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

My top tip is to never eat at home on Christmas day! I'm in my late 30's and have never cooked a Christmas dinner. (I've cooked plenty of NY day meals for large gatherings but there is less pressure on this day).

Easy hosting heaven: make sure that the guest rooms are clutter free, warm and welcoming, so if they need somewhere to escape to during the chaos and hecticness of Christmas they can relax

I put out a little basket of items guests may have forgotten such as spare toothbrushes, hand creams etc and also make sure the guests towels / extra bed linen/ pillows etc are within easy sight

I always leave bottles of water by the bed side tables so they don't have to wander about in the night should they feel thirsty, and for Christmas guests, leave a mini stocking with one or two of their favourite spirits and grown up chocolate treats on their pillows before they arrive

I spend the week before they arrive blitzing the house and touching up any final diy such as skirting board smudges or grubby paint work which means they enter a clean, cosy home

I've only just learned how to knit, and now I'm tackling the unenviable task of knitting christmas stocking cutlery holders for 6 people for our family dinner!

I've been using Pinterest to develop other creative Christmas ideas, but also more just looking back to my own Christmases as a kid and trying to work out what was truly the most important aspects of that, so that we can make sure our little ones grow up loving the festivities even more than the fab pressies!

My challenge is always Christmas Day dinner with the whole family both young and old joining in - wanting my attention or desperate to show me their latest present so I always do myself a time table the day before when things need to go in/out the oven from the turkey, roast potatoes, vegetables etc. find this really helps me host the perfect dinner.

My top tip is to prepare also m&s do lovely good quality ready made foods for christmas it saves on time stress and hassle

my worse nightmare was when i made the gravy with coffee granuals one year everyone found it hilarious oh the shame ! but afterwards i did see the funny side and have a good laugh afterwards now i buy ready made gray to be on the safe side

Keep it simple and prepare as much as you can in advance - its your holiday as well

My top tip is to be well prepared!

Always give yourself plenty of preparation time. My nightmares were due to rushing and not doing all stages properly.

I buy presents for family throughout the year and small presents for the children but leave a little space for something off their list in DEcember.

I buy a standby dinner and stick it in the freezer in November before the prices rocket up and then try and grab a bargain turkey or beef joint on Christmas Eve. Also peel the veg Christmas eve too.

I wrap all the gifts apart from my partners early, then do those Christmas Eve with a glass of wine.

For relatives with loads of kids, I always buy them one big box of family biscuits, instead of individual presents, as it keeps costs down. The only thing I home-make is the Christmas cake, and I usually make about three, and give them to my sister-in-laws, as they ask for them so that's easy! Everything else, I will save on Asda Christmas savings cards and just buy everything else from them! :)

Home made Eggnog is never a good idea. Food poisoning raged over a Xmas to forget.

I have lists for everything - what to cook when, what to buy when, my Christmas presents are brought, wrapped and mostly given out! :) And so are my cards x

Always, always, always plan ahead. I do as much as possible in advance from ordering the food, to sorting out clean bedding for the beds and giving the house a top to bottom clean. I drive DH mad making military precision- like lists with dates for everything to be done by (reminders on my mobile help too). I never turn down the offer of help from any guests, whether it's my mum helping make the Christmas dinner or my in-laws bringing the Christmas puds. My best Christmases have been when I've done everything to plan and can sit back on Christmas Eve and enjoy just being with the family. Worst- getting the flu a week before and watching all the family topple like dominoes through to New Year and having no proper food in, lived off frozen meals. The only good thing about that is that we watched all the Christmas TV as we couldn't get out or do anything! Everyone's Christmas is different though and special; you do have to keep it all in perspective and think that being with family is the main thing (I'm trying my hardest to do this, this year!).

Don't stress and make it as fun as possible.

Plan adequately but not too precisely. Improvise and enjoy it

My top tip is to not stress out too much - it is only Xmas after all!

Hosting is fun but only when everyone mucks in so give everyone a job! Chores then treats!

Here's my Christmas hosting nightmare story:

Our first Christmas with our first born child in 2008, who was just 15 weeks old on Christmas Day. I decided I was capable of cooking Christmas Dinner for 11 of us so everyone would come to us and I could spend our first Christmas at home as a family. My fiancé went out in the car to go and pick some of the family up as dinner was more or less ready to serve, so I fed baby whilst he was gone. When she'd had her feed I put her down in her bouncer to watch me whilst I finished off dinner. I took the pan of boiled potatoes off the hob and drained them ready to mash, then baby started crying. It's okay I thought, I'll just settle her and then I can do the mash. I picked her up out of the bouncer and thought "Oh I better put the potatoes back in the pan with the lid on, so they keep warm whilst I just see to the baby". So there I am with baby in one arm, emptying the potatoes back in the pan with the other hand. I didn't get chance to put the lid on the pan as up came the milk she'd just drank, out of her mouth and straight into the pan of potatoes. "The baby's just thrown up in the milk, what am I going to do?!", I was thinking. I didn't have time to cook more potatoes! Anyway, I added some cows milk to my baby's addition, along with some butter and mashed away. Well I didn't have mashed potato that Christmas but everyone else did...

Make a task list so you dont forget anything on the big day. Then make every household member and guest sign up to a couple of tasks so it spreads the load. Be prepared the day before so that you can spend time with your guests rather than stuck in the Kitchen, missing all the fun and dont be too proud to refuse any help. order in on Christmas Eve, a nice takeaway to treat yourself as well as keeping the Kitchen clean for the day ahead.

Top tip is not to overthink it and let it just 'flow'. Get everyone to bring a dish (of food obvs) and some drink and just go from there.

Get-togethers only seem to turn into disasters when expectations are too high and nerves get fraught...

Chill...

remember if you are hosting that people have come to be with you and your family, not because you are a 5 star chef. So, yes, plan and prepare in advance, but be realistic so you can enjoy time with your guests.

I am that person that plans everything a month before so I can chill out when it comes to hosting.

Always remember that even if it does all go wrong, you have likely invited people over you like, that know you and can laugh with you :P

Put the kids to bed early on christmas eve, and prep as much as humanly possible for christmas day/dinner etc whilst they are in bed. Then have a nice glass of sherry and sit back (that'll be at 2am when it's all done).

My hosting nightmare - was squeezing everyone (22 of us) around table & garden tables in dinning room , next to the Christmas tree - I planned for my 82 year old Nan (god bless her) to be seated next to the tree so she could feel really Christmasy. She got a little too in the Christmas spirit after 3 glasses of wine and toppled head first into the Christmas tree (much to the amusement of the rest of the table). I spent the rest of the evening picking out pine needles from her blue rinse [santa]

Christmas has always been my WORST time of year!!! I don't think i have any happy childhood memories of christmas - it was always a time of fighting and arguements for my family. We've had broken ovens on christmas day (having to resort to microwave soup instead of turkey) and car running out of petrol on christmas day on the way back from church which was just miserable.

I've avoided hosting Christmas for over a decade but this year things are going to change...

I'm actually looking forward to christmas and starting to feel excited...We already have Christmas food sorted and in the freezer, I'm about to book an online christmas grocery slot and have even got some of the kids pressies sorted.

It's all pre-prepared food we have bought as we can then focus on having fun with our family and not worry about the food.

So hoping for a good day without any guilt or fighting or problems.

Plan everything ahead. Write a list of things to do by date and try to stick to it.....do not worry too much about the little problems that come...