Unwrap New Traditions by Brainstorming Christmas Dinner Ideas

But when it comes to Christmas dinner, who says holiday ham is the only way to go? Whether your family is growing, shrinking, changing or just loves to keep things exciting, you want a holiday feast that’s outside the box. So, if you’re ready to unwrap some new Christmas dinner ideas—it may be time for a brainstorming session.

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Not sure where to get started? We’ve come up with a few brainstorming techniques that’ll help you create a meal that’s as unique as your family.

• Stepladder technique. If you have extra time to plan, the stepladder technique is a great method that gets everyone involved and allows them to contribute ideas. Use an easy-to-access digital notepad and let everyone know that you’re sourcing ideas for Christmas dinner—and that there’s no such thing as a bad idea. Have them each submit an idea to you on their own page in the notepad (to keep the ideas unique, don’t let anyone see anyone else’s ideas just yet!). Once you have all their ideas gathered, organize them, and share them with everyone. Now you have a ton of great ideas to kick around.
• Round-robin technique. The round-robin technique can make people feel like they’ve been put on the spot, but it can be a great way to ensure everyone gets involved in the fun. Give your group a chance to come up with Christmas dinner ideas before the brainstorming session, and then they can share when they’re all together. Get started by going around your group and asking everyone for one idea. If someone’s idea has already been taken, give them a chance to come up with another on the next round. The most important thing is to take one idea from each group member. Go around the room (or virtual meeting room) until everyone is out of ideas; then, you can move on to whittling the list down to favorites.

• Brain netting. One of the great things about Christmas is that it’s the one time of the year when you get to see family you might not have seen the rest of the year. This distance can sometimes make it difficult to get everyone unified on a menu. Use brain netting to get everyone to share their ideas on a mobile app. Consolidating everyone’s ideas into one place makes it accessible and easier for some to draw inspiration from others’ ideas. Once you’ve gotten everyone’s input, you can start to form those ideas into actual menu items and present them to the group. Of course, it’s unlikely that everyone will agree on the best item for your Christmas dinner, but you can easily get a majority vote on what you’ll have on your menu.
• Rapid ideation. If you’re in a pinch, rapid ideation is an excellent way to gather a bunch of holiday meal ideas quickly. Get everybody who’s attending your Christmas dinner in a room or on a family video chat to share as many ideas as they can in a pre-established amount of time. Whether you want to give them five or 15 minutes, it doesn’t matter. The point of rapid ideation is to fill your idea pile in one sitting. You can then take those ideas and flesh them into useable menu items as you see fit.
• Mind mapping. Mind mapping might have been the first brainstorming technique you learned in school. It’s the one where you put your main idea or topic in a circle in the center of a page and then draw lines connecting it to circles with sub-ideas. One of the great things about mind mapping is that it helps to reach ideas that might have several degrees of separation. Your first few dinner ideas might not be winners, but you might find they spark the ideas you love farther out from the center of your map.

Ready to create new traditions with friends and family? Use some of the fun brainstorming techniques above and you may find that coming up with the annual Christmas dinner idea can become a yearly tradition in itself!