If you have a Christmas buffet, what's in it?

[JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby]

I realised as I sat down to Christmas dinner this year that I don't feel the end result is worth the effort put in.

I further realised that my absolute favourite bit of the day had been a couple of friends popping in for bacon sandwiches and nibbles for lunch (we ate main meal in the evening).

So I'm pondering a more buffet style approach next year and wondering what other do. I'm a reasonably good cook and I can happily produce a 'normal' Sunday roast but it's by no means either my best work or my favourite thing to eat.

Bread, cured meats, cheeses, salad, crisps and then whatever I fancy in the supermarkets party range.

I do exactly this,and have done for years. My buffet this year was:
Smoked salmon and Cream cheese sandwiches
Roast Beef and Horseradish sandwiches
Egg and Cress sandwiches
Pork pie
Salad
Cous cous
Pasta salad
Freshly baked Gammon
Baked Camembert
Pate
Crusty Bread
Christmas Cake
Mince pies

Generally start off with the sandwiches around lunchtime, and then the rest is put out at around 4.

So easy and very little prep time.

A huge cheese board ft lots of cheeses, patè, chutneys etc. do some yummy Camemberts in the oven as well with garlic and rosemary. French stick for dipping in!
Then maybe do a Turkey in advance and stuffing and have Turkey and stuffing sandwiches? Or a ham if that’s easier.
Pigs in blankets or sticky sausages (cook chipolatas in equal mix of sesame oil, honey and soy). Then oven bits from the supermarkets. And a load of crisps and dips!

I'm not into 'beige' buffets, more antipasti style with charcuterie, cheese, olives, vine leaves, fresh breads, hummus, waldorf salad, veg couscous etc
I'm addicted to tempura prawns though, lol.

my sticky honey roast gammon, home made coleslaw, mini prawn cocktail in a baby gem leaf, green salad, cheese board , chutneys and crackers, a beautiful jewelled pork /hunters/gala pie, duck spring rolls, chicken satay skewers, mini lemon and clementine cheesecakes and sticky toffee pudding and Madagascan vanilla custard/cored cream ice cream to finish. Maybe a fruit salad aswell.

These are fantastic thank you all. Definite possibilities for next year!

Cheeseboard, crackers, hot cheese and crusty bread, antipasti and meat selections are all staples for us.

If you want to do a buffet style but keep some of the more traditional Christmas dinner elements, for our Christmas buffets we always do a big bowl of roast potatoes with some gravy for pouring and cold cut meats (turkey and gammon usually). Depends on who you’re catering for but trays of pigs in blankets and stuffing balls would always be demolished in our house!

If you’re happy to do some homemade bits you could do some homemade sausage rolls with chutney or cranberry to keep it Christmassy just using ready made puff pastry. Using ready made pastry you can do some cheese twists with blue cheese and parma ham to keep it festive too. Depends how much work you want to do though!

The thing is, I'm happy to do a lot of work if I feel the end result is worth it, and I've just not been feeling that with the traditional Christmas dinner.

There will definitely be pigs on blankets though. There would be rioting in the streets if they were missing.

I think we are going to go buffet style next year.

So stressful trying to get everything on the table hot and at the same time.

My plan is to do a nice festive salad, pate, cheeses, pickles, a roast ham and Turkey crown that I can cook the day before, sausagemeat stuffing balls, large pigs in blankets. Desserts will be a chocolate roulade, mince pies and maybe a cheesecake.

We did Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve then had a buffet on Christmas Day this year and it was so lovely! For 2 adults and DS(6) I did:

Breakfast -
smoked salmon scrambled eggs for breakfast for DH and DS, toast for me.
Then mid-morning we had waffles with fruit.
Visited DPs and had sausage rolls, crisps and a few nibbles at theirs.

lunchtime -
M&S crab claw and prawn ring with aioli
melon and Parma ham

Evening -
Nigella’s cola ham with chutneys
Cheese and crackers
grapes
pistachios
pickled walnuts
figs (topped with goats cheese, pistachios and honey)

No regrets, I’ll be doing this every year from now on!

My buffet is always after Christmas, and so sliced cold turkey and gammon feature heavily.

We also add a prawn ring and cheeseboard and charcuterie and smoked salmon (sometimes a poach a whole salmon if theres a few of us) and salad and home made picked onions, sausage rolls, quiche and mince pies. Add in the crisps and twiglets, cheese footballs, pretzels, tins of chocolates, turkish delight, lebrauchan etc. Big fruitbowl of tangerines and nuts. Figs and dates. Vol au vents, Christmas cake and a couple of homemade puds.

It wouldn't replace Xmas dinner for us, and I actually find it more work to prepare than a roast dinner!

We had:
Kiev bites
Mini toad in the holes
Chicken selection
Satay skewers
Sticky skewers
Mini sausage rolls
Mozzarella sticks
Halloumi balls
Mini pies
Chicken tikka naans
Lamb koftas
Burger balls
Salt n pepper prawns
Chicken tikka bites
Cocktail sausages
Onion bhajis
Chicken nugget lollipops
Mini quiches
Vegetable samosas
Spring rolls
Mini cheesy garlic bread pizzas
Cold meats
Bread
Mini pickled onions
Little soft cheeses

Chocolates (celebrations, Heroes, roses and Lindt balls)
Mint chocolate rolls
Pink French Fancies
Chocolate Panatone
M&S chocolate biscuit selection
Chocolate fingers

Most of it didn’t get eaten but it’s fine because it’s okay in the fridge for a few days for snacks/lunches and teas 😋

One year I tried to do a buffet with gammon and turkey but by the time I'd tried to please everybody. Roast potatoes for DC2, gravy for dipping for DH, pigs in blankets for DC1, stuffing for DC3 and sprout gratin for me it was basically a roast dinner with bread rolls, a cheeseboard and a load of random party food that didn't get eaten.

Quality street not roses although after googling roses look better 🤷‍♀️😂

My Boxing Day has the following:

left over turkey
slow cooked gammon in cola
left over stuffing
mini hassle-back or mini jacket potatoes
festive salad
home made coleslaw
crudities
selection of chutneys and dips
Christmas cheese board
crackers
charcuterie
olives
bread sticks/ cheese straws
home made sausage rolls
crisps
fruit salad
mini roulades
mince pies
brandy butter
cream
large sweet bowl filled with lindor

We went for a buffet this year as had booked to eat out on Boxing Day. Didn’t really work for us as an all adult household. Can imagine that it works well if have young children so already have that festive atmosphere with Father Christmas etc but for us it all felt a bit flat despite having turkey/beef, numerous salads, cheeses, dressed salmon ,charcuterie board etc it just didn’t feel right. Glad we tried it but will be reverting back to the normal Christmas dinner next year.

Egg and cress??? Wtf

Calm down love, It's just a sandwich filling. No-one died.

To be fair, I'd be disappointed to find no egg and cress sandwiches at a buffet.

Following! I felt the same this year, most of christmas eve and a good chunk of christmas day on the meal for about 20 minutes of eating, which the kids weren't really fussed about!
I'm thinking next year, have a big roast dinner the weekend before then xmas day, buffet breakfast late morning:
Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels
Scrambled eggs
Sausages
Bacon
Crumpets with Nutella
Chocolate pastry Christmas tree
Fruit

Then late afternoon:
Crackers and cheese (lots of cheese)
Pate and mini oatcakes
Olives
Chutneys
Pickled onion
Hummus
Fresh bread
Voluvents
Little sausagerolls
Chocolate bark
Tiffin
All the fancy sweets

Mains: Trio of roasts: duck, pork crackling 10 bone rack, chicken

Sides: Roasted and mashed potatoes; carrots, parsnips, peas

Nibbles: Charcuterie board with cured meats, veg, cheese and fruit; chicken satay skewers, pigs in a blanket, tempura prawns

Desserts: Sticky toffee pudding with Madagascar vanilla ice cream, tiramisu, salted caramel cheese cake