Tips For Hosting Christmas Dinner, Allergy-Free

These tips work for hosting Christmas dinner dairy-free, gluten-free, peanut-free, nut-free, or ANY allergen-free!

Updated October 2024

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I remember the days when I was able to just go to someone’s house and enjoy the Christmas dinner they created and only worry about bringing one dish. Since food allergies, I’ve been forced to learn about hosting Christmas dinner and how to make the full meal by myself.

I now cook our own special family meals for Christmas Eve, Christmas dinner and sometimes New Year's Eve and Christmas morning brunch too. And find myself hosting Christmas dinner often.

At first, it was hard.

I didn’t know the timing of foods and I didn’t have a flow, which meant there were a few holidays when I thought we would eat around 5 but ended up eating around 8:00 instead.

YIKES!

Not to mention all the cooking that has to happen during the holidays.

Cross-Contact is Important

Cross-contact is important when it comes to food allergies. Cross contact is when you use a spoon for one food item, and then transfer and use the spoon for another food item. OR when you leave a bit of food in a bowl, and use that same bowl for something else, without cleaning it first. For example, maybe you melt some butter in a bowl, and then you use the same bowl to crack eggs into, without washing the bowl. Those eggs now have butter/milk/dairy in them and can be potentially dangerous for those with food allergies to milk/dairy (and no, eggs are not actually dairy).

Because of cross-contact, I would usually host and cook all the food for Christmas dinner, so that I could ensure that food is safe. For a while, I felt like I was bonding with my kitchen more than my family during one of the most important celebrations of the year!

This is why I knew something had to change, and I needed to come up with a plan.

So over the years I’ve tried new things and focused on what worked the previous year and got rid of what didn’t. What I do now has evolved over the last 17 years, but I feel like I’ve got a system down pat. Now I can enjoy my family during the holidays instead of being chained to the kitchen!

Let me tell you if I can do it, so can you, with the help of what I’ve learned over the years.

Here are my best tips for planning and cooking and hosting Christmas Dinner when you have to do it all by yourself.

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Never, ever try to make an entire holiday meal the day of or day before the event without pre-making some dishes.

I learned this the hard way. Cooking all your food at the time of the event means spending hours and hours cooking when all you really want to be doing is puzzles, watching Christmas movies or skating with the fam. No matter how much you enjoy cooking, this just isn’t the most ideal time to do it.

Not only that but cooking right before an event is STRESSFUL! There’s so much that needs to be done and there’s a firm time limit. Don’t be like me at the beginning where I ended up getting dinner ready 3 hours past the time I had invited everyone to come. It was not my best hour!

2. Make the same thing Every. Single. Year.

I clued into this a few years back. By making the same thing every year my kids started to get used to the dishes and it created a sense of tradition and anticipation. I also noticed that my kids started to like dishes they originally wouldn’t have anything to do with (i.e. my absolute favourite, stuffing/dressing).

By making the same thing every year you start to get REALLY good at those dishes. Each year they turn out better and better until your meal becomes somewhat of a masterpiece. Not only that, but you start to get faster at making the same thing over and over. This is exactly what you need during this busy time!

Get more details in this video:

3. Decide what you will pre-make.

As always, scheduling and planning are key. I usually start to think about our Christmas dinner around Canadian Thanksgiving (in October). I usually make stuffing for Thanksgiving and so I just double or triple the amount I make and freeze the rest for Christmas. Yes, the stuffing will freeze that long and still taste amazing. I know this because I do it every year and I’m known in my extended family for making the best stuffing!

The key here is to figure out what will freeze well and what you need to make on the day of. For example, the turkey always needs to be cooked on the day of the event, where mashed sweet potatoes can be made in advance and frozen. Honestly, I choose dishes that I know will freeze well so I don’t have to stress so much!

4. Create the time in your schedule now and block it off.

Now that you have decided on your menu and what you can pre-make, add those dishes to your weekly meal plans and schedule them now. Block the time in your calendar to make sure it gets done. Cooking one extra dish here and there is way easier than trying to cook 6 dishes in one day!

5. Ask friends and family to bring basic food or non-food items.

It can be really expensive to make a big celebration meal like a Christmas dinner. To offset the costs, I ask friends and family to bring non-food items or items that can easily be made allergy-friendly like a veggie tray, fruit tray, sparkling juice, Christmas crackers or wine for the adults.

This helps with cost but also helps friends and family get over the fact that they don’t need to bring food. They feel like they’re helping out and you’re still able to control the food and environment for your little one.

Want to empower your child to help keep themselves safe? Grab my FREE Food Allergy Kids Empowerment Guide here:

Happy-kids-together-and-the-words-the-ultimate-food-allergy-kids-empowerment-guide

Burning Questions You Asked Me About Hosting Christmas Dinner, Allergy-Free

Question #1: How do you deal with everyone asking what to bring.

First, people who ask this want to help, even though that question to a food allergy mom can feel loaded and stressful!

I talked about this already, but

You could ask them to bring non-food items like napkins or a special table centerpiece or even their favorite game so everyone can play. Another option is to ask them to bring very simple allergy-friendly items like drinks or something else that works for your family.
Remember that it’s important to talk about this specifically in the invite. Be VERY CLEAR. Let them know that your child has food allergies and so it’s safer if you take care of all the food. By putting this right into the invite, it will limit the number of people showing up with a plate of unsafe squares on the day of the event.

Question #2: Dealing with cross-contact is the most stressful for me, because people may have the allergen in their kitchen.

In the past, I dealt with this by making the special holiday dinner myself using the tips I talked about earlier because then I knew that I could ensure there was no cross-contact.

Question #3: It’s stressful when people show up with a plate of goodies that my child can’t eat, and not knowing how to say no without being rude.

I think a big part of this is education BEFORE THE EVENT and telling people not to bring goodies and why. I’ve had a lot of success by telling people in the actual invite. Even so, if you still get someone bringing something, I would accept it with graciousness, and then not put it out. I would just put it somewhere where my child couldn’t get into it and hope the person who brought it doesn’t notice! Honestly with everyone visiting they likely won’t say anything, and if they do, I would just say that I’ll talk to them about it later. Then, you can give the plate back and let them know that you appreciate the thought, but you couldn’t put it out because it wasn’t safe for your child.

Question #4. I hate repeatedly explaining my son’s allergies to people who know his allergies - it’s exhausting.

I really get this. Constantly telling people about your son’s allergies IS repetitive and frustrating! BUT here’s the thing… People need reminders. We live in a super busy world and if people don’t live with food allergies every day, they need to hear about it again and again. Remember that can be true of things other than food allergies too.

I used to get really frustrated with the grandparents who just didn’t seem to get food allergies, and would need to be reminded over and over. But as I get older, I realize that I ALSO don’t remember things as well as I used to. I find myself asking my teens about things over and over. They get frustrated, and I try to remind them that my brain doesn’t remember things as well as it used to! It’s just a part of aging. SOOO, I’m not making excuses for family members who are truly not trying to understand food allergies, BUT I hope to show you another angle, incase you haven’t thought about this before. Either way, I encourage you to give grace, especially to those of the older generation, because they may not be trying to be annoying or frustrating, it’s just where they are in life. If you prepare yourself to be repetitive, it will help you with your mindset.

I try and avoid having the conversation at the actual event by sending an email or text before the event. I also make sure to put it into every RSVP I send as well. My Social Event Survival Pack can help with this!

Use every opportunity, especially the ones BEFORE THE EVENT to explain allergies again.

Conclusion

Hosting Christmas dinner isn’t as hard as you think with these 5 time-management and organization tips, even if you’ve never done it before!

Do you cook big holiday meals, or is it something you want to try? If so, what tip from this blog will you try? Share in the comments!