Chance to win one of three £100 Lidl vouchers by sharing your Christmas catastrophes and/or tips for a stress-free day...NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Have you ever had a Christmas catastrophe? Have you burnt the brussels and gift-wrapped the Christmas cake? Or are you in fact a Festive Fairy Godmother, brimming with hints and tips and always on hand to help at this time of year? Please share your worst and best Christmas related moments and festive tips - you could win a Lidl voucher.

Lidl say "With fantastic recipes and tips galore, we want to help you breeze through the festive season, and avoid any disasters along the way. We’d like to know your best festive chaos stories, along with any hints and tips to make things more manageable. We have everything you need to help you get Christmas right; from turkeys and all the trimmings, to sweet treats that are too good to resist, so that you can pull off a flawless Christmas with Lidl without having to blow your budget!"

Everyone who comments below sharing how they got Christmas right (or wrong!) with stories, hints or tips, will be entered into a prize draw where three Mumsnetters will each win £100 worth of Lidl vouchers.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Lidl in further marketing material (anonymously, of course)

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

The worst year was when I was so ill I mucked up all the timings on the Christmas dinner. So we had soup followed by roast potatoes and veg, Christmas pud or ice cream then roast turkey and stuffing. The final course was pigs in blankets as I forgot to put them in the oven twice and the kids insisted they were the best part and I had to cook them. Needless to say on Boxing Day I went to my mother's, in a taxi as I was too ill to drive, handed the kids over, said they'd had an awful Christmas dinner and went to bed. They still insist it was the best Christmas dinner ever!

Biggest disaster, burning the Christmas dinner. Top tip, learn to cook. LOL!

tip=

Prepare as much of the Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve - leave in fridge
When up early with children (or before) put turkey in oven. Think of the turkey dinner as a large Sunday dinner and prepare/cook in your normal relaxed way - it is only another day really. Too good of a day to stress over dinner. RELAX and you will enjoy better

Avoid turkey, and go for an easier, less-expensive but more indulgent option. And do as much of the preparing the night before.

Make sure you prepare vegetables the night before.
Have a unisex present in reserve, just in case!
My mishap happened a few years ago when I had everything needed for a lovely Christmas dinner except potatoes. Not a single one!

biggest catastrophe was one year, when I was a lot younger, pre children, had far too much to drink on Xmas eve and didn't wake up until we heard the inlaws knocking on the door expecting their Xmas dinner! We pretended we had a power cut, thinking that would get us out of dinner, but we ended up serving a light lunch and still having to cook the dinner with a stonking hangover!

Now, I prep everything I can in advance, and don't drink too much

We go out for a family walk during the day so as to get some exercise and a different perspective, rather than being cooped up all the time

not me but my mum - she poured too much booze on the christmas pud; When she lit it, it had run all over the best tablecloth. From a kids perspective it looked fantastically festive, the entire table covered in a haze of flickering blue flames :)

Tips, lists, lists and more lists in the lead up to Christmas then as much advance preparation as possible.

Have an early drink

Plan in advance, do as much as possible in advance and at the end of the day its supposed to be a holiday

My Mum's oven broke, so we had to use mine but with no space to eat, take it back to Mum's - very awkward.

My tip would be get organised, don't do everything last minute, stuff will be out of stock and more expensive plus it will be very busy.

Always make sure there are enough drinks for everyone and offer a variety of drinks and snacks to your guests to keep everyone happy.

I am quite an organised person, always start getting bits and pieces in late August/early September, each week when I order the shopping, I start to get the Christmas food/drinks. This way its not such a big expense all at once.

The biggest catastrophe was when we were supposed to be travelling to my parents for Christmas Day, so had got nothing in, then a work emergency meant we could not travel, so had beans on toast for dinner at home.

My biggest tip would be not to sweat the small stuff. The world won't end if you forget to cook the sprouts or something.

My biggest tip is to relax. If timings don't go to plan don't panic. It is just a roast dinner and will cook eventually! Have fun and enjoy the day. It is one day and really not worth the stress.

Fact 1: My first time hosting in our new house
Fact 2: I live on a steep hill.

Fact 3: My mother was 72 at the time.

I had just put the spuds on to parboil, my brother who is sat facing the window yells "mum, is that your car?". It was.... And rolling downhill at a rate that was always just out of our reach as we raced off after it (I was barefoot too). It gathered pace with me screaming" help" (why!?!?!) all the way after it. It came to rest against a car parked further down in one side. Dinged it all up. The family were very nice about it and joked if we had wanted to meet more people in the neighbourhood then we could have just knocked on the door. . My mum had cold sweats thinking about this for days as she kept saying what if kids had been out playing with their toys. They had been earlier.... She now travels with bricks in the boot and puts them in front of the front tyres.

I think with the comical screaming I could see nearly everyone in the street come to the window or door... I like to think we provided a true EastEnders Christmas drama moment!

Ooooh and the spuds were ruined!

No catastrophes for me, everyone mucks in together & makes it a family occasion so the cooking etc isn't just the responsibility of one person

Do as much preparation ahead of time as possible and make sure you have things planned. Always have a glass of wine on standby.

Leave the champagne alone until dinner is safely cooked...

Peel the veg the night before and soak in water overnight

By lunchtime on Christmas Day my family began arriving for the late afternoon Christmas lunch. I put the turkey in the oven and joined them in the lounge. Then, suddenly the music stopped, the tree lights begun to flash and went out. The trip switch had blown. We began switching off everything and and tried the trip switch. Nothing worked. The power was off until lunchtime the following day. We toasted bread and crumpets over the fire for our Christmas dinner and ate our way through boxes of sweets. It remains one of the most enjoyable Christmas days ever!

first time making chestnut stuffing/roasting chestnuts and didn't cut the bottoms of the chestnuts before roasting in Aga. 20 minutes later kept hearing bangs so opened the door and a chesnut flew out and hit my sister 10 feet away had to take her to A&E where we stayed for four hours so Christmas dinner not eaten until 7pm that night! Needless to say not ever attempted roasting chestnuts since x

Last year at MILs. Burnt everything- well apart from the steamed (raw) carrots and Brussels!