Untangle those fairy lights and compile those Christmas carol playlists, ‘cause the festive season is nigh. Despite your (possibly) overwhelming to-do list, the Yuletide spirit has been spreading infectiously and there’s no better way to celebrate Christmas than with loved ones at home. To ensure that you’ll be the hostess with the mostess, we’ve put together a super easy guide to help you organise your ultimate Christmas party with minimal effort. Cheers to the holidays!
The Feast
Hosting your own Christmas party doesn’t have to mean hours of slaving away in the kitchen. Full Yuletide feasts can easily be ordered and delivered to your doorstep just in time for you to scoop into serving plates (so guests can admire your handiwork). Browse through our picks below.
Satisfy both your sweet and savoury cravings with a selection of traditional cakes and treats from Antoinette. Our pick? This savoury cake creation: The Hivernette ($75). Reminiscent of an advent calendar, each layer of olive oil-drizzled, house-baked country bread reveals delicious surprises such as wild mushroom ragout and caramelised onions to the final reward of a decadent wagyu beef brisket bourguignon. Coated with beetroot cream cheese chantilly and dressed in a medley of roasted veg, it’s almost your whole festive feast in cake form. Make your orders three days in advance.
Café Noël at Fairmont Singapore & Swissôtel The Stamford
Browse through the delectable catalogue of Christmas dishes — it includes eight new types of desserts and mains — for an epic meal that you can assemble in a jiffy. A whopping 4.5-5kg roasted holiday tom turkey can be ordered for $182, and hams, lamb racks and sides can be arranged from $28.
Festive feasting isn’t complete without dessert, and it doesn’t get any merrier than the Happy, Merry, Boozy cake ($49.90). Think brandy-infused chocolate sponge concealing Griottines brandied cherries and topped with couverture chocolate mousse, dark chocolate shavings and a sprinkling of gold dust. Ideal for 10 portions.
The grocery store loves Christmas so much, it even created a website with a countdown for last orders. A Hearty Christmas Feast for six to eight diners begins at $89.95, and there’s a variety of sets or individual items to choose from. If you still want the credit for your kitchen skills, order the ready-to-cook beef roasts.
The festive menu here caters to both Christmas traditionalists and those seeking something a little different. Try the classic whole roasted turkey ($201.16), which comes stuffed with dried fruit, celery and pumpkin bread, or go for the lemongrass-flavoured, rendang-spiced turkey ($179.76) that’s served with turmeric rice and a nutty salad. Meat lovers can stuff their faces with the new roasted turducken — it’s a chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed within a turkey.
From December 12 to 25, online food delivery company Grain is offering two tantalising Christmas menus designed for parties of 10. The Christmas Classics set ($298) is a bounty worth celebrating with mustard and herb roast beef sirloin and braised apple and cabbage stew. Or make it a party to remember with the Festive Feast set ($398) that includes a roast turkey with chicken and mushroom stuffing and chermoula prawns.
This gourmet butchery takes care of your party’s carnivorous needs with two customisable packages that include a small ($215) or medium ($249) sized turkey, alongside options for hams, Australian lamb, grass-fed beef, stuffings and sauces. The team does all the roasting for you and delivery is free for purchases above $150.
Feel free to dig right in to these sticky ribs in the comfort of your own home. Available for pick-up or scheduled delivery, an abundant Morgan’s Christmas Feast ($160.39) will ensure everyone gets their fingers dirty with the two half slabs of sticky bones, crackling pork roast, Gammon ham, sausages and plenty of sides.
The recently-opened restaurant is offering hampers of preservative-free gourmet delicacies for the festive season. From $180, the Christmas hamper comprises goodies such as charred sunchoke with sherry, 72-hour cooked beef shortrib with rose, and lentil ragout with guanciale, as well as two sides, two sweets and a bottle of wine to wash it all down.
For organic gourmet selections, head straight to this butchery. Their Christmas Roast selection offers US Roast Turkeys paired with your choice of mushroom or chestnut stuffing and cranberry sauce at $139. Or, just go the full monty and serve 10 to 12 people with their Classic Christmas Roast Set ($298) and the Classic Christmas Pork Roast Set ($198).
If you’re in the mood for Japanese, browse through the range of festive platters by Sakae Sushi. For starters, you can get the Agemono platter ($45) that comes with tori karaage, yakitori, pumpkin croquette and saba shio, or head straight for the Best of Both sushi platter ($65) that’s packed with items like octopus salad gunkan, tamago mayo inari and lobster salad inari. Alternatively, you can splash out on the Ocean Fresh sushi platter ($80) that serves up salmon sushi, ebikko gunkan, hotate sushi and more.
Searching for a Christmas feast finale that stands apart from the usual log cakes? Try these gorgeous Christmas sourdough fruit pies. The King’s Pie ($68 for orders before Dec 15) is a mishmash of cherries, raspberries, cranberries and walnut streusel, while the Golden Apple Pie ($52 for orders before Dec 15) is filled with farm-picked Polish creamy apples blended with warm spices, citrus apple butter and almond streusel. Then there’s the savoury sourdough crust, which incorporates aged cheddar for a hint of saltiness that enhances the flavours of the moreish fillings.
The Carvery at Park Alexandra Hotel
Get fired up for The Carvery’s spit-roasted chicken with tarragon ($38/$68 with a bottle of wine) — these hefty 1.8kg chooks feed up to six diners and are marinated overnight to ensure that they’ll be the most flavourful and succulent birds in town.
The Decor
Tinsel, fairy lights, baubles and sprigs of mistletoe are vital for evoking that festive spirit. Remember, if your neighbours in the block opposite you haven’t noticed your twinkling lights and kaleidoscopic colours, your job is not complete.
This is one of those places that you’ll wander through, wishing that each set-up was a room in your own home. Re-create the look of the brand’s stunning Christmas catalogues by decking your own halls with their candles, wreaths, cushions and tableware.
One of the top providers for artificial flowers and plants, Daco stocks an array of festive flowers and ornaments that will look perfect as the centrepiece alongside your Christmas feast. Hopefully, its sprigs of faux mistletoe will still have the same effect as real ones…
If you plan on going absolutely OTT with your decor (and why the heck not), our fave $2 shop allows you to do just that without inflicting too much damage on your wallet. Our tip? Pick up all your basic tinsel, wrapping paper and small baubles here, then get atas with intricate ornaments and unique touches from elsewhere.
A little DIY never hurt anyone. In fact, it could be a fun way to bring loved ones together. Check out the shop’s guide to creating holiday looks like ‘Rustic Cabin’ or ‘Pop of Gold’.
The (Real) Trees
It’s not Christmas without a tree that looks like it’s floating above a sea of presents! For those who enjoy the pine fresh scents of real Christmas trees, pre-order to have your ‘fir baby’ delivered from these locations.
Get fresh cut Noble Firs starting from teensy 60cm trees at $68 to the glossier and softer needled Nordmann Firs from $150. The shop also stocks a variety of Christmas-themed fresh plant gift baskets that you can get for the gardening enthusiast in your life.
Known for its endless selection of flowers and plants, this floriculture company is taking orders for an array of Noble Fir trees that start at $78 for 1.2m.
Prince’s Landscape & Construction
For those whose homes boast high ceilings (and who are keen to splurge out to compete with the Christmas displays along Orchard Road), these Christmas trees go up to a towering 5.5m. For the rest of us mere mortals, 1.2m trees start from $189 — this includes stand rental, delivery, setup and dismantle services.
One of the lesser-known nurseries to pick up a tree, this could be your best bet if you’ve fallen behind in the annual ordering rush. The prices here are generally more reasonable compared to some of the more famous places, and word on the street is that the shipment of Noble Firs has arrived.
The (Just-as-Good) Trees
If you don’t want to spend your holidays sweeping up pine needles, get your artificial trees from these shops.
To help keep your festivities within budget, the supermart has kicked off its 50 Days of Giant Christmas to reward shoppers with daily deals and weekly themed promos. Trees are priced from $9.90, so you can now justify a few extra bottles of wine for your party.
For the first time in 20 years, Ikea isn’t selling live Christmas trees in Singapore. To make amends, it has launched a beefed up FEJKA range that includes both artificial trees and potted plants, starting from $45 for a 155cm tree. Make it a home run by loading up your trolley with affordable festive decorations while you’re there.
If there’s one department store that gives us major Christmas Wonderland aspirations, it’s got to be Tangs. The place stocks a wide range of faux firs from $148, alongside all the ornaments and trimmings to make your tree the prettiest in town.
These Danbury fir trees look pretty darned real — you can get them in a few different ‘species’ and colours or even sprayed with ‘frosted snow’. Ranging from 1.5m to 4.5m, the trees are available for delivery naked or pre-decorated in all their sparkly splendour.
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