Simple Christmas entertaining ideas are a must!

It wouldn’t be the holidays without a few good Christmas parties, but the last thing a frazzled mum wants to do at this hectic time of year is worry about planning out and preparing a full-course meal and drinks for a big crowd of friends. What can you do if you’d like to host a festive party but you want to keep your sanity?

Here are my top simple Christmas entertaining ideas

Bring-a-dish party

If you want to have a dinner party, consider hosting a holiday bring-a-dish or pot luck party. All you have to do is ask each person you invite to bring a dish, preferably homemade. You could even choose a fun theme, like asking each guest to bring their grandmother’s favourite recipe. 

It may be helpful to suggest courses to ensure you don’t end up with 10 desserts and no sides. As the host, it’s a good idea to make a main dish – I recommend pasta as it’s filling, easy to make, and almost universally liked. 

Besides making a main dish, all you have to do is set up a table and put out some utensils and drinks. Serve it buffet-style, use some simple table decorations, put on some Christmas music to set the tone, and you’re all set!

Cinema afternoon

Why not invite some friends over for a Christmas movie marathon? Choose two or three holiday-themed films that are appropriate for your crowd in advance and tell everyone to come over wearing their favourite Christmas PJs. 

You don’t have to worry about cleaning up the kitchen or dining room for this type of gathering – just make sure there’s plenty of comfortable seating in front of your TV.

Set up a popcorn bar with popcorn and some flavoured toppings like chocolate or cheese, some mix-ins like M&Ms or something similar, and a few bowls, and you’re good to go. I love a good cheese platter too! A pizza delivery is also a perfectly good option if you’re going to make a day out of it.

Not only will you not have to make dinner and fret about what to wear, but you also won’t have a lot of cooking and dishes to do!

Christmas cookie exchange party

When it comes to simple Christmas entertaining ideas, it’s hard to top a cookie exchange. Invite a small group of friends over and ask each person to bake and bring a batch of their favourite holiday cookies. You can bake your cookies in advance – you could even do this a week ahead of time and freeze your cookies – and once you’re done with that, you’ve already got the hard part out of the way!

The day of the party, set out platters with a little card displaying the name of each guest, and have them display their cookies on the corresponding platter when they arrive. 

Serve up some cider or mulled wine, coffee and hot chocolate, put on some Christmas music, and nibble on the cookies as you catch up with your pals. You could even buy some paper boxes for your guests to bring home a few of each cookie at the end of the party. Simple, cheap, and fun!

Cupcake decorating party

This option is always a hit with little ones. Whip up a few batches of cupcakes – I recommend making half chocolate and half vanilla – and buy or make some frosting. I suggest vanilla frosting because it’s perfect as is, and you can even tint some of it red and green with food colouring if you’re feeling especially festive. 

Set out some cute sprinkles and other edible decorations, and let the kids decorate them as they wish. It doesn’t have to be fancy; plain sugar that you tint different colours is perfectly fine if you can’t find Christmas-shaped baking decor. Older kids might want to do more intricate designs, while younger kids will usually be more content simply dipping the cupcakes, frosting side down, into plates of crushed-up sweets like Smarties.

There’s no reason holiday entertaining has to drain your time and bank account. Go for one of these stress-free simple Christmas entertaining ideas so you’ll have the energy to kick back and have fun! 

PS: I LOVE Christmas decor and I also enjoy shopping for bits and pieces that fit my style. I’m into white, gold, and more muted tones. If you’ve been eyeing my styling tactics I’m sharing my do’s and dont’s for Christmas style in the home, and my 5 must haves to make any house sparkle. Join me on the Mama Manual Facebook page at 4:30pm GMT +1!