Christmas Day is one of the few times of the year that families come together, so making sure that your family Christmas dinner is absolutely perfect is usually a top priority. Whether you like to make it a formal, posh affair or simply want to ensure that everyone’s having fun around the table, preparation is key when it comes to making sure that it’s absolutely perfect for you and your family. We’ve put together some top tips to help you make sure that everything runs smoothly and your Christmas dinner this year is the best that you’ve ever had.
Start Early
There’s nothing worse than rushing around last minute when it comes to preparing the Christmas dinner. With all the family about to arrive, you’re going to want to be chilled out and full of Christmas cheer when the doorbell rings – something that might not be too easy to achieve if your turkey isn’t even half defrosted. To make sure that everything goes to plan, start preparing a couple of days earlier. This will make it a lot easier for you on the day as everything will be prepped and ready to cook for the meal.
Little Helpers
If you have kids, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to help out – once you can tear them away from their new Christmas gifts. Setting the table, washing up, and tidying away all of the wrapping paper from that morning are all tasks that kids can easily do, and it’s just one less thing off your plate – giving you time to focus on making sure that the food is cooked to perfection. Use the Ladbrokes’ Twelve Chores of Christmas to assign different chores to your kids on Christmas Day.
Make a List
With so much to do to ensure that Christmas dinner is perfect, it’s easy to get muddled up or forget to do something which could end in disaster. To make sure that you stay on track, create a list of everything that you need to do in the order which it needs to be done, and stick it on your kitchen fridge, ticking each task off as you go along. Don’t forget to make sure that all the small and seemingly insignificant tasks are on the list as well – those are the ones that you’re most likely to forget!
Decorate Early
Putting down tablecloths, placemats, Christmas crackers and place cards can all be done the night before to ensure that it’s a task which is out of the way. That way, all that you’ll need to do before the meal is set the table with cutlery and make sure that everything’s in the right place. In fact, getting as much as you can out of the way on Christmas Eve will ensure that you’re able to relax more on Christmas Day and enjoy the meal with everyone else.
