As gatherings weren’t possible last year we’re approaching Christmas 2021 with barely concealed glee. To be honest, most people are so intoxicated by the idea of freedom they’d be happy to eat raw vegetables and M&S dips. But we can do better than that.

Parties are difficult to cook for: you have to plan the food carefully, taking into account how much fridge and oven room you have. Offer a buffet of reasonably easy stuff that you can make in advance – braises, lasagne – and you feel like you’re in the 1970s. Make enough canapés – how many? – and you’ll be frantically sticking little sprigs of dill on to mini blinis when your first guests ring the doorbell. 

Plan a spread of vegetable salads – the colours, the feeling of abundance (and you have nothing to keep warm) – and you’ll soon realise that arranging and dressing 10 of these at the last minute isn’t the best idea (I’ve done it).

Instead, here is a mixture of little bites and food that you need plates for. The canapés aren’t too labour-intensive. However much you want to make mouthfuls that wouldn’t go amiss at a fashion party, you need to be realistic. Frou-frou little bites look great but you don’t want to be adding garnishes with tweezers.

You obviously need drinks (I’ve given a couple of cocktails) and a place to chill them – a plastic box filled with ice that you keep outside is the best option. Pudding? Hell no, there’s enough to do. Bought Middle Eastern pastries – baklava and kadaif and the like – offer a bite-sized sugar rush and always look glamorous. Chin-chin. 

All decorations and tableware from The Conran Shop. 

These easy sausage rolls are filled with ’Nduja – a spicy, spreadable pork sausage from Southern Italy – sausagemeat and a festive grating of nutmeg. You can use store-bought puff pastry for this.