How to Host a Christmas Dinner Party

‘Tis the season for Christmas parties. There’s nothing like gathering your closest friends and family for a special dinner event. If you’ve never thrown one yourself, don’t worry. Here are some Christmas hosting tips and ideas to help you make it a success.

How to Throw an Adult Christmas Dinner Party

There’s nothing like experiencing the magic of the Christmas season through the eyes of a child — but sometimes you just need a kid-free fête. When you send out invitations, encourage your guests with children to find a babysitter for the evening. This dinner will focus on flavourful foods and curated cocktails — which obviously doesn’t work for underage guests. No kids table here.

Deck the Halls

It’s just not Christmas without seasonal decorations. Put out familiar family favourites or aim for something more modern. You can try going for a theme, like an homage to a classic Christmas movie or a rustic tree farm look.

Of course for this event you’ll want to pay extra attention to the dinner table. Centerpieces, table runners and candles (candlesticks or tea lights) elevate any dining table. You may even want to consider name cards to help the dinner conversation and make this feel more like an Event with a capital E.

Set the Mood

There’s no shortage of Christmas tunes to get everyone in a festive mood. You can play the classics or find a playlist with more of a twist. Instrumental tracks provide nice background music without overpowering any conversations. You could even try pairing musical genres with your cocktails — just check out our recommendations.

Ideas for What to Serve at Your Christmas Dinner Party

This is no ordinary night, so it’s a good time to bring out extraordinary epicurean delights. Go for premium ingredients in everything you serve, and that includes cocktails. Grey Goose Vodka is made from only two ingredients: the finest French wheat and limestone-filtered water. Every drop is distilled in France, and we ensure it’s made with great care from crop to cork. Our iconic bottle sets the stage for a stylish, sensorial dinner party from starters to dessert.

1. Start with Starters

Especially since your guests may not (probably won’t) arrive all at the same time, you’ll want to give them something to nibble on until the main course. Put out some hors d'oeuvres and don’t forget about the lost art of aperitifs.

Aperitifs are typically low ABV, bitter drinks traditionally served before the meal. Some common examples you may have heard of are sherry and amaro. You could serve them on their own, but they may be more crowd-pleasing in a Christmas themed cocktail. The Fireside Martini Cocktail contains the traditional aperitif vermouth, while the Silent Martini Cocktail contains sherry.

2. Pair Cocktails with Your Meal

Next, you’ll want to decide on your main course and the perfect cocktail to complement it. The basics of pairing are to either put alike flavours together that enhance each other, or to combine somewhat opposing flavours to offset one another. Learn all about how to pair your main dish with the right cocktails, including suggestions for everything from plant-based to meat dishes, and then learn how to deck your drink to give any cocktail festive flair.

3. Don’t Skimp on Dessert

This time of year especially is all about the sweets. You can certainly put out biscuits and candy, but maybe your guests will want to drink their dessert instead? Browse all our favourite drinks on the sweeter side, or serve up the festive Peppermint Froth, Christmas Punch or Gingerbread Martini Cocktail.

The Season of Giving

This part of your Christmas dinner party is entirely optional, but you may want to host a gift exchange with your guests. You could do Secret Santa, White Elephant or any other gift-giving tradition. Or you could even give small party favours to your guests as the night winds down. Whatever you choose, we’ve put together a Grey Goose Gift Guide to help you find something perfect for any occasion.

And really, giving a gift would just be the bow on top of an already lovely evening you were able to provide your friends and family. The gift of hosting a Christmas dinner party will be appreciated by all.

Creative Christmas Dinner Party Ideas

If you’re looking to host something a little more unique, think about themes. Is there a favourite Christmas movie you can turn to for decor inspiration, and even have guests come in specific characters? Does your heritage have any traditions you’d like to incorporate? Are there any nostalgic activities you think your guests may enjoy? A cookie decorating contest or ornament making craft add an interactive aspect to the get-together.

You can also give the evening a charitable slant — ask your guests to bring an item to donate in lieu of a host or hostess gift.

How to Make Your Dinner Party More Interesting

To make your dinner party even more interesting, you may want to try providing some conversation starters. You can either announce them as the host, or put some on the table as place cards or centerpiece items. These could be topics like the top 3 guests in all of history you would invite to this dinner party, or what special hidden talents people have. You can even have guests switch seats in between courses so everyone gets to know different people better.

What’s the Ideal Number of Guests for a Dinner Party?

While you certainly can invite however many people you want, between 6 and 8 people is an ideal number of guests to host for a dinner party. This number can be comfortably seated around one dining table, and it allows plenty of opportunity for lively, varied conversations while still keeping things intimate.

Celebrate Responsibly

And finally you’ll want to make sure your guests get home safe. Make sure everyone has a designated driver or alternate transportation home.

Follow all these tips and you’ll be sure to have hosted a Christmas dinner party to remember for years to come. And you can keep the party going — get more Christmas ideas and tips for the whole season.