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Catering A Successful Christmas Dinner

Preparing Christmas dinner for a group of people can be time consuming. With everything that goes into the Christmas season, adding dinner to the list can be daunting. This year, consider having your Christmas dinner catered.

To many, catering Christmas dinner can seem like a frou-frou thing to do. You’d expect that at a high society Christmas dinner but not for a down home family gathering. Actually, more and more people are opting for this type of holiday meal.

Catering a Christmas dinner meal saves time. That is probably the number one reason to have the Christmas meal catered. Hours are spent in the kitchen fixing food and washing dishes. By the time the guests arrive to eat, you are too pooped out to participate.

The Christmas dinner is about fellowship. It is hard to carry on a conversation if you are asleep. With a catered dinner, the caterers do the majority of the work while, you are allowed to play host or hostess and interact with the family.

Catering a Christmas dinner includes food and service. Caterers come in and set up the food station and bring already prepared food. If you’d like, they will also serve the food to the guests and replenish food that is running low. Afterwards, they are responsible for clean up.

When dealing with a caterer for Christmas dinner, contact them well in advance of the occasion. Caterers book up fast with private parties and corporate affairs. Discuss a budget with them. While you want the convenience of not cooking you don’t want to go broke trying to do it. Choose a caterer with the most services included in the price of the meal.

Stick with a simple menu. Adding several side dishes and meats will jack up the price. Choose one or two meats and maybe three side dishes. Chicken is one of the cheapest meats to serve. Desserts can be brought by the Christmas dinner guests.

Remember that caterers will be watching the clock. They get paid for the amount of hours they are there. So, serve dinner first and then everyone can lounge and talk over dessert since you provided that yourself. The caterers can clean up, wrap up any extra food, and clear out in a matter of a couple of hours. The rest of the Christmas evening can be enjoyed by you and your family alone.

Some catered Christmas dinners just involve the food. In that case, the price will be cheaper and you can set up the eating area any way that you want. The food arrives a few hours before dinner and you didn’t have to lift a finger.

Catering a Christmas dinner is a great way to save time on cooking. The family gets a great meal for Christmas without the hassle and stress of preparing it.

Alternative Christmas Dinners

We all have a picture of Christmas dinner in our minds. It involves turkey, stuffing, gravy, and a host of other dishes. If you want to break with tradition, here are some alternative Christmas dinner ideas to try out on your family this year.

Just because it is Christmas dinner, doesn’t mean that we have to eat the same things each year. Branch out and try a few other dishes or some of your favorite comfort foods that aren’t necessarily a part of a traditional Christmas dinner menu. Dinner guests will like the variety.

If your guests are on board with this Christmas dinner idea, ask them to participate. They can bring a favorite dish of theirs to the gathering for everyone else to try. Instead of turkey as the centerpiece use the other poultry that is popular the rest of the year. Have a plate of fried chicken on the dinner table.

How about fish? We often think of poultry or ham for holiday occasions but fish is just as good and healthier for you. Serve up a platter of salmon or tilapia. For a down home feel, batter and fry some whiting fillets.

Seafood works well as an alternate Christmas dinner dish. A pot of clam or seafood chowder (New England style) will warm the cockles during the holiday meal. After a hearty bowl of that, no one will want a big heaping helping of turkey and potatoes. Serve the soup with those cute little oyster crackers.

If you have children, ask them to participate in the menu planning. Kids have their favorite foods as well. Christmas dinner revolves around good people and good food. So, have something that you like to eat on the dinner table. You may find a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs in the midst of everything else.

Try out the other white meat. A pork loin is lean and juicy. It still goes well with mashed potatoes and a gravy or wild rice and green beans. Pork loin roasts for twenty minutes per pound so the oven won’t be tied up all day. If mashed potatoes are too heavy, try a medley of fresh roasted vegetables like onions, baby carrots, and red skinned potatoes.

Choose a theme for your Christmas dinner. If it’s seafood, or Italian food, or Mexican food, everyone can bring something to contribute to the meal. The food will be different than usual but the sentiment is still the same.

Alternative Christmas dinner ideas are fun to try out. If it doesn’t take with the folks, you can go back to a more traditional Christmas meal next year.