Let’s face it, after opening presents, Christmas dinner is the big event of Christmas Day, sandwiched in between the festive edition of EastEnders and scrabbling through a giant tin of chocolates searching for your favourite centre!
What's on the menu
The good thing is that you don’t have to rack your brains thinking of what to cook – our festive recipe section has the perfect Christmas menu! Also on the food and drink front, our Christmas countdown will help you get organised so it all runs like clockwork!
And Christmas dinner wouldn’t be complete without a glass of fizz to get everyone in the mood – your Christmas menu could include our SPAR Champagne or one of our cocktails, Ginger Champagne or Spiced Berry Royale, or if your guests will be driving, the non-alcoholic Hawaiian Hula Punch.
If you’re serving wine too, work on each guest drinking half a bottle of wine during the meal. Put a jug of chilled water or juice on the table so that your guests have an alternative and don’t get too merry too soon!
Check out our Christmas Wines page for our recommendations of wines that would be perfect for the occasion. Our Wine section also has lots of tips on serving and storing wine.
Decorating the table
Christmas dinner is a time when you can really go to town to create an atmosphere of celebration. As you’re going to all that effort of cooking a turkey with all the trimmings, making the table an eye-catching centrepiece will add to the sense of occasion – make some time in the days running up to Christmas to plan how you want your table to look.
Tablecloths, table runners, tablemats and napkins will add an instant injection of colour as well as protecting your table and guests from any spillages. Choose your colour scheme – red and green are traditionally associated with Christmas but any colour goes, with the right festive accessories.
If your Christmas menu has many courses you’ll need extra cutlery – check out our guide to laying the table for formal dinners. Consider how much space you’ll have for decorations once this, and any food serving dishes, is in place.
If you’re entertaining a large number, place cards avoid any embarrassing hovering round the table trying to decide where to sit as well as making your guests feel special. Having them printed looks good – but so will handwritten ones, or ones decorated by one of your children, or a photo of each guest in a tiny frame which they can take away with them.
If you’re short on space adding sprinklings of tiny gold or silver stars or glass pebbles around the place settings can work well. Flowers are also nice – a single rose in a small vase for each guest is a simple but elegant touch, or go for a larger arrangement for the centre of the table, or even some poinsettias in a festively decorated pot. You could also go for a dried flower arrangement or an evergreen decoration using fresh pine branches, holly, candles and baubles – see our Making decorations feature. A glass bowl of pine cones, holly and some Christmas baubles is simple and seasonal. You can also use lighting for decoration – decorate the table with candles (electric tea lights are a safer option if children will be present) or put a string of fairy lights in a large glass vase (tape the wires down under the table so no one can get entangled in them!).
Crackers are the original ice-breaker, so be sure not to forget these – and you could even make your own. Gentle music and lighting are also key to completing the mood – this is the time to bring out that CD of carols and dim the lights.
Find more hints in Dinner parties in our special Entertaining section.