Why not ditch the kitchen and treat yourself on Christmas Day
Hotels and restaurants across Perth and Kinross have some fantastic Christmas dinner packages, with good discounts to be had for early bookings.
For some Christmas is about cooking turkey for the entire family. Others fear never being able to satisfy their guests’ varied tastes – from nut cutlet for the vegetarians and extra pigs in blankets for everyone else, to definitely no sprouts for the kids.
And then there’s the cost of catering for all those cousins you only ever see once a year.
Put off by the stress, cost and complication of cooking a roast, thousands of families are planning to make Christmas dinner that bit more special – by abandoning the kitchen and booking into their favourite restaurant.
People also want to enjoy their Christmas dinner rather than spend all day preparing it then washing up.
New figures from the online reservations company Open Table show that the number of restaurant reservations for December 25, 2018, was up 45 per cent compared with the previous year.
That suggests thousands of families across Britain have decided to give up on peeling spuds and sprouts and worrying about overcooking the turkey in favour of letting a professional chef do the work for them.
Preparing a complex meal you’ve seen a chef make on TV for your family of four is one thing, but it’s a completely different matter cooking it for nine or more relatives.
Then there’s the fact that a lot of the skills required to prepare a meal like Christmas dinner, which our mums and grandmothers used to have, have perhaps disappeared.
And breaking with tradition, more people are choosing to enjoy their festive celebrations at an Indian, south Asian or Italian restaurant.
So this year why not take the pressure off yourself and let someone else do all the cooking for you and your family?
Sit back, relax and enjoy your dinner with a glass of bubbly while restaurant chefs cater for all your needs. Many local restaurants have special early-bird booking deals, so why not make a date to enjoy Christmas dinner at your favourite local restaurant?