When many people think of traditional Christmas Day lunch, images of large dining tables, big family gatherings and lots of noise and laughter spring to mind. However, this is not the reality for lots of us, which could explain why more and more people are choosing to eat out on Christmas Day.
Here are just a few reasons why.
- Too much to do
When it comes to the festive season, busy families face weeks of card writing, present buying, gift wrapping, nativities, school fairs, Santa’s grottoes and the rest, before they have even thought about cooking Christmas dinner.
This could explain why restaurant bookings on December 25th shot up by 240 per cent between 2013 and 2018, according to an OpenTable survey published in the Telegraph, as Brits are running out of time and energy to create the perfect Christmas themselves.
- Blended families
These days, it is not as simple as going downstairs in your pyjamas with the kids, opening presents and then preparing the food. Many families are ‘blended’, meaning children often have to split Christmas between their mum and dad, or alternate who they spend the day with each year.
The result of this is either more chaos for parents who have multiple children and step-kids, and little time to cook turkey and all the trimmings, or a very quiet and lonely Christmas for the parents who do not have their little ones with them this year. Eating out at a family-friendly pub in Orkney, therefore, could be the answer, taking the pressure off some parents and not making others feel left out.
- Holidays
Not everyone enjoys staying at home at Christmas, with this being the time of year where family conflicts come to the surface and the pressure to entertain takes over. That’s why many people choose to escape the madness on December 25th by going off on a break for a few days.
A cosy inn that serves a traditional homemade Christmas dinner without the drama could be the ideal choice for many Brits this year.
