Christmas party must-haves
Kitchen space. Clear it or suffer. There will be mountains of dishes to clean, and those stubborn, caked-on pies will start talking to you.
Many South Africans have a Christmas dinner/lunch in the open air. For many more, it is the traditional dinner of either turkey, roast beef, mince pies, yellow rice with raisins, vegetables, plum pudding, crackers, paper hats and all.
Follow these rules for the perfect Christmas day party.
• Fairy lights. No, the novelty of fairy lights will never end. There are so many varieties of globes, colours and formations that there are simply no excuses not to have fairy lights at a Christmas party. Place them anywhere, on the balcony railing or around a door frame. Fairy lights add sparkle and fun to any space and are a sure-fire crowd pleaser.
• Something made, something bought. This is a brilliant method to alleviate potential cooking disasters on Christmas day. Follow the rule of buy the ingredients, assemble the dish. Have a box of chocolates or biscuits to save the day if all else fails.
• Music. Parties must have tunes. Christmas is often a time to reflect and reminisce and with that in mind classic Christmas tunes from the likes of Bing Crosby and Elvis are usually a good hit. But like most tastes, the music can be a good variety. As long as it is all between the spectrum of easy listening and upbeat, you cannot really go wrong.
• Fresh summer drinks. Icy-cold sparkling water with a dash of lemon, lime. Jugs of water with shaved cucumber. Ice-blended tomato, basil, vodka and salt. There are so many varieties.
• Kitchen space. Clear it or suffer. There will be mountains of dishes to clean, and those stubborn, caked-on pies will start talking to you. But to lessen the cleaning fiasco, clear the benches from the start, and clean as you go. Keep track of people’s glasses so you don’t need to keep using new ones.
