To prepare you for the Christmas and New Year festivities, we've rounded up tips from our experts for maximum merry-making.
By consulting our expert reviews this Christmas, you can put on a dazzling spread at the dinner table and share some laughs playing top-rated party games.
Eat well, live better and stay healthy.Christmas party food
If you’re after some top-notch food to wow your guests, the results of our Christmas food surveys are worth a closer look.
At the start of the year, we quizzed more than 9,000 Which? members to find out which places they rated best for Christmas dinner essentials, including party canapés, turkey, pigs in blankets and desserts.
'Nobody wants to add to the stress on Christmas Day by having to do everything on the day, so make life easier for yourself with a bit of planning,' he told us.
Expert tip: try a multi cooker
Sam Morris, multi cooker expert at Which? says:
'A multi cooker might be a good idea for heating up batches of food quickly without having to leave your oven on.
'Ninja, Tefal and Instant are the key brands to look out for. They all have an automatic keep-warm function that stays on for 5 to 24 hours (depending on the model) after you've cooked with it.
Save on energy and cook tasty food with an air fryer
An air fryer can help you prepare a magnificent meal for Christmas. You obviously won't be able to fit a whole turkey inside, but these massively popular appliances can tackle a range of jobs. For example, you can:
Expert tip: make sure you have a good knife for food prep
Sabrina Sahota, chef's knives expert at Which? says:
'If you want to invest in one knife for your Christmas food prep, make it a chef's knife. You can use it for chopping potatoes and veg, as well as carving your turkey.
'Chef's knives range in size from 12cm up to 20cm – a longer blade can cut more volume (like a butternut squash) but a shorter knife will feel more agile.
You don't need to spend big, either – our Great Value chef's knife impressed for less than £30.'
Find out which knives are the sharpest and top for comfort with our guide on theTreat your guests to a scoop (or three) of ice cream
Christmas is synonymous with indulgence, so a selection of delicious ice cream flavours will go down a treat. You can pick from classics like vanilla and chocolate or experiment with festive options, such as peppermint and gingerbread.
Earlier this year, we asked a panel of 67 consumers to blind-taste Carte D'Or, Kelly's and Mackie's vanilla ice cream alongside nine supermarket own-label options. Lidl's offering topped the table, with the majority of our tasters enjoying the creaminess and sweetness.
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Expert tip: A cool box will give you even more storage space
Sam Morris, cool boxes expert at Which? says:
'Cool boxes, to me at least, are often associated with summer weather and picnics, but having one over the festive period could be a handy solution for many of the challenges Christmas throws your way.
'A cool box is brilliant for transporting food with you to the relatives, or keeping drinks chilled at an evening party. Plus, if real estate in the fridge is hard to come by, a cool box gives you extended fridge space to store food for Christmas dinner or preserve leftovers for Boxing Day.
'The electric cool boxes we've tested cost about 2p an hour to run, and are a good solution if you need the extra space for several days and don't want to think about changing out ice packs like you would with a passive cool box.'
If you're looking to buy a cool box before Christmas day arrives, read our page on the .Christmas party drinks
For festive drinks, slow cookers can come into their own – for example, helping to keep your mulled wine warm. All you need to do is stick the wine in and put the slow cooker on its lowest setting.
Expert tip: use a slow cooker to keep mulled wine warm
Matthew Knight, slow cooker expert at Which? says:
'If you're just buying a slow cooker for this purpose, I'd recommend our cheapest Best Buy model.
Expert tip: make your own fizzy drinks
Chris Brookes, SodaStreams expert at Which? says:
'If you have children, look out for ways to get them involved in the preparations – for example, by choosing the party games or getting their input on the fizzy drinks.
'You can only put water in a SodaStream, which you fizz up before adding flavours. You can buy Pepsi, 7Up etc, which many kids would like.
If you fancy popping a cork, discover theChristmas party entertainment
It depends how lively an affair you want to host, but if you have a fine set of vocal cords and some understanding neighbours, you might want to head down the karaoke route.
Expert tip: bring out the karaoke machine
Joel Bates, karaoke machine expert at Which?, says:
'We recommend choosing a karaoke machine that has knobs for adjusting your sound levels, rather than buttons. When you're setting it up, one of the most important things is to get the balance just right between the volume of your backing track and the volume of your mics, and it's so much easier to tweak it using knobs. We've found buttons can be really frustrating.
'You might also prefer a karaoke machine with wireless mics. In our tests, our panel of testers visibly enjoyed themselves so much more when they weren't encumbered by cables running across the floor.
'Lots of karaoke machines also have rechargeable batteries – they're also worth considering if you don't want your karaoke party to be limited to wherever there's a plug socket.'
Alternatively, leave the singing to the experts and try:
Hi-fi systems Record players and turntablesSmart speakersChristmas party games
Sometimes, there's no better Christmas party than one where everyone is huddled together in garish jumpers with a few nibbles to hand, playing board games.
While you can opt for a classic, such as Cluedo, or a reworking of an old favourite, such as Monopoly Deal, you can also look into the raft of creative games that have come on to the market more recently.
When choosing games, consider the age range of your guests and how many people might want to be involved. Long strategy-based games aren’t ideal if there are young children on your guest list.
Try to pick light card games that can involve as many guests as possible – perhaps after dining to allow your food to digest. Quickfire games such as Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza or drawing party game Telestrations are ideal for this.
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