A Guide To Hosting At Christmas

Whether you’re hosting for Christmas for the first time or you’ve done it many times before, preparing for such

a big event can be nerve-wracking. It’s natural to feel nervous even if you’re only hosting a Christmas party

for a small number of people, so don’t beat yourself up over feeling a bit overwhelmed – it’s totally natural!

Thankfully, there are some simple Christmas hosting ideas you can implement to help the big day go as

smoothly as possible. From planning your Christmas cooking in advance to picking out your favourite

cashmere Christmas jumper to give yourself a confidence boost, here are the top recommendations on our

Christmas hosting checklist.

1. Set a budget

Christmas shopping can easily get out of hand, and with the current cost-of-living crisis, it’s more important than ever to be mindful of how much you’re spending at this time of year. We’d recommend setting a Christmas budget for gifts, food, alcohol and decorations well in advance, as prior planning may help you feel calmer and more in control as the festive season approaches.

Plus, with a budget in place, you’ll find it easier to plan out the rest of your hosting duties in line with your spending limits. For example, a budget will help to inform how you’re going to decorate your home, what ingredients you’ll buy for Christmas dinner, and whether you’ll ask guests to bring their own booze.

When it comes to gifts, it can be hard to get everyone something they’ll love without breaking the bank. If you’re worried, have a chat with your family and friends about potential Christmas gift budgets, or you could maybe set up a Secret Santa gift exchange to reduce the overall number of gifts you need to buy. It may also be helpful to focus on little luxuries rather than huge gifts or to filter your searches by terms such as ‘gifts under £50’ when shopping online.

2. Prepare your home

It’s easy to go overboard with the Christmas decorations and end up overwhelming yourself with the amount of preparation you have to do, so remember that sometimes less is more. Ultimately, as long as you’ve got plates, glasses and cutlery for everyone, plenty of food and drink, and enough comfortable seats for all of your guests, you’re doing pretty well!

In the run-up to the big day, check that you’ve got enough of the basics, including chairs, crockery, cutlery, plates, glasses, toilet roll and napkins, plus clean bedding, towels and places to sleep if people are staying over. Then, you can stock up on everyone’s Christmas favourites, including Christmas crackers, boxes of chocolates, cheese, wine, prosecco, and more. Ask your guests if there’s anything else they’d like, or encourage them to bring their own booze to make things easier for you (and ensure that everyone has their preferred tipple). You should also ask them about their dietary requirements and restrictions with plenty of time to spare, so you can avoid a last-minute rush to the supermarket for vegetarian or vegan options!

3. Decorate

Once all of this is sorted, you can move on to the fun stuff – Christmas decorations. Again, you can stick to the basics if you’re feeling overwhelmed, such as a Christmas tree, candles, garlands and small decorations just in a few rooms. In fact, this can actually be better than going all out with decorations, as your home could start to look very cluttered once all of your guests are there too.

After decorating your home, you can then think about decorating yourself! If you’re still feeling nervous about hosting a Christmas party, give yourself a confidence boost by picking out your favourite Christmas jumper to wear on the day. Naturally, we’d always recommend cashmere knitwear and cashmere accessories – these high-quality Christmas pieces are both festive and classically stylish, and thanks to the softness of cashmere, you can feel comfortable in them all day. Plus, since cashmere is more lightweight and breathable than wool, you’ll be much less likely to overheat when cooking and performing Christmas host duties!

4. Prepare food in advance

The main source of anxiety for many Christmas hosts is cooking Christmas dinner. Even if you’re only cooking for a small number of people, there are quite a lot of ingredients and components to pay attention to, especially if you like to cook from scratch as much as you can.

The key to having a less stressful Christmas cooking experience is to plan out exactly what you’re cooking on the day and prepare as much as possible beforehand. Some elements of the meal could be prepared hours or days in advance, which means less stress on the day itself. For things that need to be prepared and cooked whilst guests are there, we would recommend writing a list of instructions and timings for yourself in advance, so all you need to do is follow your detailed plan on Christmas day rather than improvising.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Hosting Christmas dinner is a big task, so feel free to delegate things like peeling and chopping vegetables to someone else, giving you more time to focus on the trickier parts.

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