Christmas catering tips for a stress-free celebration

If you’re hosting a party this Christmas, whether it’s a works do or a private party for friends, you know it’ll be a lot of hard work! So, here are our Christmas catering tips that will help reduce your stress levels and enable you to enjoy your event even more.

Plan ahead

You can’t beat a To Do list when it comes to planning events. Whether you’re using an app, a spreadsheet or a good old-fashioned piece of paper, sit down when you’ve got plenty of time, and no pressure, to plan ahead. Write down what’s on your menu, a list of the ingredients you’ll need to buy and when you’ll need to buy them, what you will be able to prepare in advance, and what to leave for the day. It’s also a good idea to add detailed timings, such as when you’ll need to turn the oven on if you’re heating food for your guests.

If you’re delegating tasks, it’s also a good idea to note down who’s responsible for doing them so you know who needs reminding to do what.

A list will help enormously on the day of the event because, when you’re super busy, it’s so easy to forget things. By ticking tasks off as you do them, you can rest assured that things are going to plan, and also keep on track of what still needs to be done. Clearly, it won’t make your life free of stress, but it will help you in terms of not panicking when you’re trying to get everything done.

Dietary requirements

Always remember to ask about dietary requirements in advance so you don’t have to stress about providing enough food for people who have allergies, intolerances, or are vegetarians or vegans. If you’ve been watching the BBC programme The Apprentice this autumn, you’ll have been squirming in sympathy with the woman who ended up with only a fruit salad at a corporate lunch because the contestants had forgotten to ask about dietary requirements… and they were on a train so couldn’t nip out to the shops. And, spoiler alert, they definitely found it a stressful experience!

Easy food

Another way of taking the stress out of Christmas catering is to have a menu that’s easy to prepare and easy to serve. Providing cold, finger food or a buffet is the best as it can all be prepared and put in serving dishes in advance, meaning all you have to do is cover the dishes until your guests are ready to eat.

Ask someone else to do the catering

By far the least stressful way of catering for your guests is to hire someone else to do the work! A professional caterer can take care of absolutely everything, leaving you with more time to plan other aspects of the event, or simply more time to relax and enjoy it on the day.

For more Christmas catering tips, get in touch with a member of our experienced team!