How to organize your holiday brunches for less stress and more family time?
Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash
Organizing a family gathering on the holidays is a lot of fun and really exciting. But it can also get really hectic if you aren’t properly organized. And instead of having fun, you end up having to deal with a lot of stress. So, here are some organizing tips that will help you host a family brunch with less stress and more fun family time.
Set the table the night before
A great way to save some extra time on the day of the brunch is to set the table the night before. Not only will this save time, but it will also allow you to put more detail into the table and you can set it more elegantly and easily.
Do some meal-prep the previous day
You should start preparing for the family gathering a day before. And a great way to de-stress the kitchen environment and make the whole experience more fun is by starting doing some meal prep the night before the brunch. You can do stuff like cutting vegetables, and making food items such as salsa sauce that don’t need to be made fresh. You can do all little things the night before the brunch to make things easier and save time on the day of the family gathering.
Make the drinks earlier and keep them refrigerated
The drinks have to be chilled anyway, so instead of putting ice in at the last moment you should make the drinks earlier in the day and refrigerate them so that when your guests arrive, you don’t have to worry about making the drinks quickly. And this way you can have the drinks chilled without ruining the flavor with ice.
Get an early start
A great way to make the job in the kitchen easier for you is by getting an early start on the jobs. Wake up early in the morning of the big day and get to the kitchen. This will allow you to prepare everything beforehand so that when your family and friends arrive, you can spend more time with them instead of being cooped up in the kitchen.
Opt for desserts that can be made earlier
The whole idea of reducing the stress in the kitchen and getting more time with your family is by having as many things as possible prepared before the big day. So, try to get the desert off your list as well by choosing a dessert that can be made the night before like a trifle, or some pie. You can also make some pizzles, which is a traditional Italian dish that takes very little time to make if you have a pizzelle maker. Check out the reviews here if you are interested in getting one.
Get other members of the family to help
A great way to reduce the workload and to have some fun family time before the whole family gathering starts it to get the kids engaged in the work. They can help you with some small tasks that will make the job easier for you and also teach the kids some important skills.
Clean up the day before
If you have invited a lot of guests, you will have to clean up the house. Instead of leaving this task up to the big day, clean up the house the day before so that you don’t have to spend time cleaning up on the day of the family gathering.
Author BIO
This post is written by Line Arias who has been working as a nutritionist for ten years now. She recently collaborated with health and fitness spa, NYC, and since then, she has been working on weight loss’ meal prep plans. She regularly shares her ideas on https://www.nonnabox.com/blog/.