It just wouldn’t be Christmas without all your normal dinners being squashed down into teeny tiny portions and whacked on a buffet table – that’s right, it’s time for this year’s M&S Christmas party food round-up.
The fancy supermarket giant always goes big on picky bits, with elaborate creations that seem to get more odd every year.
Last year there was the obsession with making everything into festive shapes (like clementine-shaped pate, the antipasti wreath, and the garlic doughball Christmas tree).
This year, I think M&S has been on the wine.
You’ll find fridges full of street food style party food, including several creations that have definitely been inspired by a 3am takeaway.
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That’s alongside all their usual fancy favourites, with truffle, tiger prawns, and melty cheese all over the place.
While all the supermarkets have loads of space dedicated to their party food selections, we all know M&S is king when it comes to completely excessive creations for the festive season.
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And the best bit? It’s all priced on a 4-for-3 offer, so yThe ultimate booze tour around the bars of the Manchester Christmas Marketsou can get a free extra when you buy three items.
Here’s our pick of the best M&S Christmas party food for 2023.
British favourites… but really small
We all know Aunty Sheila loves a quiche – just imagine how her eyes will light up at the sight of a teeny weeny quiche bite.
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M&S has got Christmas butternut, sage and and feta mini quiche bites, as well as cheese and bacon bitesize tarts.
Marks and Spencer is also championing the best British food of all time – pie – with a platter of mini pies, filled with chicken leek and bacon, or beef and ale.
And of course there are tiny chicken kyivs too, because who doesn’t want a mouthful of garlic butter and breadcrumbs before their Christmas dinner?
The takeaway-inspired, one-too-many-wines snacks
M&S Christmas range includes mini loaded fries and salt and pepper chicken spring rollsM&S also has southern fried chicken for Christmas, obviously
This section right here is definitive proof, if we ever needed it, that whoever is in charge of M&S’s party food is drunk.
This person has walked into work and slurred ‘I KNOW. Kebab. In pastry. And then salt and pepper chicken… Also in pastry. Yeeeah!’
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The result is the sort of party food you’ll actually want to be faced with after hitting it too hard in the pub over Christmas.
There are weeny portions of pulled beef-loaded fries, spring rolls filled with salt and pepper chicken and a dipping pot of Chinese-style curry sauce, Chicken shawarma parcels, and southern fried chicken.
You can also grab M&S’s best-ever prawn toast with a ponzu dipping sauce.
Tiny meats on tiny carbs
Mini steak sandwiches and ragu sourdough breadsMini M&S buttermilk chicken burgersPulled beef and potato rosti towers from M&S
Nothing soaks up one too many brandies like a too-big-mouthful of red meat and literally any form of carbohydrate.
So M&S’s Christmas party range has got that covered too, with all sorts of sandwich-inspired meals condensed into nibble-sized buffet snacks.
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Do you want pulled beef on top of a potato rosti? They’ve got it. A tiny buttermilk chicken burger? Yep, that’s here too.
What about a very fancy-sounding Italian style meaty Ragu bread with a creamy cheese sauce dolloped on top? Or a mini steak sandwich with caramelised onion and mustard?
The ‘ohh someone’s doing well’
Truffle arancini at M&SThe tiger prawn assortment at M&S
If you’re hosting any sort of gathering over Christmas, you’re probably frantically hoovering the carpets and rearranging your bookshelves to hide the Prince Harry autobiography in favour for something more high-brow.
But if you really want to impress your guests, the answer is surely truffles.
And for some reason when you make party food jet black, you look extra fancy. Enter the truffle arancini from M&S’s collection range, which are filled with mushrooms, vintage cheddar, and finished in a black breadcrumb.
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M&S’s three-for-four party food range also has a selection of tiger prawn bites, each one wrapped in a different handmade filling.
There are prawn baguette toasts, prawn and coconut bites, and prawn and potato lattice balls. Very posh.
Say cheeeeeeese
Cheesy pigs in blankets at M&SFondue bites
European winters seem to not exist without a huge vat of molten cheese fondue, but that’s not exactly conducive to a stand-up Christmas party buffet.
So, in true Marks & Spencer style, they’ve wrapped a rich blend of cheeses into a crispy coating to create fried fondue bites, which are all melty and delicious in the middle.
And if you just wish your pigs in blankets were a little less oink and a little more fromage, try the cheesy pigs in blankets, where a blend of three cheeses are shaped into sausages and then wrapped in bacon. Because why not?
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There’s always one
Snowmen bao at M&S. Credit: The Manc Group
I don’t know how it happened but these days you’ll find bao all over the damn place.
You can get brunch bao, takeaway bao, dessert bao, and Christmas bao.
For the second year in a row, M&S’s Christmas party range includes a special festive-shaped fluffy bun.
Last year it was reindeer, this year they’ve gone even fancier with snowmen, complete with little red and green beanie hats and orange carrot noses.
The lyrics to Auld Lang Syne for New Year’s Eve, and what the song means
Daisy Jackson
The clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, the confetti is thrown, the kisses are exchanged, and then up starts Auld Lang Syne and you realise, once again, that you don’t know the lyrics to the iconic song.
This classic song is traditionally sung as we welcome in a new year, but you may (like us) find yourself singing the words as ‘dah daaah dah dah daaah dah dah, dah dah daaah dah Auld Lang Syne.”
Well it’s time to stop that behaviour and learn yourselves the Auld Lang Syne lyrics, quick time, before we hit 2024.
The text of the song is actually from a Robert Burns poem, penned way back in 1788 and based on an old Scottish folk song.
It was set to a tune a decade later, and since then has been recorded by dozens of different artists.
Auld Lang Syne can loosely translate as ‘old long since’, or ‘days gone by’ or ‘old times’.
So its meaning roughly is ‘for the sale of old times’.
There are longer versions of the song, but the lyrics to the most commonly-played version of Auld Lang Syne are below.
So hold hands with your loved ones, crack open the champers, and ring in a very happy new year.
What are the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne?
Fireworks on New Year’s Eve, when the song Auld Lang Syne is traditionally sung
Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot And the days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear For auld lang syne We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet For the sake of auld lang syne
And surely you will buy your cup And surely I’ll buy mine! We’ll take a cup of kindness yet For the sake of auld lang syne
We two have paddled in the stream From morning sun till night The seas between us Lord and swell Since the days of auld lang syne
For old acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind Should old acquaintance be forgot For the sake of auld lang syne?
For old acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind Should old acquaintance be forgot In the days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear For auld lang syne We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet For the sake of auld lang syne
Manchester city centre road closures confirmed for New Year’s Eve fireworks display
Emily Sergeant
A number of road closures have been confirmed as Manchester city centre prepares for its first New Year’s Eve fireworks display in three years.
The hustle and bustle of Christmas has died down, Boxing Day has been and gone, nobody has a clue what day it is currently, and we’re all just waiting for New Year’s Eve to arrive, and for 2024 to bring new beginnings and a fresh start.
In what is the first time since 2019, and post the COVID-19 pandemic and several accompanying lockdowns, Manchester city centre is gearing up to host a “spectacular” fireworks display that will “say goodbye to the old and welcome in the new”.
Families from all across Greater Manchester are invited down to Castlefield Bowl in the heart of the city centre this Sunday 31 December for the “fun-filled event” that’s free to attend.
Manchester city centre road closures have been confirmed for the New Year’s Eve fireworks display / Credit: Unsplash
Hosted in partnership wit Hits Radio, and kicking off from 10pm and running until the clock strikes midnight and beyond, you can expect a live DJ set from Hits Radio DJ Jordan Lee, a traditional time-to-hug-all-your-friends countdown to midnight, followed by a huge firework display to celebrate the start of the new year.
Capacity for the event is 10,000, and is being operated on a first-come first-served basis, the Council has confirmed.
The event is also alcohol-free, standing only with no seating – except for disability access points and dedicated viewing areas – and anyone attending is asked to limit the bags they bring with them to no bigger than A4 in size, as bag searches will be in operation.
There will be some temporary road closures for our New Year's Eve event on 31 December.
Affected roads include:
🚗Castle Street 🚗Duke Place 🚗Rice Street 🚗Liverpool Road 🚗Duke Street 🚗Beaufort Street 🚗Castle Street
The Council says that, in order to ensure “a safe and celebratory event for all”, security staff will be keeping a close eye on revellers to minimise any disruption and allow everyone to see in the new year together, while being mindful that this part of the city centre has a large residential population by making sure the event arena is promptly cleared after the fireworks display is finished.
To best accommodate the event and everyone attending, the following road closures and parking suspensions have been confirmed ahead of time.
Road Closures
Duke Place (Duke Street – Arena): 8:30pm – 1am
Rice Street (Duke Street – Arena): 8:30pm – 12:45am (resident vehicles managed in and out of closure)
It’s the first fireworks display in the city centre since 2019 / Credit: Alex Jones (via Unsplash)
“We think the time is now right to show how proud we are of our fantastic city, and to celebrate it as we close the door on 2023 and look ahead to 2024 and beyond,” explained Councillor Pat Karney, who is Manchester City Council’s Christmas and New Year spokesperson, as he confirmed the return of the annual new year tradition.
“Mancunians really are the best people in the world, and we can’t think of a better way of welcoming in a new year filled with new possibilities for all of us than spending it with those we love.”
Customer access to all businesses within the closures will be maintained on the night of New Year’s Eve (31 December), Manchester City Council has confirmed.
More information about the event, and road closures planned can be found on the Council website.