Surprise your guests with a menu to highlight all the dishes you have been working at for days. Those scalloped potatoes are worthy of acknowledgement!

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This idea came to me during the pandemic in 2020 when my small family and I were gathering for an edited Christmas dinner complete with open windows, distanced place settings, outdoor visiting, and masks between bites. Yeah, we all remember it.

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I wanted to create something special for the three of them when they arrived at my husband's and my house. With more time on my hands than usual, I stepped away from Netflix to make a holiday menu. The final product was complete with a name that gave a nod to our Irish and Scottish background, and gave the feel of being out, seeing as none of us had at this point, dined at a restaurant in months. (Picking up food from our favorite Guadalajara Grill had become a new favorite, but it just didn't count).

And it worked! My family loved the menu (which came with a cocktail version as well as a mocktail option), and everyone ordered with delight, as if at a bar, which was something my brother and I were certainly missing.

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So how do you do this? Well, I'll give you a couple of tips...

• Do you have some traditional holiday favorites you play every year? Add those dishes complete with a description to a menu. Visit Canva for free template options and design tools where you can create your menu in a couple of hours. Get creative with a name too! It could be a family name, something festive, something cute for the kids, or the cake shop you have always dreamed of owning. Sure, it's your house, you're just asking Aunt Ruth to use her imagination.
• Tip 2 - Let me do the work of designing a custom menu for you! Visit my about page to connect with me about creating a menu for any occasion. View more samples under menus.