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.

Plonk the food in the middle and let everyone help themselves but have someone dishing up the turkey as otherwise it takes up too much space on the table.

Actually what we tend to do is get everyone sitting down, pass out plates of meat (light, brown, both?) then just pass the other dishes around the table so take potatoes, pass it on, take what veg you want, pass it on, etc.

We all chip in when we get together and it works well.

Usually go to the biggest house, one family from further away stays over.

One family who lives 30 mins away does the turkey and brings it (and its juices for gravy) during its "resting" time wrapped in foil and layers of tea towels.
Another, also 30 mins away, does the ham and wraps in foil/tea towels to keep warm
Another, 1.5hrs away does cold starters and/or desserts

This leaves the hosts oven/hob free to prepare/keep warm sauces and the potatoes/veg, and gravy, set table etc with help from the family staying over.

We have the meal as soon as everyone has arrived and relax after.

We have a long garden table which with all its sections seats up to 14, so fine for festive gatherings here when brought inside. We have an antique dining table with flaps and fold away legs, so we move that against the wall and use it as an extra sideboard.

When there are a lot of us we tend to serve each item in two dishes, one for each half of the table. This seems to work OK.

We are blessed , courtesy of DM, with a hostess trolley which lives in the utility room. Very useful.

I agree with those who take the turkey out early. I take mine out at least 2 hours before.

Remember you need 12 portions of veg, not 12 portions of each veg. As long as there are plenty of pigs in blankets and roasties I find people are less bothered about missing out on a few parsnips.

I have 4 hob burners so have roasties par-boiled early, then use the hot water from this for carrot and turnip mash, get this cooked and then into a buffet warmer that I got from Aldi a few years back (couldn’t do Christmas without it!). That frees up the burners for the steamer and other veg.

Pre-cook the gravy so you only have to heat up.

Roasted carrots and parsnips also get cooked early and put in buffet warmer, lift lid every now and again to ensure condensation doesn’t make them soggy or put a tea towel under the lid.

That leave oven free for 2 trays of roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and stuffing go on bottom of oven so allow extra time.

If you are using gravy granules boil kettle 15 min early then it only needs a quick re-boil when it’s time to make it.

Write out timings and where everything is going in oven and on hob working backwards from serving to putting turkey in.

As someone else said give people twice the amount of time to sit down than you would think, there is a lot of messing and joking around and it can be really frustrating if you are worrying about food going cold.

Lots of small serving dishes is better than big ones that need to be passed from one end of the table to the other.

Give one of the kids the jobs of taking drinks orders for the meal, get another adult to pour them out in advance. Again saves messing once everyone is sat down and saves space as it means bottles don’t need to be on the table during serving.

We hosted for loads one year. Got a hostess trolley from FB for sale, for about £20. Fab for the day. Sold it again for £20 in January. Problem solved!

@shylatte

Another question: Do you all plonk all food in middle of table and let people serve themselves, or do you plate up in kitchen and just serve the plate?

Personally I let people serve themselves. Then they can warm in the microwave if they wish. Can take however much of everything they wish. And can go in whatever order they wish.

As regards veg for 12, I have some very large saucepans - I can measure them if you want.
I also do what is possibly a no on with some, and will put eg peas and sweetcorn together in the same saucepan. Or will microwave them separately.
Or will even do some microwave mixed veg at the last 5 mins, if I think portions are looking to be under, when nearly at the point of serving. No one seems to mind. And if they dont want them, they dont have to take them. I can just give them to DH and myself, rather than anyone go hungry.

I have 13 or 14 on Christmas Day. I previously had 3 ovens and 6 rings on the cooker so never found it difficult but this year I have 2 ovens and only 4 rings. I realise not everyone has two ovens but a microwave can be used to re-heat veg etc.

Fir me it will planning and pre-cooking and prepping as much as possible in advance. I will prep veg on Xmas eve including parboiling the pots and the parsnips and coating them. I always write out my spreadsheet of timings and follow the plan re the order of things to be put in the oven or on the stove.

If the turkey rests for an hour that gives a lot of oven space to cook the roasties, stuffing, pigs in blankets and Parmesan Parsnips. Brussels are cooked separately, carrots and peas cooked together. I buy pre-made gravy to add to the Turkey tin and pre-made bread sauce which then is just warmed up last in a saucepan.

The Turkey is carved centrally usually at the head of the table and plated, veg and trimmings are served up by my sisters as the plates are passed down the table. People then pass round gravy and sauces.

Here's our table set for 12 a few years ago. 2 tables smoshed together, IKEA linen table cloths, a mishmash of chairs. Wine glasses were an offer from Majestic, I bought 4 cases of wine and got 12 free Dartington crystal glasses. Bargain! We already had the fancy napkins, silver napkin holders and canteen for 12 settings. It was a bit Oxbridge college like with the narrow tables but worked.

I add our wooden garden table and chairs to the dining set and use a king size linen bedspread as a cover. I bought the bedspread specifically for hosting at a closing down sale for a tenner! Then I just add a table runner and candles with ivy from the garden and that's it.

I bought my Mum one of those aldi hot plates for this so she could do loads of veg and then put it in there to keep it all warm whilst she put all the rest on. Fold up camping table used for kids.

I use hot slow cookers to keep things warm if needed.

@JaninaDuszejko, that is really lovely, thanks for sharing!

I cook my turkey on Xmas eve. This way your oven is free. The bird carves better when it's left to cool. I make as much in advance as possible so you could steam some of your veg earlier in the day to just under cooked then reheat in the micro and add butter. I buy some veg prepared so it can just go in oven or microwave (sprouts).

I also cook the Turkey on Christmas Eve. It takes so much pressure off and once it has gravy on, no one cares.

@SilenceOfThePrams The Ancients Table is genius.
@ruthieness I love your people to the table calculator. Also whoopie cushions! Brilliant!

Our table seats 16 and we usually have 20ish to Christmas dinner - it’s a squeeze but we have benches that we use and swap them out for the chairs, more little bottoms can squeeze in on a bench!
And definitely roast some veg, we do Parmesan parsnips, some kind of thyme and honey carrots and a cauli cheese which all go in the oven when the beef comes out, (although we do have a big double oven and a big hob), potatoes and Yorkshire’s go in the other oven and things like pigs in blankets too.
We serve up the meat and then all the sides go in the middle of the table for people to help themselves: the reason the meat doesn’t also go on the table is because it’s always on an enormous board which won’t physically fit on the table with everything else. Once people have served themselves with what they want, I usually try and remove boring things from the table and can put a smaller board of the meat on there.
It’s logistical jenga

Here’s one end of ours. Looking at the photo and judging by the gaps between places, it must have been one of our smaller years, as up to fourteen can get round the table which is brought in from the garden.
Any more photos with ideas for a change from our silver and red which gets repeated every year?

I cook for around 15 each year. I'm lucky to have a range cooker which means the actual cooking of enough food is not a problem. Once cooked everything goes in to various oven dishes placed along the work surface and family line up and serve themselves. We all sit around two tables in the kitchen. Our usual dining table that extends to seat 8 then we add on an old table from the garage. Younger kids tend to be given the corner seats. I used to put all the food in the middle of the table banquet style, but it's so much more comfortable having it set out buffet style on the worktop.

I do peas in the microwave
Carrots on the hob
Brussels roasted with pancetta in the oven
Parsnips and Potatoes roasted in the oven
Bread sauce on the hob
Stuffing reheating in the oven
Sausages and bacon roll ups in the oven
I use a red heated blanket folded in half along the kitchen table to put serving dishes on and it keeps them nicely warm (and preheats the plates) and it looks christmassy.

The food is then laid out buffet style along the kitchen table and people serve themselves and we eat in the dining room. The last one to go down the line just covers everything with tin foil

I carve the turkey and put it in one of the heated dishes before calling everyone to serve themselves, that reduces the time it takes and faff at the last minute

Def plan pots pans, serving dishes utensils etc before the big day, then label them all the night before (i use postit notes so they dont fly away)

Pre cook as much as possible. I am doing stuffing, parsnips, sausages and bacon rollups this weekend. I slightly undercook them all and then freeze. So they just finish and heat on the day which save a huge amount of time

Next weekend its the pudding, cake and mince pies. The mince pies freeze, the cake and pudding sit on a cool shelf well wrapped. Bread sauce freezes, brandy butter and cranberry relish sit in the fridge

Then on Christmas eve, peel the potatoes and cover them with cold water, prep all the other veg and chill for the night, take stuff out of freezer and put in fridge to defrost overnight.

Put a big notice on the fridge…do not eat anything unless you have specific permission from me!

A hostess trolley is your friend here, even if it only gets used at Christmas
A second sturdy table is a good idea. Tablecloths are good to make it look nicer. we had a piece of MDF wiith wood battens screwed in underneath so it was a stable fit on top of our normal table and then everyone could fit around the same table.

Cold starters placed on the table ready to go, main course plated up in the kitchen and then served. Puddings also plated up in the kitchen. Sauces and gravy etc on the table so people could help themselves.

A hostess trolley is for life not just for Christmas.

We keep all the decent plates and bowls in it while the everyday stuff lives in the kitchen. When the trolley is switched on it heats the plates up nicely.

Mum gave us her old one; it was OK but it had open shelves which did not warm up. Then she bought herself a new one with cupboard doors so the whole thing is closed in and gets warm.

When she died, we had the posh new one and gave away the inferior version.

We just don't offer to host anymore. Last time we did for 14 people and I swear it took years off me. 3 days to prep the house and food, 3 days to clean the house again after they'd left!

We add folding tables so end up with one long table. Our dining room opens into the reception room so when dinner gets close, a few of the stronger people get tasked with setup. Use matching tablecloths on each table and it ends up looking nice.

Select recipes you can make in bulk and that some can be prepped in advance and just warmed or finished off right at the end. Instead of steaming vegetables at the last minute, do a roasted tray you can throw in the oven and/or steam the veggies 80% of the way the day before and then on the day of, throw them all in a big pot to warm them up and cook them the rest of the way.

@TrickyD I think your colour scheme looks lovely.
@immersivereader, that is what is concerning me slightly! Are you supposed to wash/tidy up after each course or at the very end? I have no dishwasher and little worktop space so not sure how things will pan out.