Food ideas for christmas eve

Appetizers

Make a cheese ball and shape it like a Christmas tree

Vegetables

The most basic vegetable finger food is the vegetable tray

Main Dishes

Chicken offers a safe bet for Christmas Eve finger food

Dessert

Make a variety of desserts for your guests

Drinks

sit and sip while they converse with one another

Christmas day traditionally means a large meal, so the night before, keep entertaining or family meals simple by serving finger foods. Some finger foods can be prepared ahead of time, and many take little time to prepare. In addition, finger foods can be adjusted to your needs, whether you are feeding just a few or a large number of guests for a Christmas Eve party. 


Christmas Eve is a time to get together with friends or family and celebrate the holiday season. A festive meal is an integral part of the celebration, whether it is buffet style or formal dining. The menu can consist of anything from the holiday classics to new recipes you want to try. Explore some food options before planning your menu.

Appetizers

Serve appetizers while people are arriving and enjoying catching up with each other at the party. Make a cheese ball and shape it like a Christmas tree. Decorate it with some dry parsley flakes to make it green and add red bell peppers as garland. Cut out a star from a thick slice of cheddar and stick it the top of the cheese tree with a toothpick. Lay out a veggie tray with only green and red veggies. Choose broccoli, cucumber and green peppers for the green veggies. Add some red peppers, radishes and tomatoes for the red veggies. 

Vegetables

Christmas Eve food does not mean you have to load up on high calorie foods if you would prefer not to. The most basic vegetable finger food is the vegetable tray. Just cut vegetables in bite size pieces and serve raw. Raw vegetables are the easiest option and tend to go quickly.

Cooking vegetables creates a whole new set of tasty bite-sized food. Consider putting chopped cooked vegetables inside crescent rolls before baking. Then cut the rolls to create pin-wheeled veggie bites.

Roast garlic cloves until soft. Add sundried tomato bits and mix, smashing the roasted garlic as you go. Hollow out cherry tomatoes and fill with the mixture.

If you would like to serve a soup, create a crème style soup from your choice of vegetables and a favorite recipe. Don't break out the bowls though; serve your soup as a finger food by serving it in shot glasses.

Main Dishes

Roast an old fashioned brown sugar ham or roasted turkey for your Christmas Eve dinner. Serve your turkey or ham with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole or steamed veggies, or try out a new recipe. Choose homemade cranberry sauce rather than the canned kind. Consider making stuffing from scratch with bread cubes, chicken stock, celery and seasonings.

Chicken offers a safe bet for Christmas Eve finger food. Pep up everyday favorites for holiday food. Popcorn chicken and wings, for example, cook quickly and are just the right size for finger foods. Chicken breast baked, cut into pieces and served with toothpicks for people to skewer them, is another way of serving chicken. Grilled or deep-fried wings are another good option. Chicken wings can also be baked. To create more flavor, add sauces, such as hoisin, barbecue or sweet and sour sauce, before baking.

Dessert

Make a variety of desserts for your guests. Serve homemade sugar cookies, chocolates, fruits and brownies on a platter for your guests to nibble on after dinner. Serve a homemade cake or a few different types of pie. Warm apple pie is a cozy treat in the cold winter months. If you are Italian, or you just appreciate really good ice cream, serve some spumoni, an Italian ice cream that combines the flavors of chocolate, cherry and pistachio. The red and green colors and rich flavors all reflect the holidays.

Serve store-bought or homemade dips with toasted breads or crackers. Place the dips on serving platters or in bowls. A platter with a small serving knife works well and keeps people from dipping into the same area. A platter is a good idea if you have guests that tend to bite and dip, which is unappetizing to others. An excellent idea for a Christmas Eve finger food dip is a tray of crumbled gourmet cheese such as goat cheese. Top the cheese with olives, garlic, capers or anything that sounds like a good taste combination. Drizzle olive oil across it all and serve next to a basket of fresh bread cut into pieces and toasted. Place a small card next to each dish listing the name and ingredients.

Drinks

Serve coffee, eggnog (virgin for the kids and alcoholic for the adults) or hot cocoa at dessert time. Offer some holiday drinks like hot buttered rum or a glass of wine for the adults at the party. Offer some Christmas ale to the beer lovers and some brandy to those who want to sit and sip while they converse with one another.