Has anyone successfully rented a place for Christmas Day lunch?

[BeetleDeuce]

We have around 35 relatives etc who would like to meet for Christmas Day lunch. DH and I are happy to pay for it (most are struggling!) and happy to cater (I’ve done it before) but there is no one with a house even vaguely big enough for 8, never mind this number.

We obviously can’t afford to go to a restaurant or similar because it’s around £200 pp but wanted to hire somewhere. I’ve tried a couple of places but no joy.

Has anyone successfully hired a place on Christmas Day for this sort of event? Any advice would be welcome. I really don’t want to spend the day driving between all the old people’s houses again. 😭

Have you looked at local village halls? We have several round our area that have a decent kitchen.

Depends on how much you can afford to pay and where you are willing to travel to.

Houses of that size are usually booked up.for Christmas long in advance

In Devon were I live, the youth hostel does private hire and cab sleep.upto 80 people (approx 30 rooms, some with ensuite), 2 lounges and a big kitchen, huge dining room).

It works out reasonably cheap too.

Was also going to suggest a village hall

I’ve had a look at local village halls: I wasn’t sure if they would accept a Christmas Day booking but I could ask. They do look very echo-y and a bit cold tbh but maybe I should consider it. (Photos of massive rooms with fan heaters put me off!!)

We were hoping for somewhere local but are a large town. I had a look at various houses over the last few months but all have restrictions on having people over/parties which is understandable. Also hard to find wheelchair friendly places.

I had actually agreed a deal with a local restaurant that wasn’t open on Christmas Day, but they have just pulled out due to insurance concerns. So now I’m stuck again!

I was going to suggest a Youth Hostel / YHA as well.

We don’t have a youth hostel in the town unfortunately.

Village hall/church hall.

They are echoey and cold without people in, but if you book it for the whole day and get in and turn the heating on then they are usually fine.

They often have a semi-decent kitchen as well.

You'll need to ask around though. Local Facebook group?

I think in this situation I’d be suggesting smaller groups do their own thing.
We hire a large house for around 25 of us every year, different houses. It’s difficult to find places big enough but doable if you book 6m+ in advance.
Our village halls are okay for wedding receptions when someone has spent a vast amount of money on decorating it and getting it to look a bit less like a bland function room but in the cold light of day with maybe a token Christmas tree and some fairy lights would look considerably less inviting.
It could be done though with a decent sized kitchen.

I totally understand why you want to do this OP, but I suspect you won't find anywhere willing to let you just have a one day, one off letting on Xmas day- unless you're willing to pay so much that you could have just gone to a restaurant.

Village halls tend to be run by local volunteers. I'm involved with a couple local to me and they don't take any bookings on Xmas day as the volunteers don't want to be tied to opening up/locking up/dealing with any queries or problems etc.

Do you think they would reconsider if you could get your own suitable insurance in place?

I'm not sure how feasible something like that is, but trying to think outside the box! Might be worth a call to a couple of insurers and see if it's doable?

Do you need to meet up on Xmas day itself?

If you can persuade them otherwise then I suspect you will find it a lot easier to find somewhere.

New year's gathering?

My ExH had a large family and they usually met up the weekend before Xmas for the present exchange/catch up before having a calmer Xmas day.

Some farms in rural areas have conference rooms you can rent, like old barn conversions spaces. Maybe something like this or rustic wedding venue type place?

Needs to be Christmas Day really - but we can just spend the day visiting lots of other houses (elderly relatives who are on their own) and taking them meals etc.

I’m going to have another conversation with them in desperation…

What about a hotel function room? Or a bed and breakfast who have a dining space!? Probably a bit late though to organise though but might be worth looking at for next year.

You could try the pub/another pub and offer to employ a couple of their staff for the day. Often pubs are staffed with people who would jump at the chance to earn double time rather than spend time with their families! That way the insurance might not be a problem.

Do you have a garden? Hire a party tent/gazebo thing. It'll soon heat up with people's body heat.

A colleague of mine does this with her huge family every year. They hire the hall between Christmas Eve (to decorate and get things prepped) to Boxing Day when everyone cleans up. Everyone is in charge of something, from tablecloths to the turkey, to tea & coffee and board games. Someone with a van brings their sofa for the nans and there’s always a random uncle who dresses up as Father Christmas.

Get the heating on as soon as you get there, put some music on, string up some fairy lights and some tinsel and stick a tree up. You don’t need to decorate the whole hall, just where the table is. Lots of battery operated tea lights will make it look very cosy.

A family in our village rent the village hall. A big space soon warms up once there are people in there and you can make it festive.

No - none of us do unfortunately, not of a sufficient size. It’s all very frustrating…

Hotel function room. Or sports club.

You can hire the local rugby club bar for like £100 near me.

If you are in the greater Bristol area I can rent you a hall. You would need to precook offsite because it doesn't have the capacity to cook for 35 from scratch but if you're close enough you could pull it off. Otherwise speak to village halls, churches etc - many of us have lock boxes for keys these days so staff availability isn't an issue.

To give you an idea of cost, it would be £100 for up to 6 hours