Hey everyone!
I need some help!
This year my family is comming to our house for Christmas day. We plan to have lots of food, a gift exchange for the children and one for the adults as well as a Dirty Santa for the adults. (we all drew numbers at Thanksgiving and picked our SS- too many people to buy for indivudally, so that way everyone gets a pressie -so that part is taken care of).
I've never had a party at mine and Colin's house. Aside from having a few guests over on occassion- we've never really entertained. I am sooo excited that everyone is comming here for the holidays!
I adore celebrating Christmas with my loved ones -so i am really wanting to make this Christmas as comfortable and fun for everyone as possible. I need tons of ideas/ suggestions for planning/etc for those of you who have entertained a big group before!
Colin and I are expecting between 20-30 people (still waiting to hear back from a few of our out of town family members to see if they're comming). Our house isn't huge- but should be big enough for everyone i'm hoping. I'm trying to plan pretty far ahead of time so that it turns out well / i can budget for food/etc.
The way we normally do holidays is everyone brings something food wise with them and we all have a big pot -luck type dinner. The host fixes the main dish- and everyone else brings veggies, dessert, etc. I'm making a huge ham (hopefully i won't ruin it this year
) and my brother- in - law is frying a turkey (as my back up plan
).
My bil manages one of the local gyms, so he is able to borrow tables/etc -so we're going to use two large rectangle type tables to put in the kitchen with tablecloths to set up a "buffet". I'm asking everyone to bring chairs with them if they can- since i know i will need extra seating.
I have already gone to Target & the dollar store and bought several inexpensive platters/serving dishes for the food- so that should help with set up. I'm trying to use paper plates/ napkins so that we don't have as many dishes to wash. (that and well, we don't have enough regular dishes for everyone
)
Anything else i should do???? I have never had a crowd this big here -so i'm wanting to make sure we keep it as easy/stress- free as possible!! I need ideas!
I've never had a party at mine and Colin's house. Aside from having a few guests over on occassion- we've never really entertained. I am sooo excited that everyone is comming here for the holidays!
Colin and I are expecting between 20-30 people (still waiting to hear back from a few of our out of town family members to see if they're comming). Our house isn't huge- but should be big enough for everyone i'm hoping. I'm trying to plan pretty far ahead of time so that it turns out well / i can budget for food/etc.
The way we normally do holidays is everyone brings something food wise with them and we all have a big pot -luck type dinner. The host fixes the main dish- and everyone else brings veggies, dessert, etc. I'm making a huge ham (hopefully i won't ruin it this year
My bil manages one of the local gyms, so he is able to borrow tables/etc -so we're going to use two large rectangle type tables to put in the kitchen with tablecloths to set up a "buffet". I'm asking everyone to bring chairs with them if they can- since i know i will need extra seating.
I have already gone to Target & the dollar store and bought several inexpensive platters/serving dishes for the food- so that should help with set up. I'm trying to use paper plates/ napkins so that we don't have as many dishes to wash. (that and well, we don't have enough regular dishes for everyone
Anything else i should do???? I have never had a crowd this big here -so i'm wanting to make sure we keep it as easy/stress- free as possible!! I need ideas!