Over the years we have hosted an annual Christmas party for work related guests but this year, retired and in a new location, we did one just for our friends and it was a great success  – Great part food and good friends are a perfect mix.  The ideal Christmas Party food for the evening should be easy to prepare ahead, easy to store and easy to reheat just before the guests arrive.  I also prepare a mixed selection of party dishes to allow diverse populations to have something to eat which includes Gluten Free Party Food as well as Vegetarian Party Food options. Christmas party food should also include snacks for when the guests arrive and everyone is getting settled. I had the sausage rolls ready to go, salsa and chips.

Snacks to start the Christmas Party Food

This year, I purchased 6 readymade pastry pie shells for a selection of quiche options, plus the puff pastry for the sausage rolls, but I made everything else from scratch. I also have a wonderful old book called Cooking for Crowds (Merry White 1979) who gives recipes for some great dishes and lists how much you need to prepare for 6, 12, 20 and 50 guests. We had 25 people attending but none of the dishes were a full meal in themselves, so I allowed for slightly less than the amounts listed for some of the ingredients.  My recipe for chili is different to the book but knowing how much meat and onions I needed makes this book a useful guide.

The food made for our party included:

About 100 sausage rolls;

4 large pkts chicken drumsticks in BBQ sauce;

Chili for about 20 servings;

6 quiches @ 6 slices per flan. I did 2 each of traditional bacon/onion quiche, onion/mushroom quiche and mushroom/asparagus.

3-bean salad;

Pepper-rice salad;

Winter version of a succotash;

We also had French bread and fruit to round out the options.

Gluten Free Christmas Party Food options included chili, bbq chicken, and all the side dishes;

Vegetarian Christmas Party Food options included 2 of the quiche options, and the rice salads.

Lactose free Christmas Party options are the same as the Gluten Free ones.

Note: The Cooking For Crowds 40^th anniversary edition is listed on Amazon with updated recipes and design. My version was the 1979 book purchased in the early 1980s when we first started giving parties.