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 is to keep a box of presents going throughout the year. It covers birthdays as well as Christmas, and you can stick up in the sales. We keep wrapping paper, cards etc in there too - no outlay in December, and you can usually buy next year's for less than a quod each January!

I Make sure I'm ahead of myself, I buy my turkey early as I find they always run out of the middle size and I always ensure I have extra Xmas cards and wrap.

Start buying items that won't perish. Make lists for everything from when to cook different things to who to send cards to, who to give cards to and who to give which gifts to. I try to give small chores to the children and relatives such as lying the table, dressing the tree etc. Ultimately what children remember are the presents and family time so I don't get too stressed over the meal.

I find hosting very stressful - I get too preoccupied with timings and how much to make/serve so I end up being rubbish company, focusing too much on the food.

My top tip for hosting is to plan, plan plan! Be prepared for all eventualities and get canpars in to keep your guests happy when the arrive. Get rid of all clutter and decorate in coordinating colours with welcoming lights.

Don't try to please everyone-you won't.

If you are cooking something for the first time.... don't. Use tried and tested recipes. Also many recipes will allow you to prep them before hand and simply finish them off on the day. These give you so much more time to spend with your guests.

Also if you have a recipe that you cannot prep before hand and requires a lot of time to be spent in the kitchen make your kitchen part of the party so you're not there all by yourself.

I always start early in preparation of food and presents. I keep a list of presents bought and who they are for as I have been known to forget that I have bought something! Last year I delegated quite a lot and this really worked well as family were only too willing to help and share the stress.

When you are struggling for fridge space when entertaining, store surplus drinks outside. I leave them at my back door & they are lovely & chilled (at Christmas!)

My top top is to get somebody else to do it!!

I give everyone a task including the children and we all muck in . It a great way for us to spend xmas day and always makes for a great xmas dinner

I always used to do all the catering for my own & other people's parties but I can no longer do that because of my disabilities so we now do what we call up north a Jacob's Join where everyone brings some sort of food to the party. We set up a facebook event & then everybody lists what they're bringing so that we don't end up with 6 of the same thing

It's all about preparation for me I try to get presents all wrapped up by December. I buy an extra item of food and drink each week from September to put by for Xmas :)

I found it so much easier to cook Chirstmas dinner after investing in a slow cooker and multi-tiered steamer to take some of the load off the cooker. Apart from that my top tip is to not try and create perfection, someone is bound to be burst your bubble, just relax and enjoy the time with your loved ones, flaws and all.

Prepare as much as you can in advance in relation to food and wrapping presents so you can relax at the time.

always have a couple of spare presents handy for situations like when nephew inlaw brought along his mother for xmas lunch, without me knowing about it in advance

I'm a traditionalist in almost every way, except for Christmas Dinner.

This is the time we all spend far more on food, so why not take the chance to try something really different, duck or seafood or French or Chinese, for example.

Well, I've never had any complaints. Many of us get enough traditional Christmas food eating out during December.

I try and make as many things in advance as possible. I usually just have a mass defrost on Christmas Eve. I am very organised & like to make sure all presents are wrapped & ready to go by December.

Stay relaxed and think ahead. We have 15 people over for Christmas Day and Boxing Day and although the first year it was stressful we now enjoy it and try to get as much preparation done in the days before as possible.

We used the garage as a cooler to free up space in the fridge. Everything that can be cooked in advance is. Then we have a cut off point on Christmas Eve and the whole extended family go to the cinema together in the afternoon and relaxing drinks afterward, otherwise there is always just one more thing and I find myself still working right into the evening

Get prepared day before so that you can spend time with your guests and don't refuse any help from them.
Make sure the kids are busy with a new game or toy.
If you don't know what to buy a buy, chocolates, wine or vouchers are the best.
Try to get the same number of presents for your kids.

We keep Christmas quite simple. My OH helps to cook the turkey, basting and prodding as required. We accompany the meat with the usual trimmings, pigs in blankets, roast spuds and parsnips, carrots and sprouts. All prepared the day before to make Christmas day easier.

Marks & Spencer make better Christmas cake and mince pies than I do, so I buy rather than bake.

A good walk following the meal, (hopefully) something good to watch on TV when we return, chocolates, and a few slurps of alcohol make the day go with a swing.

I like a fancy dress theme but not too expensive. My last one was wear a hat. It often starts a conversation with new people.

I also create a music playlist on my mp3 player & loads of chairs & cushions & relaxed lighting for people to flop down on.

every year we always run out of present tags and every year we buy more to make sure we have enough but to no avail ,the tag elf must be stealing them!

My top tip is to keep things simple! Dont try and do everything yourself and let your guests know what they should bring with them.