Organizing a Christmas or New Year's buffet is a good solution to avoid spending the evening in the kitchen reheating and serving dishes. But it is still necessary to have planned the place and the food in advance, with enough quantity and diversity to satisfy all your guests... In order for your buffet to be both greedy and festive, follow our 5 tips for a successful Christmas Eve.
When hosting a Christmas or New Year's buffet at home, it is usually set up in a living room like the living room.
The first of our 5 tips for a successful New Year's Eve is to set up the room ahead of time. Not only do you need to do a bit of cleaning but also remove all the fragile knick-knacks from your living room.
Clear as much space as possible so that your guests can easily move around the room to help themselves. Set up the buffet table along one wall, allowing for a length of at least 5 feet for a 20-person buffet.
Also plan several tables or coffee tables where guests can sit or simply put their plates and glasses.
Plant the decor by multiplying dimmed lights and gold-colored string lights, using matching paper tablecloths on the different tables and playing festive music in the background.
In addition to the decor, the second essential element to a successful Christmas or New Year's buffet is of course the food! In this area, diversity is the second of our 5 tips for a successful Christmas Eve.
If you don't know exactly what your guests' tastes are, you need to diversify the products offered to satisfy everyone.
Consider offering vegetarian canapés with hummus or guacamole for people who don't eat meat or fish. Vegetable dips and fruit-based desserts are also a good idea.
Smoked salmon, shrimp, cold cuts and cheese are also good options. But be careful with raw fish and raw milk cheeses: they cannot be eaten by pregnant women!
For more conviviality at your Christmas or New Year's buffet, you should design the bites offered in such a way that they are easy to eat. This way, your guests will be able to stay up chatting, snacking and dancing the night away.
The third of our 5 tips for a successful New Year's Eve party is to pay special attention to the appetizer portion of the buffet. The triple advantage of appetizers is that they are tasty, easy to prepare in advance and inexpensive.
To organize a tasty New Year's Eve without breaking the bank, you can take inspiration from our recipes for appetizer puffs and prepare small puffs with fresh salmon.
You can also make easy finger food pizza rolls. If you're baking savoury cakes, pies or quiches, consider cutting them into small, hand-sized portions.
For a successful Christmas or New Year's buffet you need quality but also quantity! Nothing is more embarrassing than a shortage of food or champagne in the middle of the party...
To avoid this type of disappointment, count on at least 3 bites of each kind per person and don't skimp on drinks with or without alcohol! Nolo cocktails are trending, so think about people who don't drink alcohol.
If you plan to party into the wee hours of the morning, also pack coffee and pastries for the next morning.
Even if you opt for a Christmas or New Year's buffet, the New Year's Eve would not be perfectly successful without festive desserts. The 'buffet' formula is an opportunity to offer your guests several small desserts to pick at in the manner of a gourmet café: sweet tooths will love it!
For example, you can offer small pieces of cake (like gingerbread or Christmas stollen), praline mignardises and a seasonal fruit salad served in verrines.
Fruits are generally appreciated at the end of a festive meal because they are refreshing and go very well with champagne...
For dessert too, think about varying the flavors between chocolate, fruit and other flavors to please everyone and take care of the presentation, for the pleasure of the eyes.
Author Audrey on 29 November 2023
Gastronomy and Food : Food
Author Audrey on 08 December 2023
Gastronomy and Food : Food