Share with Aunt Bessie’s why family gatherings are the best - chance to win £300 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We all know family gatherings can sometimes be a bit stressful but that in the main they are a great way to catch up with loved ones. The team at Aunt Bessie’s would love to hear how you make your family get togethers work for everyone - from the youngest member to the oldest. What role does food play in your gatherings - who does the prep (and who washes up)? What about location, do you like to visit your MILs or do you like hosting yourselves? How often do you get a family gathering on the go - once a year at Christmas or every week?

What’s the best thing which has happened in your family gathering and what memories do you have of gatherings when you were a child? Do you have any traditions you have stuck with or new habits you have come to enjoy?

Aunt Bessie’s say “a proper family gathering is about more than just food – it’s the shared experiences and the bringing together of loved ones that turn a simple meal into something truly special. So we’d love to hear your stories and traditions!”

Add your story for great family gatherings below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one person will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ
Standard Insight T and Cs apply

[mooota1514]

We share the tasks, someone makes pudding someone makes the main and we all help out with serving and cleaning up. It’s a relaxed affair with no one getting too fussed about appearances or anything else! We live far apart so it’s always a joyous occasion to share a meal and catch up grin

[kayleigh39]

We are a big family - 23 in total with another on the way, all of us live within a few doors of each other and christmas can be hectic, so what we do is have one household in at a time to open gifts. fdad takes pride of place in the kitchen whilst mum falls asleep by the fire. Christmas day is personal for each household, but boxing day is when we get together and have a good old feast and knees-up!

[BellaWella86]

We have family that are quite spread apart geographically, so we very rarely get together. Christmas and Birthday's tend to be times where we all make a real effort and the kids love it! We've made quite a tradition of putting on 'party food' and using slow cookers and rice cookers to keep food warm and have a varied menu. Things like curries, chill con carne, pizza, chips, jacket potatoes etc have become a regular thing. We don't really have any tradition as such, but just getting together is lovely and something we don't do enough of.

[Sezza110]

For parties and celebrations we always get together and the tradition is either to have a curry or pizza.

[Lisapaige24]

My family gathering are no longer stressful as I just put everything out in dishes put plates and cutlery out and let everyone help themselves and help themselves to drinks maybe the cooking is a little stressful but a glass of wine whilst I make food usually helps and as for the Washing I make the children stack the dishwashers and I tidy up as am cooking so not really much to do when everyone is all gone and I am a bit of a cheat as I use my slow cooker and aunt Bessie’s frozen roasties , Yorkshire puds ,stuffing balls etc to make life a little easier and stress free

[cheekychicken24]

I love to make everything ahead - I don't want to miss out on the fun while people are here. I make and freeze starters, puddings, and as much of the main stuff as I can. I'm a dump everything on the table so guests can help themselves kind of a host.

I like crowded messy tables, elbows everywhere, splashes and relaxed family fun. It's a family meal - whether it's Christmas, birthdays, or just a sunday lunch - it's not a fancy dinner party, and I want everyone to enjoy themselves, not worry about table manners!

[Ikea1234]

As a family, our tradition is that we still all eat round a table every day at dinner time. Rules? No tech, just talk!

As an extended family, there are a couple of times a year where we all get together (about 30 of us!) but again, we have rules. Everyone brings a contribution, whether it's some nibbles, some wine, a starter, a pudding - as long as you've made an effort! We also are pretty hassle and drama free, everyone talks to everyone else, we all help clear up, and we all make an effort. It's not difficult really!

[CopperPan]

We have quite a big family all living quite close to each other, so we often get together at my Mum's for birthdays or random celebration days. My mum loves to cook and takes care of all the food so we just bring desserts or drinks. It's great watching all the dc play together and for the adults to catch up or play board games. We used to take turns washing up, but last year we chipped in to buy Mum a dishwasher to make life easier for all of us!

[cassey1]

Love the family getting together for Christmas, lots of good food and plenty of fun. We also remember Christmas from years ago when it was a very large family gathering, moments like when my gran fell asleep after dinner and my Brother put a red clown nose on her, she still did not wake up.

[katslo4]

There are 22 of us on Christmas day. 10 of which are kids. The kids have so much fun playing with each other. We always go to my sisters as she has a large house and we always seem to end up in different rooms for different activities. The kids in one, drinkers in the other and the ones who just want to chat and watch some Christmas tele in the other. We all come together for the main event Christmas dinner.

The men in our family seem to like cooking the Christmas dinner. Mainly my dad and brother in law. After dinner one of the men pops out for petrol and then Santa knocks at the door. He then hands out all the presents to the kids.

[mollymoo818]

I love a family gathering. I never get stressed by them as they should be an excuse for fun and a chance for everyone to get together and bond.

My favourite family gatherings are when we have pot luck dinners. I can't remember who started them but we have done them for years and they are fantastic. Everyone brings a dish and we put them on the table and just help ourselves. It is such a nice way to have a family gathering and trust me when I say it saves a lot of stress.

[Wishingandwaiting]

All it takes is myself and my two young Children for our family gathering.

No big stress. Just easy, full of love, tasty food, then leave the washing up and cuddle up for a film. My idea of heaven.

[IonaAilidh11]

traditional to take turns at hosting

[jandoc]

I love family gatherings as long as everyone is in a good mood

[Dormouse1940]

My son (nearly 3) is going through an endearing phase of saying how he's 'very happy' when we've all sat down to dinner.
He also randomly says things like 'this is good food!' during meals.

Our family gatherings aren't stressful- everyone offers to lend a hand, whether with food prep or the washing up afterwards. Grandparents take it turns to play with the little ones whilst those in between clear up!

[sm2012]

We take it in turns to host family dinners and each bring something when we do to take the pressure off. Everyone gathers in the kitchen so there's lots of helpers!

[honeyandginger48]

We get together with family every few weeks - either at my parent's house, my brother's or at ours. Whoever hosts tends to cook and the 'visitors' bring the wine, treats, or a pudding etc

Food has always played a huge role in our family gatherings!

[ashde]

I love family gatherings as everyone brings a dish to share. We have lots of catch-up time and always a lot of laughter. Everyone has busy lives so this only happens a few times a year.

[RiSo]

We host on Boxing Day, my husbands parents and nan come over and we have a 2nd Christmas Day really, where the kids get some more presents, we get to play games all day, and have a buffet running all day long in the kitchen. No arguments, no dishes get done til everyone has gone home, we just have a nice family day together.

[dannydog1]

We share the food preparation, so whoever is hosting allocates a different dish to the others. At Christmas, the children have a stocking to open in bed, then phone granny to say they are awake and she arrives about one hour later, for main present opening. There is a tradition of scrambled egg on muffins for Christmas breakfast.

[sealight123]

My family have a Thursday dinner and a Sunday dinner every 2 weeks.
This has made us all really close and able to talk about anything and everything :)

I don't live near my family anymore but when I do go home they make Sunday dinner extra special :)

[sweir1]

We have a summer get together, same time, same weekend every year

[TellMeItsNotTrue]

Always a meal that allows the person cooking it to be included, there are so many wonderful meals that you can prepare beforehand and dish up when ready and it means you don't have one/few people missing out and the rest feeling guilty doing anything while they can't be included

Large gatherings we find it best for food to be put out in the kitchen and everyone helps themselves (and help the children) as it saves worrying about who likes what, he has only got a small appetite, she won't eat things touching each other etc. It also means that the 'guests' aren't worrying about what they will be served and not being rude when faced with something they don't like, because they know that they can just make a plate up from the components they do like.

We all follow those 2 guidelines and it's made the events a lot more enjoyable for everyone

[PussCatTheGoldfish]

Our main family gatherings are Easter and Christmas. The main event is always the food, so much so that present opening always happens after lunch in the over stuffed interlude between the mains and pudding.

Easter consists traditionally of a Burmese curry called cow swei. It started with my great aunt, then the tradition passed to my grandma and now my mum.

Christmas is a Turkey roast.

There's no television, lots of good conversation, delicious food and games to play with the kids.

The best game from my childhood (two youngsters amongst lots of the older generation) was one where the grown ups wrote down a name to call one of the children (SparkleToeTuftyHair for eg). Then the children have to guess who called them what . All the names were a bit random and not nasty, just funny. Unless it was me or DB naming each other PigFace...

Happy days .

[LeeR1985]

We always have a big get together a few days after christmas at my mums. Lots of food, drink and good memories with the family :)