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Every Christmas up to this point in your life has been incredible, amazing and near enough perfect. However, the one that’s impending seems to be different. The decorations mimic last year’s, you’re doing the Christmas dinner again, and you’ve sworn not bring up politics at the dinner table like every year that came before.
So, what is it that’s making you feel slightly on edge instead of super-pumped? Well, it can only be the fact you have the in-laws coming over this year, for the first time, and you really-really want to impress them.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We all have to go through this heart-squishing moment at some point in our lives and the best advice is the simplest: be yourself. If, however, that is not entirely an option, then we have some little pointers that will really help you impress the in-laws:
Know The Dietary Requirements…
Know if the in-laws have any dietary requirements, write them down on post-it notes and stick them everywhere so that you don’t forget them. Hosting Christmas dinner is hard enough without the added stress of trying to impress, and nothing will wreck your chances more than forgetting your significant other’s mum is a vegan and their dad is allergic to nuts. Big uh oh.
Outsource Everything…
And we mean everything. Head to your nearest department store and have the personal shopping team take care of gifts, have everything you buy gift wrapped because shoddy paper-work is just embarrassing, and get caterers to (secretly) come in and take care of all the cooking, even if they just deliver in boxes and leave it on the back doorstep.
Upgrade Your Furnishings…
Fielding all the questions that come your way is going to be stressful, but it is going to come with a little bit of pre-judgment if your sofas are worn and torn, your dining rooms chairs are all different and your ottoman smells like cats. Instead, see the benefits of staging your home, rent out some high-end furniture and answer every question the in-laws ask safe in the knowledge your home will ooze success because, as shallow as it is, that will impress.
Go All Out With Decorations…
Please don’t try and be the same kind of funny that you were in college by hanging a car air freshener in the shape of a Christmas tree from the ceiling and then pile the boxes under it with a few bits of tinsel draped around the place. Instead, go all out. Make your in-laws say ooooo and ahhhh and wow when they walk in. Go sophisticated and classy, decorate the walls and the tree and make the dining table a showstopper.
Be The Keeper…
Nothing beats manners. It is being polite and charming and lovely and everything in between, and the best way to do that is to be a little bit of a suck-up and have stockings for the in-laws hanging above the fire. Don’t go overboard, but have them full of some tidbits that will make them laugh and swoon and hug you when it comes to the goodbyes. Trust us, that trick works wonders.