Less fuss, more fun. A fa la la la foolproof guide to hosting Friendsmas.
Christmas commitments can get messy. And stress-y. So, imagine a Christmas where you could just stay put; where you didn’t have to split your time between obligations, running Rudolph-like between families. As well as festive cheer and feel-good food, there’s a lot to love about Friendsmas.
“Particularly as we are getting married and having children of our own much later in life, I think our friends are increasingly becoming our adult family," says Sophie McIntyre, the serial-host and founder of Club Sup. "There’s something really rewarding about celebrating Friendsmas because, unlike Christmas Day, you don't have to rush off to your partner's family or divide your time between commitments. You can just relax."
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Sophie hosting a Friendsmas celebration is a match made in Mariah Carey heaven. A true entertainer who gathers people almost as effortlessly as she gathers ingredients, Sophie founded her modern spin on supper clubs as a way for people to make new friends over shareable food and drinkable wine.
After her dreams of travelling to Italy were dashed by the global pandemic, the innovative foodie found herself living with a group of strangers, so decided to bring a sense of occasion to the repetitiveness of isolation with Saturday night suppers. "As we emerged from lockdown and included our partners or started bringing friends, it completely opened up our community," says Sophie, who has expanded the concept into a business where success is not only measured by sell-out suppers, but blossoming friendships. “When I first moved to Melbourne, I found it difficult to make friends and I wanted there to be a place you could go and have the possibility to make friends in a way that wasn't lame or dissimilar to what we were already doing on weekends, which was wining and dining," Sophie says. Part friendship-blind-date, part dinner party, Sophie ensures no one leaves hungry or lonely and has already created a cult following, hosting more than 300 people across 22 unique events.
With a love of comfort food and nostalgia, and with a knack for making people's days (and nights) merry and bright, it’s not surprising that Sophie is always up for hosting some holiday cheer. "Over the last three years, I've hosted six separate Friendsmas events," she laughs. "I usually do a dinner the week before everyone finishes work and, on Christmas morning, we also celebrate breakfast for a friend's birthday with smoked salmon bagels and Champagne while we open presents."
To capture the nostalgia and magic of a childhood Christmas – but with friends accumulated from adulthood – Sophie looks to feel-good food and classic wines that embrace indulgence in the simplest sense. "It's about quality time together at home,” she says. “We get so caught up in the commercial side of Christmas that it's nice to strip it back and have everyone around your table with a simple meal and nice bottle of wine.”
Here, Sophie shares her tips on how to toast your friendships in style this festive season – and avoid getting your tinsel in a tangle in the kitchen.
Home essentials
- Q.The drink you should always have in the fridge during the festive season?
“Campari, gin, lots of ice and a bottle of sparkling or Champagne. It's a time to celebrate everything and anything!”
- Q.Favourite festive pairing?
“Rich plum pudding or a pav with an Espresso Martini. It's the perfect perk-up post-lunch when you can either nap or have an Espresso Martini and play backyard cricket. Plus, no one wants to have a coffee in summer, but everyone needs one at Christmas.”
- Q.What kind of home cook are you?
“I would say everything I cook is very generous. It's also nostalgic; it's what I ate as a kid and what you want when you go home. I'm also the type who refuses any help. I can be a bit of a control freak in the kitchen. I'm not a good delegator, but I'm working on it.”
- Q.Go-to table-scaping style?
“I love a crisp white tablecloth. It always looks good. I also think you should invest in lovely, timeless servingware, which might bring in a little colour. I even love collecting pieces and picking up ceramics from op shops. Nothing is uniform for me. And I'm not one for flowers on the table because I find it gets in the way of the food.”
- Q.Meal and drink for a last-minute get-together?
“Prawn rolls with a beer or a chardonnay. It is like the best thing in the world. Prawn rolls are amazing because they are all contained in one neat little parcel.”
Notable mentions
- Q.What makes a great event?
“When no one checks their phone, and everyone is present. Some pre-prepared music playlists also help to enhance the night. For Christmas, I like to keep it nostalgic with Mariah Carey and anything else from the ’80s and ’90s that reminds me of childhood.”
- Q.The best friend-hosted event you have ever been to?
“One of my friends hosted a huge pasta dinner between lockdowns with their roommates and our friends. It had this feeling of, ‘Okay, we are probably going to go into another lockdown any day now,’ but at the same time, it was this chaotic dinner with dogs everywhere and passing around bowls of fresh pasta and laughing. It was so non-fuss and so awesome.”
- Q.Hosting tip?
“Be prepared. Do your shopping and anything else you can the day before – even cutting your potatoes. There's nothing worse than when people start to arrive, and you have to say, ‘Sorry, I'll be back in five minutes; I just have to cut the potatoes.’ That's not the point.
“Also, people think they have to make a lavish meal to impress people, but honestly, no one cares as long as it tastes good and is enjoyable. You don't have to pull out all the stops. I remember my mum would spend the whole day in the kitchen at Christmas, hot and annoyed and not enjoying it. You don't want to be doing that with your friends.”
- Q.Is it all season’s eatings or do you include activities and games in a Friendsmas soiree?
“I love having a few activities to break up the evening. I usually host Friendsmas the night we get our Christmas tree, so we decorate that, and I also make cookies every year that we decorate as silly snowmen and Santas. We also take turns revealing our peak and trough for the year, as well as something we are looking forward to or a goal for the following year. It's a nice moment to share with your friends.”
- Q.Any other dos and don'ts when hosting a festive Friendsmas?
- "The more, the merrier
- Make it conducive to being a time to catch up
- Open it up for people to bring things and help
- Make sure you have non-alcoholic options, especially if it's a work night. I love Hey Days XPA cans
- Don't overcomplicate it. Don't attempt an elaborate four-course dinner
- Don't cook anything where you have to turn the oven on. Screw that."
- "The more, the merrier
Let’s plan... a very merry Friendsmas
- Q.Who's coming:
“My close friend Rylee, our boyfriends, and our good friends.”
- Q.Indoor or outdoor:
“Always outdoor, weather permitting.”
- Q.The guest brief:
“There's no dress code, but every guest must bring a bottle of wine and a $10-or-less Stealing Santa gift. And everyone has to do the dishes.”
- Q.Drink on arrival:
“Negroni Spritzes with Malfy Gin (Con Arancia) and cans of Nam Nam Alley Lager. They are the perfect summery drinks to transport you from the crazy end-of-year world into Friendsmas.”
- Q.The pre-dinner mingle:
“A really simple whipped butter with great bread and anchovies is the perfect pairing for Champagne. Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Brut Champagne NV is my favourite! If you wanted to go a little more show-stopping for your friends at this time of year, I would opt for a few local oysters topped with a finger lime dressing. They not only pick up on the hints of apple in the Champagne, but also complement the oysters' butteriness. Plus, oysters and Champagne are Friendsmas heaven.”
- Q.The main event:
“Usually we do a barbecue for Friendsmas with some buttery zesty prawns and a selection of gorgeous meats. I always go for Italian-style Luganega sausage (because it's an absolute showstopper and a bit of a fancier sausage) with a few marinated lamb straps that are sliced and served with salad. The richness of the sausage and lamb cooked over the flames works so well with the flavour profile of something like Kaesler’s The Bogan Shiraz. The lamb pairs so well with the shiraz’s smooth and peppery taste, with that bit of sweetness and dark plum.
“Prawns are also a must at Christmas. I marinate those in a mixture of melted butter, salt, pepper and lemon zest. This is the perfect opportunity to break out my fave – the Cullen Mangan Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Semillon. As a classic dry white wine, it’s also really fresh and zippy, balancing out the sweet butteriness of the prawns.”
- Q.The main event without a barbecue:
“If you are without a barbecue, I suggest a beautifully roasted chicken with all the gorgeous trimmings. Think of it as prep for turkey on the big day. Invest in buying a really good, free-range chicken. Ideally organic, but, of course, take your budget into consideration. Get your butcher to butterfly it so it only takes a short while in the oven and you aren't racing to get it ready. Season with a generous amount of salt, pepper and butter and, once cooked, top with a zesty salsa verde. You can serve both white and red wines with this dish. I’d opt for the Sebastiani Butterfield or the Mountadam Chardonnay as both are so buttery and luscious and work so well with the rich flavour of the chicken fat and totally compliment the salsa verde. I always make an effort to have these in ice buckets as chardonnays don't fare well in the heat. They taste their absolute best when chilled – not room temp.
- Q.Decking the halls:
“Definitely classic decorations. White tablecloth, maybe some fairy lights or candles once it starts to get dark, and you absolutely have to have Christmas crackers. The hats and toys from the crackers inevitably end up scattered around the table and become part of the tablescape. I want it to feel nostalgic. We even have some personalised Christmas stockings that our friend's mum made us one year.”
- Q.Take home gift:
“The Christmas cookies we decorated together!”
- Q.Extra festive touch:
“You've got to have a dessert; it's not Christmas without them. So, either a pav or sometimes I also get a pandoro, a traditional Italian Christmas cake, then shell it out, fill it with an ice-cream mix and then refreeze it, so it becomes a bready, ice cream cake.”
