No Christmas is complete without Christmas dinners. Families and friends gather together to eat, talk and share memories. However, someone has to be in charge of all the planning for the Christmas dinners every holiday so everyone can get together and enjoy a great meal.

If you find yourself in the position of being responsible for this important event for your family and friends, here are 7 steps for planning Christmas dinner that can help you have a successful meal.

• Determine how many people will be at the dinner so you will be able to decide on how much food will be needed. Make sure you have more than you think you will need just in case extra people show up at the last minute.
• Decide what’s on your holiday menu. Write it down and don’t change your mind later. Otherwise, you will just end up with a lot of confusion and things will not go according to plan.
• Make a shopping list of all the ingredients you will need to make the dinner you want to serve. Go over this list several times to make sure you do not overlook something.
• Head to the grocery store for all the non-perishable ingredients you need at least one week in advance.
• Go over everything once again to make sure you have what you need for the dinner to go smoothly about two days before your meal.  Purchase perishable ingredients: meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, etc.
• Begin cooking everything you can make in advance.
• Enlist the help of family members when needed. Not only will this relieve some of the stress for you but it will also give them a way to be a part of the dinner.

If you will be having guests over for dinner, then you should consider having a buffet style meal where everyone can serve themselves. This takes a lot of the pressure off you and makes things a little more relaxing for everyone. If you use these 7 steps for planning Christmas dinner they will help to make your Christmas meal go much smoother and everyone will surly have a great time while congratulating you on a job well done.

Members to ListPlanIt will find the lists they need to plan Christmas meals and baking in Holidays & Occasions.  Not yet a member?  Join today and get organized for Christmas and the New Year.

Have a great holiday and happy cooking!