Now, if you have all your mates headed to your house for a Christmas party this festive season, and don’t have a clue where to start, we have you covered as I talk to celebrity party planner, Liz Taylor. Having thrown parties for the likes of the Royal Family and Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright, lets hear all of her top tips from reusing milk bottles to saying NO to paper plates.
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00:00 Go online, get some gorgeous plates, gold plates, red plates, green plates, they're
00:06 not expensive, and display the food around the room and maybe on a central table, but
00:11 make it so that people can wander. They can wander around with a small side plate, never
00:16 ever use a big plate, and never ever use a paper plate. Ever.
00:21 When it comes to Christmas gatherings, do you don the kitchen with fairy lights or are
00:25 streamers in season right now? How do you cater for the non-drinkers and those with
00:28 dietary requirements? And just how are you going to invite this person without inviting
00:33 that person? Well, let's try and make things a little bit simpler by taking a few top tips
00:38 from celebrity party planner Liz Taylor.
00:41 And you would be aghast at how many people double dip. So that means that they go and
00:46 they take the thing and they take a bite and then they go and double dip it in the next
00:50 sauce. And we're all guilty of that. You know, you want vol-au-vent. You can do meat options
00:54 and you can do non-meat options. And I think that is hugely important. And you again, make
01:01 or do or print really cool, cute signs. You know, this contains meat. This doesn't contain
01:07 meat.
01:08 New research by Co-op has found a third of adults say they are much more likely to attend
01:13 a work or social event if it has a piggy bit spread, with almost half agreeing they prefer
01:17 Christmas parties with a buffet over a sit-down meal.
01:21 You know, drink, you don't want to spend fortunes on drink. Get a little mini milk bottle, fill
01:27 it with some Prosecco and put a straw in, fill it with a mulled wine and that mini milk
01:31 bottle can sit on your plate. And you're there, you know, you've got your bag under your arm
01:36 or over your shoulder, you've got a small plate with some piggy bits on with your drink
01:40 and listening to your naughty holder all the stupid music that we make an excuse for over
01:45 Christmas.
01:46 With the cost of living crisis continuing to create a hole in people's pockets, festivities
01:50 might be on a bit of a budget this year. But even despite that, Liz is sure that it's not
01:54 necessarily about money when it comes to creating an atmosphere.
01:58 I think the other thing is, and I say this to all the clients, it's never about how much
02:02 you spend, it's how you spend it. So whatever the budget, think about it. You know, no one
02:08 wants to walk into a house where all the lights are on. You know, it's a completely different
02:12 vibe. You want to go in somewhere a bit sexy. So turn the lights off and go and get reusable,
02:18 you know, some, the globe lights or the fairy lights that you can stick and you can get
02:23 away with stuff at Christmas. Do two or three cheese boards. Don't do one and do smaller
02:29 pieces and, or if you've got the time, even cut up the pieces. There is nothing worse
02:35 than a big cheese board where somebody's, particularly the men, they're guilty of this.
02:40 They like hack into it with a hammer and then there's stuff all over the place and it looks
02:44 a complete disaster, but get something a bit festive. Get a stick with a Santa hat on,
02:50 get a stick with a bit of foil on it or something. And you put them, don't put them in the food.
02:55 You put a little bowl on the side with all the sticks in and I take my stick out and
02:59 I can take, and I can use that stick more than once.