Should you let guests know you're not cooking traditional Christmas Dinner

I’d appreciate knowing in case it’s something I don’t like (I really dislike Indian food and wouldn’t eat it). I’m doing the traditional Christmas dinner this weekend, so that when we go to my daughters on Christmas Day we’re having a chicken pie for less fuss and bother giving mum time to play with the babies and enjoy the day.

I would thank them for the invitation and say as happy as I was to eat vegan or Indian at any other time, for you Christmas Day isn't Christmas Day without the traditional meal.

Mind you, I am a homebody and arch traditionalist on Christmas day, so wouldn't consider being other than with immediate family on Christmas day. Last year it was just myself and DD and as it was all done within the family tradition we both enjoyed it.

I love traditional, but! when my mum was poorly and we knew it would be her last Christmas, we choose potato pie mushy peas, red cabbage beetroot etc. she loved it, we ate out of the chip shop trays. my mum devoured it, she could not have sat down and ate a traditional Christmas meal. my cousins have fish chips every year for Christmas dinner.

I don't think it really matters what you have, I am grateful to have what family I around, the food comes second place.

I am myself hosting this year 7 of us and it will be traditional as I am trying to make it nice for my dad whos 86 and grieving as we all are, so curry, fish n chips, what ever, I will take whatever so long as family around.

But in answer to the question( I forgot) yes I think you should inform guests when you invite them as to what dish/s you will be cooking.

M0nica

I would thank them for the invitation and say as happy as I was to eat vegan or Indian at any other time, for you Christmas Day isn't Christmas Day without the traditional meal.

Mind you, I am a homebody and arch traditionalist on Christmas day, so wouldn't consider being other than with immediate family on Christmas day. Last year it was just myself and DD and as it was all done within the family tradition we both enjoyed it.

Exactly this.
I only cook turkey on one day of the year. It’s a big roast dinner with even more choice of potato and veg than usual. I do two yummy types of stuffing from Delia’s original Christmas book. There’s ham that was cooked on Christmas Eve and some eaten that evening. Plus copious amounts of gravy.
Lockdown Christmas last year had me considering other options but - one of the joys of the traditional feast is eating left overs after the Boxing Day walk. Then finding new ways to enjoy what’s left over.
Love it

I am going to be with family, who cares about the food, it is family that counts. Btw they are vegans, I am not but so wonderful to have a very thoughtful invitation and to be with family who care enought to have invited me. Roast dinner or not, at christmas = third world problem

Iam60 Your Christmas meal sounds like ours. Recently DDiL has added bread sauce to the meal (I loathe it, so have no involvement with that part).

I am delighted to hear of someone else having gammon as well as turkey. With that and the stuffings, we do not have pigs in blankets.

For something so traditional as Christmas dinner I think it would be polite to inform potential guests beforehand that you're intending to have Indian takeaway.

Any other day of the year it wouldn't matter but this is one that most people would have certain reasonable expectations of a roast of some sort.

As it is something that may not be expected then I would tell them. But I go out with people for their company not the food.

BlueBelle

I d love an Indian meal for Christmas dinner
Can’t the said lady have her traditional Christmas dinner for Boxing Day
Traditional can get a bit boring
I m going to a Christmas work meal and the only vegetarian option is a stuffed pepper and traditional vegetables not at all sure how that’s going to be, it doesn’t exactly float my boat

Christmas Dinner is once a year. How can it get boring?

Nanagem

Christmas dinner is Christmas dinner, I think if you are doing something different you should say before asking if guests would like to join them. I would expect a roast, maybe not Turkey, but definitely a meat joint of some kind It’s like being asked for Sunday lunch and given pasta.

I totally agree. Christmas dinner is Turkey and all the trimmings. It’s one day of the year!……I wouldn’t go.

Yes, I think you should tell them.
We used to have a turkey etc. on Christmas Eve so we could all enjoy the 25th with all the family without any of us having to miss any of it. We had curry on the day.
We do have a large family and there were children all over the place.

It would have been advisable to tell the couples what meal they were being offered as not everyone's digestion can tolerate Indian or vegan food, but having accepted the invitation it would be extremely bad manners to pull out now. Christmas Day isn't just about a meal, surely.

Both couples could easily have their Christmas meal on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day.

We have stayed with friends when I knew we were going to have her Swedish Christmas, i.e. fishy things and ham on Christmas Eve, no trad meal on the day, though we did have a very mediocre pub turkey dinner on the 23rd.

So I had bought a small frozen turkey, which we then had with all the trimmings (and leftovers obviously) on about the 29th. To me it’s not a proper Christmas without all the leftovers to eat up between Christmas and New Year.

We have been invited out and are really looking forward to it, it will be a traditional dinner but no idea what time it will be ready, a bit haphazard due to being a busy working farm and not enough time. We will have our own traditional dinner on Boxing Day.

Takes me back ~25 years when one of DD1's friends asked what we'd be having for xmas dinner. DD said: "I don't know but it won't be turkey". If I remember rightly it was a Lebanese dish that included lamb and apricots.

But, yes, I would tell people if I wasn't going to serve a "traditional" Xmas dinner. I'd also ask them if there was anything they couldn't eat. Depending on responses, I'd then decide what to serve. Mind you at the moment I can't imagine inviting people whose basic eating habits I didn't already know. I don't count arranging an Indian meal that the people you ask to come along have to buy themselves as "inviting".

As others have said up thread, it's just polite, to be clear about what will be involved rather than assuming everyone will feel the same as you do.

We all like the traditional Christmas dinner. Sometimes we have it on a different day as my sons are shift workers, so we celebrate on the nearest day to suit their work patterns. I couldn't leave them out.

I go to meals with others for the company, not for the type of food they are serving. I suppose I might be surprised at some of the ideas mentioned here, but I'd run with it.

I think this year particularly I would go to the meal Christmas Day whatever it was and enjoy the company and then cook my turkey Boxing Day or the day after and enjoy that. In a year when a lot of us haven't known Tuesday from Thursday a 24 hour late turnkey doesn't really seem a problem. Would I say if I wasn't cooking traditional - yes.

Yes, I think that it's only good manners. I told my guests that there wouldn't be any meat and they are fine with that. It will be traditional apart from that though!

Yes, I'd mention it. Me and hubby are vegan but we cook a small turkey for those who aren't. I always say they have option of either.

The hosts should have mentioned the food situation beforehand but if the guests are set on a traditional dinner for themselves they can either do it on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day for themselves. Surely the most important part is who you are spending the day with, not the food!

Depends, as long as they were sure I didn't have a specific thing I really didn't like, or a special diet or food allergy/ intolerance (a risk with some takeaways if you don't discuss it with the chef) I'd accept it as their choice. Vegan's fine for anyone as long as they don't have specific issues like Sesame allergy or gluten intolerance, other things might be difficult for people with specific religious or ethical issues - wouldn't spring meat on vegan's/ vegetarians or pork on particular religious groups. Guess depends on who your guests are and how well you have planned for them.

Well she has let them know in time so they can politely decline.

I’ve got my in laws staying for Christmas Day. I’m vegan and have been for many years. I haven’t told them that the dinner will be 100% vegan as I’m sure they expect it to be.
Well let’s hope so.
However if it’s something completely different like an Indian takeaway I think guests should be asked beforehand, not everyone likes Indian food. X