Hosting family and friends over Christmas can be so much fun, having everyone together in one place making lovely memories. However, if you’re not prepared, it can also feel very stressful and overwhelming! So, we’re here with some simple things you can do to get prepared for hosting over the holidays, from food to sleeping arrangements, entertainment and the perfect decor. You want to be able to enjoy the holidays even when you are hosting, and also remember not to feel bad for asking your family and friends to help out, as they each bring a couple of things that won’t make their lives any different but will make your life much easier! So, let’s get into it and help you make the Christmas celebrations with your family and or friends incredible this year.
Set A Budget
First up, you should set a budget. It’s so easy to spend a lot of money when you get carried away with the planning, so to make sure that this doesn’t become a financial burden for you, it’s important you start out with a budget and then plan around there. So, you should set budgets for food, drinks, decor and activities. Try to be strict with this, but also realistic about how much you need to spend. If you think you’re going to go over your budget anywhere, then you could also see where the gaps are and could ask people to bring something with them.
For example, you could ask a couple of people to bring desserts, if alcohol is going to be expensive then you could ask people to bring that, and so on. Even though you’re hosting, people will want to know what they can bring to help, so it’s fine to ask people. The last thing they’d want would be for you to struggle financially in order to host, and so set a budget, ask people to bring things if you need, and it’ll take the pressure off!
Plan Your Menus
Now you know how much you have to spend, it’s time to plan your menus. This will all depend on how many people you’re hosting and how long for, but you should write down how many different meals you need to plan for and go from there. Think about what kind of food will be right for each meal too. For example, say you have family coming over on Christmas Eve and they’re staying until Boxing Day lunch time. This is what the menu might look like:
- Christmas Eve Evening: Pulled pork sandwiches with stuffing, sauces and potato wedges
- Christmas Day Morning: Picky breakfast like croissants, fruit, cereal and yoghurts
- Christmas Lunch: Classic Christmas lunch with all the sides
- Christmas Day Evening: A grazing platter with meats, cheeses, bread and crackers
- Boxing Day Morning: Another picky breakfast for people to help themselves to
- Boxing Day Lunch: Leftover turkey curry with rice and naan
Then you should also get snacks in between to make sure people always have something to snack on, as well as desserts for any occasion where you think they’re needed.
Empty Your Fridge and Freezer!
In the few weeks before you start your shopping for Christmas, make it your mission to clear out your fridge and freezer! You don’t want to end up having to squeeze everything in, so just plan out some meals to eat what you already have and won’t need for Christmas in your freezer and fridge. This will also help you to save some money in the run up to the period by eating what you already have, including food in your cupboards, that can then be spent on the festivities! Just top up with some fresh fruit and veg! This is also a good chance to have a clear out and then start to refill in the new year.
Prepare Food In Advance
Next, a great tip is to prepare as much in advance as you can to make life easier. For example, you can get the pulled pork in the slow cooker on Christmas Eve morning, pre-wash your fruit for breakfasts so you can just pull everything out, pre-chop your vegetables and season the meat so you can throw everything in the oven on Christmas Day, pre-cut the cheeses to put on boards, then the turkey will already be cooked to whip up a quick curry! It would also be worth getting a few bits to keep in the fridge that you can just pull out whenever you need, including pre packed sandwiches, some salads, pasta dishes and so on. Think about anything that can be done in advance and it’ll make life much easier on the day.
Plan Low-Maintenance Games and Activities
When you’re trying to juggle everything else, the last thing you want is to be putting in lots of effort to keep people entertained. So, get prepared beforehand and it’ll make things much easier. This is a great area to ask others to help with, so perhaps start by asking everyone to bring their favourite board game. Then, you could plan a Christmas quiz, you could buy gingerbread decorating, you could do a family scavenger hunt or you could get a few films downloaded ready for when you all just want to chill. You could also rope your friends in to help, so if one of them is a gym mentor, they could do a fun outdoor activity to get everyone energised and feeling hungry for lunch! You don’t need to be entertaining the whole time, but having a few activities ready as backup that other people can just pick up and run if they want to, will make life easier.
Choose Your Table Decor and Get It Set Up!
Something else you can do is to choose your table decor. Even if you don’t do your full Christmas day setup straight away, get everything ready in one corner so you’re not running around looking for things when you’re doing a formal setup. You should also keep your cutlery, plates and glasses for this occasion clean if you can, storing them away from the main socialising area would be ideal, like a conservatory. Think about the little details as well, from candles to napkins, just so everything is sorted in advance.
Sort Out Sleeping Arrangements
You should also sort out sleeping arrangements, as the last thing you want is to be trying to sort everything out when they’re there! So, start by confirming how many people are coming round, then plan out where everyone will be sleeping. From here, if you need to find more of anything, like blow up beds, pillows, duvets, bedding and so on, then sort this in advance. If you need to do some more dramatic transformations, like water damage restoration or repainting, then get this sorted as early as possible to make everything easier. Asking your friends and family to bring things will also be helpful! Try to get everything blown up and laid out before anyone gets here, to take the pressure off.