Talk to Homebase about your Christmas hosting top tips and/or nightmares and you could win a £300 Homebase voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

As Christmas approaches and planning for Christmas events begins, Homebase is keen to hear about Mumsnetters' best and worst experiences of Christmas hosting - whether it's Christmas parties, having relatives to stay or even hosting the big day itself.

Homebase says: "Christmas is all about getting together with the most important people in our lives. It's a great feeling when loved ones come round to enjoy the fun and festivities- but it can be hard work sometimes too. Preparing food, getting your home looking fabulous, making sure everyone's having a good time ... the festive season comes with its own challenges and things don't always go to plan. We'd love to hear your stories of 'hosting heaven' and 'hosting hell'. Tell us about your Christmas disasters and triumphs, share your tips, fill us in on the fun times and let us know what you're planning this year."

Do you have any top tips to make Christmas hosting go as smoothly as possible? Maybe you create a time plan to make sure everything's done on schedule? Or have you had a nightmare that's put you off Christmas hosting for life?

Share your stories - good and bad - on this thread and we'll enter you into a prize draw where one MNer will win a Homebase voucher worth 300 pounds.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

I'm terrible at hosting. So this year I vowed I'm not doing it. Last year I forgot about me and my husband and counted our girls and the number of family (in-laws and my family). So that meant we was two seats short at the table!
Not only that I put things in the oven and set it to the right temperature. I went to check on it, however I didn't turn the crabtree on. So nothing was cooking and dinner was late!
Top tip - check and double check!

The first Christmas I hosted I thought I had everything planned well and as I took the Turkey out of the oven, to sit whilst the rest finished, I realised that I had forgotten to put my vegetarian wellington in the oven. I had spent ages the day before preparing this blooming thing! I made everyone wait another 45 mins whilst it cooked hahaha

Since then I have everything planned and written down, I have a timeline of events and alarms set to tell me what needs to go in the oven and when.

Be prepared - nothing worse than feeling stressed !!!

lists :)

It's a dull answer but make lists. You will find you add to them over and over as items you've forgotten pop into your mind. And also place any online deliveries at the earliest opportunity (before the lots fill) and ensure you give time to nip to the shops if anything is missed from the delivery (as some items may be sold out over the holidays).

On Boxing Day a couple of years ago I had my parents and brothers family over for dinner alongside my own family. My cooker got a huge gas leak but luckily fate had allowed it to cook just about perfectly before the death of the cooker. We had to open all the doors and windows and call a gasman and we were frozen!

be prepared and prep well in advance, wrap presses as you buy them and keep a list of what you have or put post it notes on each gift but most of all have fun fun fun and great family time, I have learnt that no one is worried if dinner is perfect etc so not to stress about it

You don't need to make everything from scratch, cheat a little, it will make your day easier and things in general will run smoother.

My tip is to do as much on Christmas eve as you can, you can prepare veg, set the table and get everything ready so you do not spend so much time running around on Christmas day. Also don't be afraid to use ready made potatoes and stuffing etc. you need to enjoy the day too.

the hint i would give it, don't worry if something not the way you want it just go with whatever happens, if something has been forgotten, it really wont matter, just enjoy the day after all its your Christmas too.

We always arrange that whoever is visiting should bring a course and we all pitch in where we can to help to make Christmas all about family and fun.

I have all my family for lunch so I try to plan well in advance and make lots of lists. I don't aim for perfection but try to have fun.

Planning and preparation - but ask all guests if they would happily prep a dish too! That way ther eis less on you and more as a joint hosting!

Christmas hosting nightmare - my aunt brought her new cat with her as she'd only had him a week and didn't want him to be alone. I only found out about this when she arrived on the doorstep with him.

Later on, she was so busy talking my ear off about the cat that the sprouts boiled dry and set the smoke alarm off. The alarm would not turn off, so while my DP went to get something to lever it open with, I opened all the doors and windows to get some fresh air in. Once the alarm was off, we suddenly realized the cat had got out, and we spent the next hour searching for him while our dinners sat cold in the kitchen. He enjoyed the cold turkey when we found him though!

I LOVE Christmas, and find it works well to spread it out - have a week of nice meals rather than one, that way you over-eat less; space out giving presents through the day and try to spread out your enjoyment with neighbours and wider family

Our family are spread around the country and would always meet at someone's house the weekend before christmas for our family get together but it was always horrible for the person hosting it. They ended up spending a fortune, running around after everyone, having their cupboards cleaned out and a messy house just before christmas plus everyone was squished into one house and sleeping on settees on air beds ect. Now we meet at a big rented house somewhere equal distance for everyone. Everybody brings their section of the shopping list. We go out for our main 'Xmas dinner' type meal and everyone ends up sharing the chores the rest of the time. We swap gifts and have a lovely time without somebody worrying they are hosting everyone and splitting the cost it's not even very expensive xx

My top tip to avoid stress during Christmas hosting is to only invite people you like and get on with! If not possible, make sure you share the responsibility with your partner and get some down tie from the particularly aggravating relatives!

A number of years ago we lived abroad and it was custom to invite those who had no family with them on Christmas Day into our home for Christmas lunch. I was not a very accomplished cook back then but I made an effort and cooked Christmas lunch for the first time ever. I'd never made "real gravy" before but reckoned if I got some stock and made it that way it would be fabulous. Unfortunately I made the stock but forgot to make it into gravy, but served it up as gravy! Oh my, it must have been vile but neither my partner or or visitor said anything and it wasn't until the following Christmas I realised (relying on packet gravy mixes through the year). I was and still am so mortified.

Planning the food for Christmas meals, buffets is great but don't forget the serving dishes and table. I always get out the dishes, bowls, jugs and ......., its an idea to write the name of the food on a piece of paper inside the dish. Really useful if you send hubby to get the plate for the mince pies, he knows which one

do as much in advance as possible. don't go over elaborate on starters/desserts. these are easy to make in advance if you choose the right option.

try not to have the entire main meal all cooking at the same time. some items can be cooked then just warmed slightly at the end. stagger end times too. No point the timer going to signify that 10 things are all ready at the same time - you can only sort 1 or 2 at a time. stagger end points a minute apart.

also, have plenty of nibbles ready to stop hungry tums demanding food - will put less pressure on you.

We have a large family (9 kids), Christmas day is always really hectic so we do as much as we can in advance. I buy most of the kids presents throughout the year in the sales if I see something that they would like to keep the costs down.
Usually my inlaws invite us all over for Christmas day which is Christmas heaven for me not to have to cook on top of everything else that is going on and we cook the Thanksgiving meal and invite them a month earlier.

Anyway Thanksgiving is next week and I've been going through pre-Christmas hell the last couple of weeks trying to sort the house out. The stair carpet which goes over 3 floors, completely wore out and the paintwork finally got too shabby to be presentable any more :-( It was so bad that I have been putting everyone off from visiting us as I was so embarassed by the state of the place and it's so hard to find any time when looking after all the kids (the eldest one is long term sick and has a lot of hospital appointments too.) Anyway all the hall and staircase paintwork, bannisters and skirtings needed re-doing before a new carpet could go down and that has given us a crazy mad panic to get it all done in time for when my inlaws come over next week! Hopefully all the paintwork will be completed for Friday when the carpet is coming, but the kitchen and lounge still need doing! When it's all done I will feel like we will be presentable enough for visitors this Christmas and it will be Christmas heaven again, but atm I'm stressed out that it will all be done in time!

I prepare as much as I can ahead of time. Get all the veggies and items you need prepped up before hand. If I'm baking something I will put all the dry ingredients ahead of time in a bowl with lid and then on the day, only need to add the wet ingredients to save time.

We all pull together as a family, we have between 14/16 people all together for christmas dinner and we each bring an item towards the dinner so not to put it all on one person. We then have a big buffet help your self kind of dinner and everyone tucks in and helps each other out.

Prepare everything in advance so you don't have as much to do & keep it simple! :)

Always have a couple of Sherrys before guests arrive. Makes everyone seem much more interesting.