Does anyone do a buffet rather a "proper" Christmas lunch?

[GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal]

Does it feel something's missing if you do? Just thinking I don't particularly feel like spending most of Christmas Day in the kitchen making a massive roast, and we really like all the tasty "party" food you get at Christmas, and thinking it might be nice for us all to spend the day relaxing and grazing on lovely tasty food.

But I'm worried if we do that the day will lack a "structure" and we'll get to the end of the day and think "oh, was that it?"

I don't even really like turkey - although tbf we had turkey last year, so this year would be a beef year - and we have plenty of roasts throughout the year, so it's not like the family are missing out.

No, I've no idea why I'm wondering about this on such a hot July day either!

Why don’t you do a buffet and just relax and enjoy the day? Start a new family tradition. There are only three of us for lunch on Xmas and we have pizza with potato wedges and onion rings.
You can structure the day by planning when presents are opened and what games you play.
It sounds a lovely idea to me - aren’t we all over formal lunches?

We do afternoon tea on Christmas day. The full Christmas dinner is saved for the Sunday after Christmas.

It's lovely. We set out the dining table, out all of the tiered cake stands out, make festive sandwiches, have mini mince pies, stolen bites and then I do a tomato and mozzarella salad in the shape of a candy cane, mini brie and cranberry tarts, things like that.

In the evening we have leftovers and a cheeseboard. Perfect. No made cooking on the big day, and a lovely Christmas dinner on the Sunday!

It doesn't feel structure-less at all. It feels like I have time to enjoy the day!

We never have the traditional dinner on Christmas Day. We do something more communal like a BBQ.... although last year it was a BBQ with duck pancakes for eldest DD as she much prefers that.

We started this when DDs were toddlers when we realised we wanted to play with them rather than cooking and clearing up.

We did this last year when it was just us for the first time ever. It was great! Bought lots of party type food and gave us loads more time to play with the kids and do video calls with family (we were in isolation)

We started this last year and will continue again, definitely preferable than slaving away in the kitchen and missing out on family time.

Bought lots of party food and tapas style food, still dressed the table and had Christmas crackers etc and it was a hit. My DC don’t like roast dinners anyway so it always felt like a waste doing a full dinner, and it meant we had lots of leftovers to nibble on in the evening.

Nope. I'm 49 and have never not had the full traditional Christmas lunch. For me it just wouldn't feel like proper Christmas without it! But that's easy for me to say, as I've never made it myself .

We always have a 'proper' Christmas dinner unless we're away - but that's because a Turkey dinner with Turkey gravy and pigs in blankets is DHs favourite meal of the year and he cooks it.

My sister did a buffet last year and it worked very well for them (she has 3dc, 2 of them were under 3yo last Christmas).
She cooked a Turkey with stuffing on Christmas Eve and around lunchtime Christmas day she laid out Turkey slices, stuffing, pigs in blankets, bread rolls, pickles, cheese, crackers, chutney, some chocolate and biscuits then cooked chips mid afternoon.
The dc were happy opening presents, grazing on the buffet then playing and when they went to bed she made herself a Christmas sandwich.
She said it was the best decision for them because she spent almost all day with the dc enjoying the day and the cleaning up was minimal - just plates in the dishwasher before bed.

Honestly, not cooking on Christmas day has been the best decision we've made. We toyed with the idea of skipping the big roast dinner completely but we'd regret it, it's more the tradition of it for us I think. We do our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve so no cooking on Christmas day (except popping the prepped cinnamon rolls in the oven first thing for breakfast). With a big breakfast nobody wants much for lunch anyway and we have plenty of leftovers and picky food to make up a late lunch/early dinner buffet/party plates. Makes Christmas day so much more relaxed as we can have a brew and watch the kids open presents in the morning, plus the kids get to play with their new stuff without needing to tidy everything away for lunch. Might be an option if you aren't sure about ditching the roast but just don't fancy it on the day?

We do the full Christmas lunch on Boxing Day instead and it feels so much more relaxed and no pressure.

On Christmas Day we have ‘party food’ as the kids call it - just be careful you don’t take on too much and it becomes as much work as Christmas lunch!

Do whatever you want.

Maybe have a roast chicken with the bits?

This year I will have a 3 month old at Christmas and mentioned to my mum about not thinking I'll manage to do a full Christmas dinner with a small baby whilst enjoying Christmas Day and that I feel guilty that it would spoil part of Christmas for my 8 year old.

It was at this point she told me that while growing up she always did a buffet type dinner on Christmas Day. Big pan of soup, sandwiches, sausage rolls etc etc. Then did the roast turkey on Boxing Day. I was genuinely shocked, never noticed that we didn't have Christmas dinner on Christmas Day so from now on I'm doing an easy dinner on Christmas Day so I can actually enjoy it a bit more and then I'll do our turkey on Boxing Day instead.

We've done this for the last few years (except last year because of Covid restrictions!) We host Christmas Day at ours, with both sets of grandparents with us. As we haven't got much room and only a small dining table we do a large buffet that keeps us going for both lunch and tea. We just add a few different bits in for tea to add a bit of variety.
Then Boxing Day we all meet up again (including my DB and his family), this time at my parents', who do the best Christmas dinner, which I couldn't hope to beat anyway! As presents have nearly all been opened the day before, it also gives us more time to enjoy the meal.
It works for us and makes Christmas Day more relaxing for everyone. No big dinner to cook and no huge pile of washing up after!

My standard boxing day fare is a cooked ham with cauli cheese, peas and cranberry. I like it more than the regular christmas dinner.

TBH- I could see a buffet on The Day then our BD fare on BD and be perfectly satisfied.

I do a turkey roast on Christmas Eve. Then DH is in charge of a running buffet on Christmas Day. Lots of seafood since we moved to Australia!

We do party food- so much more relaxed and we actually spend time together rather than dh spending all day in the kitchen.

I’ve just read the other responses more carefully. I never feel like I am missing out because I do get to have turkey at some point over Christmas. A buffet is so much easier and less stressful on the day. But I love the idea of afternoon tea! I’m going to have to work than in somehow.

We did for the first time last year. Still cooked a turkey though.

Plan on doing it again this year.

Haven't done a proper Christmas dinner in years. We have a buffet, takeaway or bbq depending on which gets the majority vote. And yes I'm in the UK 😁

I’m planning to do the turkey dinner on Christmas Eve and then cold meats, buffet set up for Christmas Day. My mum will pitch a fit, I’m sure, but I am deep into the land of no fucks given and I am going to do what suits our family best.

@DonLewis afternoon tea sounds amazing! It’s just the two of us so that sounds a lot less faff and I love baking/ making decorative little food bits. I am seriously tempted to do afternoon tea this year now

We did a Christmas eve roast dinner and then cold meats and stilton type buffet with desserts on Christmas day. I think I will do it again, then can do roast for just four of us, nice and chill, and have lovely leftovers and no cooking when grandparents are over. I did plate up roasts for the grandparents for boxing day too (froze them).

@Gem176

This year I will have a 3 month old at Christmas and mentioned to my mum about not thinking I'll manage to do a full Christmas dinner with a small baby whilst enjoying Christmas Day and that I feel guilty that it would spoil part of Christmas for my 8 year old.

It was at this point she told me that while growing up she always did a buffet type dinner on Christmas Day. Big pan of soup, sandwiches, sausage rolls etc etc. Then did the roast turkey on Boxing Day. I was genuinely shocked, never noticed that we didn't have Christmas dinner on Christmas Day so from now on I'm doing an easy dinner on Christmas Day so I can actually enjoy it a bit more and then I'll do our turkey on Boxing Day instead.

I love the sound of this and have suggested it to DH but he says it just wouldn’t be Christmas. But this year we’ll have our little DD aged 8 months by then and I want to enjoy the day with her and not be stressed out with cooking a roast and running in and out of the kitchen. So I think I’ve just decided I win, it can be done, other people have done it and the world hasn’t ended 🤣

It does seem funny to be discussing this on a sweltering July day! With a small family of 3 who all love roast dinner I prefer to cook the roast on the day. We seldom have visitors and my dd is 16 so she doesn't need entertaining, plus she often helps me with the cooking. I prefer to keep my buffet type meals for xmas eve or boxing day.

I've always been very clear that when the Christmas Dinner torch passes to me, it will likely be a buffet type affair. I don't like Christmas Dinner anyway so the idea of having to prepare it is not high ony list of things to do

There will be uproar

We do a big brunch around 11 then do an evening meal. We pass out chocolate crepes and toast while the presents are being done just to get something in tummy’s until brunch is done.

Brunch is usually pancakes, bacon, sausages, fruit etc..l it’s the DCs favourite.

I don’t like turkey so it’s never on the menu. The veg is prepared at the same time as brunch so it’s just a matter of chucking it on with the meat, we eat about 6-6.30 giving us plenty of time to enjoy a relaxing day. Last year we had a really yummy lamb with a prepared sauce from Aldi. I usually buy what ever is available just before Christmas. If it’s already preseason’d with it’s own sauce it’s a bonus. I’ve done all the preordering nice meats and fancy stuff but we don’t feel it’s any better than anything else and DH and I are happy to eat whatever on the day. The DCs are happy as long as they get pigs in blankets.

We’ve found doing it this way gives us a chance to relax more and spend time with the DCs playing with their gifts during the day. After dinner they are shattered and ready to crash leaving the rest of the night for hubby and I to have a drink and chill.