover mince pies etc as well. Book a delivery slot. Do all shopping in advance and plan what to wear too. Take cooking equipment in case with you. Do not forget presents either, they can be wrapped up easily.

We did this a few years ago, family visiting from abroad so 12 of us inc. 2 very tiny ones.
Had the place (a converted pub near the sea) for a week, you couldn’t book for any less at that time of year.

We divided responsibility for meals between us - you do breakfast, I’ll do dinner, etc. -I then made lists of absolutely everything needed for mine (which included Christmas dinner) inc. oil, herbs, etc. There were no shops anywhere near ,and obvs. they’d be closed for a while - not like where we live, where there’s always a corner shop open.

I had made and frozen in advance stuffing and loads of pigs in blankets. So straight out of the freezer they served as ice packs for other stuff.

Don’t forget big rubbish bags, kitchen roll, foil and cling film, plenty of loo roll - I’m paranoid about that, after a holiday let with 2 loos and no paper when we’d just arrived and I was bursting!

A nice Christmas tree was provided, but we took extra decorations, or rather a dd did.
After a lot of planning/organisation in advance, it worked really well. Hope you will find the same.

Should have added, if cooking, take your own favourite knives/peelers etc. - other people’s are never as good!

We've just got back from a self catering holiday, there's no way the saucepan supplied would be big enough for cooking to 6, especially potatoes.

Ours was in a very rural area. The reason I didn’t order food to be delivered, was that if anything was wrong or missing - hardly unknown! - it would be quite a trek to any reasonable sized supermarket.

Easier to take everything we needed. I’m not the most organised person in the world, but it really wasn’t such a big deal. Lists!