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To many families, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year – and the biggest gathering of guests. It can seem overwhelming if you are playing host to those guests for the first time. There is a certain level of responsibility given to the host. You may find yourself scrambling to clean the house, spruce up the holiday décor, prepare a mouth-watering feast and somehow maintain your sanity. Before your head explodes, take a deep breath, relax and read these five tried-and-true tips that will help you handle your hosting duties with ease.

1. Recruit help

One of the biggest mistakes rookie hosts make is biting off more than they can chew. You are supplying your home, but that doesn’t mean you have to supply everything else. Ask your family and friends to bring a dish to share. It is a completely reasonable request. In fact, your loved ones are usually eager to help you out (and show off their kitchen skills.)

Help doesn’t have to end with the meal. Ask your closest friends or relatives to help you prepare for your party the day before the event. Shoveling snow, cleaning, wrapping gifts and preparing some of the food the day before goes much, much quicker with a few extra sets of hands. You may want to be a superhero host, but even superheroes need help. (Think of Batman and Robin, Mario and Luigi and the Power Rangers.) Don’t get in over your head. Recruit some assistance to take some of the pressure off of yourself. 

2. Stick with what you know

Another classic disaster occurs when a host tries out a new menu to serve at the Christmas feast. Watching holiday cooking shows and seeing delicious-looking meals pictured on those holiday cooking magazines in the grocery store aisles can give you an overdose of cooking inspiration. Wild and elaborate culinary ideas begin to brew in your brain, and you concoct a meal plan you know will be Martha Stewart-worthy. Try to restrain your inner Martha Stewart.

It’s best to stick with what you know. If you are foreign to the kitchen, don’t be afraid to ask for help and make stick with simple dishes that are difficult to mess up. If you want to try a new recipe, you must give it a test-run first. A recipe that looks simple on paper or on TV can go up in flames (literally).

3. Childproof your home

A child’s excitement during the holidays is contagious. Children bring extra cheer to Christmas gatherings, but they can also bring extra messes. You don’t want to spend your entire evening keeping the kids out of trouble or feel on edge every time little Bobby wonders near your expensive designer Santa figurine. Maybe you want to show off your designer purchase, but if you do, make sure it’s in a safe spot that is out of reach from little hands.

If you don’t have small children, it’s easy to forget to childproof your home. If you have children coming over, do a walk-through in all areas your guests might be to ensure everything is kid-friendly. All breakable items should be well out of reach and you shouldn’t have anything sharp or really small within accessibility. Childproofing your house before you play host prevents “oopsies” and helps you and parents relax and enjoy your holiday festivities.

4. Anticipate early-arrivals

If you are a procrastinator, the day you are a host is the day to break your last-minute habits. Inevitably, if you are running late on the big day, at least one guest will arrive early. This is especially likely if you have guests traveling some distance to come to your home, because traffic and flights can be unpredictable. Make sure you get all your primping out of the way early enough that you aren’t frantically getting out of the shower when your guests arrive. It is less awkward to be finishing up preparing the meal than answering the door in a towel and making your guest wait while you throw yourself together.

5. Enjoy your guests’ company

All the stress and planning that went into your holiday gathering can make you feel frazzled, and you forget to enjoy your own party. Once the guests have arrived, focus on what’s important: them. Christmas may be one of the few times of the year you get to see some of your loved ones. Don’t let your role as host get in the way of your role as a friend or family member. When all the planning is over with, relax and have fun. Don’t expose your stress. The most impressive hosts are the ones who can pull it off, make it seem effortless and enjoy themselves.