Vanessa Feltz’s straight-talking tips for a stress-free Christmas could save your sanity

Christmas is fast approaching, and if you're hosting the big day, no doubt the pressure is mounting to the point of being explosive.

However, fear not - Vanessa Feltz is here to swoop in and offer the ultimate tips for a stress-free Christmas. Not only could they save your sanity, they are hilarious to read and will definitely bring some laughter to your day.

Written with the same straight-talking, no-nonsense tone the presenter is known for, you'll almost hear her voice in your head as you read them.

Sharing her top tips with Best magazine, Vanessa begins by suggesting anyone hosting Christmas starts by not letting "the doomed quest for perfection stamp out any ounce of fun."

A great way to get going, here's what else she has to say:

• Enlist help: "Learn to delegate, get your kids on the case," Vanessa instructs. As women, we tend to feel we have to do everything ourselves. Stop, and distribute tasks equally. By "training" your children to do these chores the way you like them done, Vanessa believes you'll shape them into "a joy for their future spouses" and all-new Christmas traditions could even be born.
• Get other guests involved in helping: "There's no such thing as a free Christmas dinner," Vanessa says, adding that "everyone must muck in." With the sort of direct approach you'd expect, the presenter suggests either being succinct and telling guests what they need to bring to be helpful, or dropping major hints such as, "what about your delicious apple crumble?" Even if they show up with a packet of crisps, at least they've tried.
• Don't even think about having a theme: "An all-pastel pink Christmas looks terrific on Instagram, but life's too short to drive yourself demented with a theme in real life," Vanessa says, having never issued a truer statement. "Don't make things harder by deciding everything must be crimson or insisting on a white and gold theme which must include the tree, tablescape, tinsel and the entire family's outfits," she adds, with a huge dose of humour.

• Throw all sense of taste out of the window: In the same way it doesn't need a theme, Christmas absolutely doesn't need to have taste. "Trying to be tasteful goes against the spirit of Christmas," Vanessa insists. "You want jolly, you want merry and bright, don't be matchy matchy - you are a human being, not a designer," she warns.
• Carve out time for fun if you have to: Christmas is about having fun, isn't it? Well no, not if you're the stressed person doing all the jobs and ensuring it's fun for everybody else. "Sink a couple of eggnogs, Buck's Fizz at breakfast, charades after lunch, make sure it's factored into your plans," Vanessa asserts.
• Mix up the guest list and let others entertain you: Not sure how much fun will be had with the guests you have coming over? Vanessa suggests throwing a couple of unexpected invites out, sitting back and watching what sort of conversation unfolds. If that's not entertaining enough, ask each guest to bring a game or something to do. "If any guests turn out to be awful, you can gossip about them when they finally leave and be sure never to ask them again," the presenter says, candidly.

Vanessa does have a serious suggestion when it comes to making sure a good day is had by all. "Do your spirit of Christmas bit by including a couple of people who might be spending the day alone," she says.

This is lovely advice considering recent statistics making the news regarding the elderly loneliness crisis, which feels especially stark during the festive period.

Underneath the humour and sometimes touching nature of her advice, Vanessa just wants everyone to have some sort of fun at Christmas - something that's so integral to the big day, but so often difficult to achieve.

"Ring-fencing some laughs and downtime for yourself isn't selfish, it's self-preservation," she concludes, wisely.