How to Host a Progressive Brunch to Celebrate the Holidays

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There are so many people we would like to celebrate with during the holiday season, but with only five weekends between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, it is hard to find the time. A simple way to open up another date on your calendar is to host a progressive brunch. The benefit of a progressive meal is that it allows you to see several people, show off your home and host without having to go overboard on costs.

Progressive brunches work well for people who live close to each other, whether they are in the same building, on the same block or within the same neighborhood. Each house participating in the brunch provides a meal – or at least one of the meal’s courses – and drinks. Guests arrive at a set time and usually only stay an hour before moving on to the next house and the next course. During the holidays, homes will be cheerfully decorated, making a progressive brunch a festive way to spend a Sunday.

Start Planning

Make your guest and host lists. Will your brunch include your Bunco group, neighborhood couples or families? If you host with children, it is often more fun for everyone if the children stay at one house with a teenage babysitter (or two), have their own menu and preplanned activities such as a movie or craft.

Because this is the holiday season, it might be a nice idea to collect items for charity – a food drive, coat drive or a collection for Toys for Tots.

Hosting

When choosing your hosts, find out how many guests they can seat at their table. Then divide the number of guests by the number of seats available at each house. For example, if your guest list includes 12 people and each house can only seat 6, it might be a better idea to have two hosts for each course.

Switch up who eats together at each house so everyone gets to socialize with different people. If you don’t want to split up your party, another way to do it is not have formal seating, but rather a cocktail party style, so all 12 guests can go to each house.

Menu

Have the hosts get together and make a menu so there will not be any duplicate meals at for the brunch. Be sure to consider any food allergies when planning. Search your cookbooks, Pinterest or use the menu ideas provided in the sidebar.

Choose meals that can be prepared ahead or take little cooking time so when it is your time to host, you will only need to leave the party a few minutes before your guests arrive.

Cost

Splitting the cost of the food is important, especially if not every guest is hosting. When the menu has been decided, select 2 hosts to make a list and preshop to gather pricing. Don’t forget to add disposable plates and cups making it easier on the hosts. Divide the cost of the food, drinks and babysitters by the number of guests and collect the money before you shop.

Putting it all together

Start the party at the first house with a celebratory mimosa and pick up your meal schedules. After dropping off your kids and enjoying a quick half hour of mingling, break off into more intimate groups of 6 or 8 for the other parts of the meal.

Arrive at the next house at the set time for your next course and move through the afternoon enjoying different hosts, friends and a variety of food and drinks. Head to the last house to meet up with the whole group again for desserts.

End the afternoon with a group game for the adults. Try games like I Should Have Known That, Linkee or The Chameleon. If your brunch includes the kids, consider having a small gift exchange or see if Santa can stop by for a visit. Leave the party with wonderful memories, stronger friendships and a full stomach.

Menu Ideas for Your Holiday Brunch

Fruit and yogurt parfait

Mini muffins or bagel bites

French toast sticks served in shot glasses with syrup

Cinnamon rolls

Mini Eggs Benedict

Fruit and donut hole kabobs

Ham and asparagus roll ups made with refrigerated crescent rolls

Fruit salad served in red wine goblets

Waffle bar with fresh fruit, whipped cream, chocolate chips and a variety of syrups

Quiches or frittatas

Pasta salad