If you host for large family...

[shylatte]

How do you manage the logistics of the dinner, in terms of both cooking and serving?
I've been doing a few practise runs and even with a three tier steamer I can't see how I will be able to do enough veg for 12 people. I'm thinking to buy something a bit more industrial?
Re serving food, our table is large but only seats 6 very comfortably. Do you squash people in, set up a pasting table extension or just banish dc from the table? I'm really not in favour of the last option.

Mix the veg up so you have a combination of roasted and steamed - you don’t need 12 portions of each veg as people will take a little of each, some won’t like some of the veggies. As the Turkey can be cooked and taken out to rest under foil well in advance if eating (at least an hour) you’ll have oven space for veg roasting.

Paste table with table cloth is my solution!

Use slow cookers and the microwave.

So lots of veg in the steamer, some veg in the oven, some keeping warm in the slow cooker...

I usually have leeks or cauliflower in cheese sauce in the oven, along with roast potatoes and parsnips. Peas/beans/broad beans in the microwave. A saucepan of sprouts and another pan with glazed carrots.

Oh, and a pan of red cabbage.

Have you got a children's table you can use for the dc?
We just squeezed on, people on the corners etc.

DM used to host 11 of us round the table in her tiny cottage - her 1970s Hostess trolley was a lifesaver!

I roast and boil the veg, depending on what it is. I doubt you’d find a steamer big enough for veg for 12 people, so either change the cooking method or cook in batches.

I only host people I can seat. I can get ten round the kitchen island.

So if your table seats six comfortably I imagine with some fold away stools you could get ten?

Red cabbage can be made now, frozen and microwaved on the day. I roast carrots and parsnips together. You can do them 3/4 of the way, take them out and then finish them off in the oven at the end once turkey / leeks in cheese sauce has been taken out.

Totally agree with not doing 12 x everything. If that number includes children, I’d do 6 / 8 x veggie portions.

I've got a hostess trolley which really helps. But I agree with PP that you have to switch up your cooking methods. The turkey should be out of the oven a good hour before carving, so you should have space to roast carrots and parsnips. Cauliflower cheese can be made ahead of time and then pop in oven. Sprouts with bacon stir fry in pan, same with red cabbage (or slow cooker - again, can be made ahead) so you're limiting what you actually need to put in the steamer.

Hostess trolley/buffet warmer

Do fewer different types of veg: two or three is fine.

We do 20+ a couple of times round Christmas.

Lots of nibbles. Everything pre-prepared. We have 3 ovens which helps. All the veg cooked in advance in covered serving dishes. Turkey rests for at least 20 mins. I do gravy while DH carves it all.

People come and help themselves/get served through one way system then sit down. So we get a continuous line. No one starts until we are all seated.

Buy a cheap smaller table, like a fold up one and put at the end your table, table cloth over no one will know.

Don’t buy a pasting table. They’re very flimsy and wobbly. Have a look on line for (used) folding catering tables. You’ll use it again and again - summer bbq’s / birthday parties etc…

Nibbles before people sit down so they are out of the kitchen space. Lots made and frozen before hand. Lots can rest with foil over so doesn’t need to be cooked at same time and can just stay warm.
Squashing round the table on spare chairs is part of the atmosphere of a big family Christmas I like so I have no issue with it.

I have a buffet warmer from Aldi. They sell them every year usually early December or you would pick one up else where. I think the Aldi one was around €40.

For the table either invest in a folding catering table, or you can rent a nice table and chairs.

I have a range of largish pans but nothing industrial and never seem to run short of food. Just use large versions of home equipment. Remember as there are so many sides and veg options for a Christmas dinner, typically people have less of each item compared to a normal meal.

We have 12 staying for a week (otherwise DHs siblings plus families expect 85 yo MIL to host them ). We have lots of casseroles which I think are easier to scale up than a roast andare less demanding. Plus soup and 'ready meals' from the local delicatessen (quiche etc).

On the day itself we have a cooked breakfast then a 4 course dinner so each course can be smaller. We have a cold salad starter (any cooked components prepared the day before and then constructed just before serving), a soup course (can be done in slow cooker or cooked the day before and just reheated), main course then pudding (done in the slow cooker). For the main course we have a goose, stuffing, pigs in blankets and a combination of roasted and boiled veg. Last time we had them all we had roasted potatoes, onions, cabbage, parsnips, plus boiled sprouts, neeps, carrots and peas. I have a range cooker so the goose is in the main oven and the side oven has the veg.

We host 16. After many years of stress, I buy pre prepared veg in roasting trays which makes the prep much quicker. More expensive but only once a year.

We squash around the table. I cook some veg in the same pan and roast the Brussels.
Once the turkey is out of the oven resting there's plenty of space to roast potatoes and other veg.

We do 8 people, so not as many but still a lot for us.

Like others say, you need less veg than you think, people tend to have a little bit of everything rather than a regular full size side.

We time it to take turkey out one hour before due to eat, which gives us space in the oven to put in tray of pigs in blankets, carrots/parsnips (we do together), potatoes. Make red cabbage in advance do it just needs heated up in hob or microwave, and Brussels on hob. We prepare a lot in advance, including gravy, - see Jamie or Nigella books or BBC Good Food or Christmas Good Housekeeping for ideas. Others swear by Delia. Buy desserts and do an easy starter that can be prepared in advance and is quick and easy to dish up.

For the table, we have a small table that we got cheap from fb, that only gets put up (alongside our main dining table) at Christmas and we keep some cheap spare chairs in the loft.

Cutlery can be a challenge so a cheap extra set is worth getting.

We have an 8 seater table and use a cheap IKEA table we normally have in the playroom to extend it for 12. You can get second hand folding tables cheaply on line or use Tiptoe clamp table legs plus your own choice of table top which can be taken apart to pack away when not needed.

We bring in a table from the garden and throw a table cloth on it.
In Australia, so we do salad.
I have seen the Aldi warmers and they look good.
Also check if anyone has a slow cooker you can use.

We have a little play table - last time we tucked it into a corner and the youngest children sat there. So they were at a different table but in the same room.

Veg - as there are different kinds of veg you don't need enough for 12 people of each type of veg if you see what I mean. Red cabbage and roast parsnips are a good call.

I used to do dinner for 16, I bought two cheap electric steamers and put them in the utility room, they switch themselves off but keep warm. Christmas pud in slow cooker and turkey out at least an hour before and covered in foil and a bath towel, again dumped in the utility room, then the oven can be whacked up to finish the potatoes. I could shut the door to prevent the dogs having a bonus meal. Bought some cheap table heaters that you put tea lights in and put all the veg on a sideboard.

Assuming turkey, you take out and let it rest well wrapped for 40 minutes or more before serving. This gives you oven space to finish off the veg - giant tray of roasties, other veg you can cook in shifts then bung in the oven - things like braised red cabbage or glazed carrots do really well for having a second cook in the oven. Sprouts you can do in two pans (or multiple steamer layers) at the last minute, or else again do something like fry them with bacon or chestnuts.

Table - pasting table extension or board joining 2 smaller tables or whatever, all covered with layers of mismatched tablecloths, and garden benches and bedside stools pressed into service for seating.

As the oldest child I hated having to have a children’s table and being responsible for younger siblings and cousins as the grownups got gently tiddled in peace. So one big squashy table always gets my vote. Just make sure the people you pen into the corner are either the adults who are least likely to need the loo mid course or else the wriggliest children who can squirm out under the table and between the legs of whoever is sitting on the more accessible side.

My own recommendation is that you gather a bossy aunt to sort out the seating - she’ll be annoying, especially if she uses her primary school teacher voice, but she’ll be right and it’ll save you the hassle!

Make sure the gravy is piping hot, and have more pigs in blankets than you can possibly think of needing, and that’ll hide a multitude of imperfections.

Kids table can be great if all children are a similar age, independent, and know each other well. But otherwise half the children will end up squashed onto the adult laps anyway, or else one female adult relative will end up exiled from the adult table in order to police it. No fun for her.

One year we did a separate Ancients table! Grandparents and Great Aunts had the best silverware and finest bone China and everyone else mucked in with the children. Meant that Elderly Relative who really couldn’t bear to watch babies learning to feed themselves got to sit facing away from the horrors whilst indulgent Elderly Relative could look on and coo without risking gravy being smeared all over their cream cashmere top.

Still prefer the giant table really though if you can do it.

Good housekeeping and Mary Berry and probably loads of others have tips about what you can cook or parcook in advance and that definitely helps. Much easier to have everything preassembled and nearly ready then need 20 minutes in a hot oven to finish off, that kind of thing. And don’t bother trying to reduce your own chicken wing stock for the perfect gravy; life is too short!

Oh - and if anyone coming is adamant that Christmas won’t be Christmas without X dish, and that’s a dish you have no interest in cooking, tell them they are welcome to bring it with them in a microwaveable dish.