Pre-Prepare Food. Not all the food has to be cooked at the same time you know, much of it can be sorted very early on. All the vegetables can be cooked hours in advance and then simply kept in cold water until you serve the food up. Just drop the veg in some hot water for 2-3 mins and it will be as if they were cooked right then. If you have a microwave you can make your sauces up early doors and then just heat them up again with a bit of added water when you need them. This docent work so well for the other items of the meal like the meat and potatoes…these are best fresh.

Lay Table Early. This can be done at the very beginning of the day and saves a lot of hassle. You can lay all the place settings, cutlery and champagne flutes as long as you know how many people you are expecting. You can even place the crackers in position and add decorations such as poinsettias in glass vases.Making sure everything is in place and everyone has everything they need early on saves people complaining they haven’t been given a fork or napkin later on.

Self Serve. By having dishes in the kitchen that people can serve themselves from, you can spare everyone (including yourself) a lot of hassle. This prevents the need to transfer serving dishes back on forth, means the table doesn’t have to be bulging with all sorts of veg and meat trays and people can’t take what they fancy. Its advisable to keep the wine glasses on the table however as trying to juggle food and drink never ends well.