Frazzle-free holidays

and preparing the meal together is ‘entertaining’. Reframing the food from ‘a chore’ to a collective activity makes all the difference.’’

If meat is on the menu, she recommends taking it outside to the barbecue. It’s instantly more fun than the kitchen. All the family can get involved with meal prep so it’s not just left to one person.

Same goes for chores. As Clifford observes, there’s no reason children can’t hang out their own washing, or gather beach towels from the back of the ute, (with the added advantage that they might then spend a bit less time on their devices).

Keep it real

Stepping back on expectations of how your house and table should look over this festive period is a good piece of sanity-saving advice from Christchurch nutritionist Bronwen King.

Forget those gourmet banquets, she suggests, and instead keep it simple by settling on a single main course and providing nibbles like nuts and cherries.

Supplement what you have with something yummy from a local bakery or deli and throw in strawberries and chocolate for dessert.

Stick to straight-forward summer dishes and platters that require a minimum of prep. A good tip is to roast a large tray of veges to keep in the fridge with salad greens and a little smoked salmon for easy-to-assemble salads.

It is perfectly acceptable to ask guests to bring a plate and she agrees with Clifford that it’s good to farm out chores.

‘‘If people are staying with you, ask them to strip the beds and hand them another set of sheets for the bed. You can give them a cloth to wipe down the bath or shower after they’ve used it. The best way to avoid stress is to take control and recognise that you need to be able to enjoy yourself, too.’’

A pod coffee machine

Some people love them but others won’t appreciate podbuying and recycling being added to their to-do list. There’s also the bench space that they take up and their environmental impact. Other space-hogging appliances that should be avoided include juicers, foot spas, massage chairs and popcorn makers.

Anything involving extra work

Call us lazy, but come December 26 we want to relax, not dig holes for gifted shrubs or erect worm farms or blow up the giant

Novelty mugs

There’s a reason the mugs printed with bad jokes or with fake cockroaches inside get shoved to the back of the cupboard – they’re just never as funny as the gift-giver thinks they are.

Anything inappropriate

This includes the bottle of vodka for the recovering alcoholic, the panettone for the coeliac or the peanut brittle for your cousin with the lifethreatening nut allergy. Do your homework and avoid the awkward moments.

The same thing as last year

Even if last year it was a hit, it won’t cut it twice in a row.