Make ahead Christmas Eve dinner

[SMBC2020]

I'm looking for ideas for what we can have as an easy Christmas Eve dinner.
DD will be 2.5 and I don't want to miss any of the Christmas Eve magic by being in the kitchen all afternoon. The last 2 years we've had roast chicken with 6 different sides but it's a lot of work.
What could I make that's special and christmassy but not too time consuming on the day? There'll be plenty of room to store something in the freezer.

We do s'mores and hot dogs outside, wrapped up in our winter woolies! All around the fire pit. Kids love it!

We have a houseful (usually) and get a big Chinese food delivery.

But if we weren't doing takeaway I'd do something as different to Christmas dinner as possible: soup and toasties or bangers and mash or lentil cottage pie or spaghetti bolognese.

I'd focus less on something Christmassy and find something g that works for you and build your own tradition, which your DD will then associate with Christmas so will find it Christmassy.

We really enjoy seafood platter (and champagne), which is my family tradition

Husband is German and they celebrate on the evening of the 24th. Tradition here is Nürnberger (sausages) and potato salad!

I cook up a ham that day or the day before for ham sandwiches! Have mine with a glass of bubbly. Lovely.

We have pizza while watching The Snowman.

I don't want a meal that is too similar to Christmas dinner (or too time consuming to make as we are usually prepped Christmas veg on Christmas Eve).

Christmas Eve we either get a takeaway or M&S buffet food.

Love the sound of this

We do pulled pork in the slow cooker to have in bread rolls, with either roasties or chips, stuffing, apple sauce and gravy.

We have had fish pie some years, it freezes well. Last year we had a pizza table but my husband over catered and we were still eating them boxing day.

We buy nice a sausages and have hotdogs on Christmas Eve.

We always have lasagne on Christmas Eve.

I’ve done venison casserole in the past and served with mash or baked potatoes.

You could just do a massive cold buffet? Cook a ham and a turkey crown the day before then just slice and put on the table with lots of bits.

Tratiflette, you can prepare in advance and it is yummy 😋

What do you have for Christmas dinner if you have a roast on Christmas Eve?

Make a pie now and freeze, easy to make it Christmasy if you want, decorate with pigs in blankets and cranberries! Make a quick mash on the day, serve with peas/ Brussels!

Do you have your main Christmas dinner on Christmas eve? I think most UK posters would probably have Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. Hence the suggestions of takeaway etc.

When our kids were younger, we didn't bother too much with Christmas dinner. Just focused on chocolate and presents! Now I have a 7YO vegetarian who doesn't like roast dinner asking for pizza and chips on Christmas!

We do raclette with a homemade ham, charcuterie, salad, pickled silverskin onions and cornichons, homemade bread. Our raclette machine has a hot stone so we also have thinly sliced meats, peppers, mushrooms etc to cook on the top. Soup to start and a Yule log or chocolate fondue for pudding. I make the soup and Yule log in advance. Then all you need to do on the day is boil the new potatoes and throw the ham in the oven. Pretty much no work at all apart from assembling the plates! Everyone does their own "cooking" at the table 😅

If you don't fancy the idea of a hot raclette machine on the table with a toddler, you could always do what we did the year the machine broke - just put the potatoes and raclette under the grill to melt and serve it in a serving dish. You could buy everything else preprepared if you want a really easy life and to be able to fully enjoy the day with your DD.

I usually have open house during the day on a Christmas Eve so have lots of sausage rolls, bits of cake and that sort of thing available to go with a drink or a cup of tea, depending on what time of day people drop in.

I make a big macaroni cheese the day before ready to bung in the oven for us to have in the evening. I usually host all the family on Christmas Day, so I don’t want to be doing big cooking on Christmas Eve as well. I love my cosy Christmas Eve evening - probably my favourite time of the season, even if we don’t have children around. I am still a big kid at Christmas even in middle age!

<salivates madly> Filth. Utter filth. Will you marry me?

How about a make your own pizza night? Fun & tasty, something for DD to look forward to each year, and that way you're all in the kitchen rather than you being in there and not spending time with DD.

We do this too! Last year we got oodies in our xmas eve boxes & we snuggled around fireplace. I also had a few extra packs of sparklers from bonfire night. Kids loved every minute. Doing same this year

We do a selection of mostly cold things laid on the table for everyone to help themselves - cooked and cured meats and seafood, cheese, salads, crusty bread, bowls of olive an cherry tomatoes etc. Sometime add some hot sausage rolls or a pack of M&S party food.

I tend to prep veg etc on the afternoon of 24th for following day anyway, so will do some extra carrots and peppers for veggie sticks to dunk in dips. But otherwise it's about "open fridge, put on table, add plates, everyone enjoy" kind of dinner.