December is five dinners in four weeks, and someone has to cook every one of them. Chefpost matches you with a vetted private chef who plans the menu around how your family celebrates, shops for everything, cooks in your own kitchen, serves each course and leaves the kitchen clean. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Hanukkah, the office party, New Year's Eve. You host. The chef cooks.
A private chef for Christmas comes to your home, brings the groceries, cooks Christmas dinner in your kitchen, serves it and cleans up. On Chefpost it costs $65 to $150 per guest, so Christmas dinner for ten runs about $900 to $1,600 for the chef, with groceries billed at cost on top. The same chef can cook Christmas Eve or Nochebuena the night before, or come back for New Year's Eve.
It is the alternative to Christmas catering and to the delivered Christmas dinner. Catering arrives in trays to reheat and you still serve and wash up. A delivered dinner is a cold box for six. A private chef cooks the roast in your oven, plates it hot, and the kitchen is spotless when the last guest leaves.
Chefpost is the booking layer. Every chef is background-checked, food-safety verified and reviewed by hosts who booked them. You browse chefs and menus, pick one who covers your city and your headcount, and December stops being a cooking problem.
Three different products get searched with one word. Here is what each one actually gives you.
One chef, your kitchen, your family's version of the holiday. The chef shops, arrives hours ahead, cooks the roast and every side from scratch, serves plated or family-style, and cleans. $65 to $150 per guest on Chefpost. Hot food, a host who is at the table, and a kitchen that does not need you afterwards.
A caterer cooks in a commercial kitchen and delivers the meal in trays, usually the morning of, with reheating instructions. It is the right call for a holiday party of fifty where the food is the background. For a Christmas dinner of ten, you are still heating, plating, serving and cleaning on the one day you wanted off.
Grocery chains and restaurants sell a boxed Christmas dinner for six to eight: a cooked ham or turkey, a few sides, a pie, picked up cold and reheated. Cheapest, easiest to order, and it tastes like a reheated box. Fine for a small table where nobody wants to cook and nobody minds.
Four steps from first message to a clean kitchen. No shopping, no cooking, no dishes for you.
Which date, your city, headcount, how your family celebrates, and any allergies or dietary needs at the table.
Classic roast, Nochebuena, Seven Fishes, Hanukkah, a cocktail party, a tasting menu for midnight. Plated or family-style.
We surface vetted chefs who cover your city and have cooked holiday tables at your headcount, each with real reviews.
Your chef shops, arrives early, cooks, serves every course, packs the leftovers and leaves the kitchen spotless.
One booking layer for the whole season. The same vetted chefs cook all of these.
Real ranges from bookings on Chefpost, at $65 to $150 per guest depending on city, menu and course count. Groceries are billed at cost on top of the chef fee. Cocktail-style holiday parties with passed bites start around $50 per guest.
| Occasion | Typical chef fee | What it usually looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas Eve or Nochebuena for 8 | $520 to $1,200 | A lechón or a Feast of the Seven Fishes, family-style, a late long table. One chef. |
| Christmas dinner for 10 | $900 to $1,600 | Prime rib, ham or turkey, six to eight sides, two desserts, plated or family-style. One chef. |
| Holiday party for 20 | $1,000 to $2,500 | Passed bites and two or three stations, a batched cocktail, a chef and an assistant. Two to three hours. |
| New Year's Eve for 8 | $700 to $1,600 | A five-course tasting menu paced to midnight, champagne pairing, one chef. The upper half of the range. |
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve are three of the most requested dates of the year, so expect the upper half of the range on those nights and book early. New York and the Hamptons run above these ranges. For the full breakdown by occasion and service level, see what a private chef costs.
An honest take from the Chefpost team on why December is the month people book a chef for the first time.
“Christmas is the dinner everyone remembers and the one the cook barely sees. They are up at seven with the roast, they eat standing up, and they are still at the sink when the house goes quiet. The hosts who book a private chef for Christmas are not outsourcing the holiday. They are finally in the room for it: at the table, in the photos, with a glass in their hand while someone else worries about the timing. The kitchen being clean at midnight is the part they mention in the review.”
Each of these is a different night with a different menu and a different pace. Book the one you need, or the same chef for several.
In Miami and across South Florida, Christmas Eve is Nochebuena: the whole roasted pork, congrí, yuca con mojo, maduros, flan and a table that runs past midnight. Italian-American families in New York and New Jersey host the Feast of the Seven Fishes: baccalà, fried calamari, linguine with clams, shrimp, whole roasted fish. Our chefs cook both, in your kitchen, served late.
The classic roast dinner: prime rib with horseradish, a glazed ham or a roast turkey, Yorkshire pudding or dinner rolls, roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts, a gratin, and a dessert table with bûche de Noël, pies or a trifle. Or a long Christmas brunch. Christmas 2026 is a Friday, so many families are hosting both nights.
Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4 and runs eight nights. Latkes fried to order with applesauce and sour cream, a braised brisket, roasted chicken, kugel, and sufganiyot for dessert. Boca Raton, Long Island and New Jersey chefs cook kosher-style in your kitchen and plan around your household's traditions.
The office party in a partner's home, the neighborhood open house, the client dinner before everyone leaves town. Passed bites and stations for twenty to forty, a signature cocktail batched by the chef, and a menu built to be eaten standing up. The most competitive slot of the month, so book in November.
A tasting menu paced to midnight: oysters or caviar to start, a seafood course, a main, cheese, dessert as the countdown begins, and a champagne pairing through all of it. Six to twelve guests, at home, without the restaurant markup or the 11pm seating. New Year's Eve 2026 is a Thursday.
The recovery table. A chef comes in late morning with everything for a long brunch: eggs any way, smoked salmon, pastries, a Bloody Mary and mimosa setup, and the kitchen cleaned before anyone has to think about it.
What actually happens in your kitchen, from the afternoon to the last glass.
Your chef shops the day before, or that morning, and arrives three to five hours before you want to sit down. A prime rib needs two to three hours in the oven plus a rest; a lechón is an all-day cook, so a Nochebuena chef may arrive at noon. One oven is fine: the chef sequences the roast first and times the sides to finish on the stovetop or after the roast comes out to rest.
You do not need special equipment. The chef brings knives, roasting gear and anything your kitchen is missing. If you are hosting in a rental, in a second home, or in an office for a holiday party, say so when you book and the chef plans for what that kitchen actually has.
When dinner is ready the chef carves and serves, plated or family-style, and paces dessert and coffee to your table rather than to a clock. On New Year's Eve the courses are timed so dessert lands as the countdown starts. Then the part hosts mention most in reviews: the leftovers are packed and labeled, the roasting pan is clean, and the kitchen looks like it did that afternoon.
Three of the five most requested nights of the year fall in one week. Waiting costs you the chef you wanted.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day chefs book first, and in Miami and New York the most reviewed chefs are typically gone by December 10. Searches for a Christmas chef peak the week of December 14, which is exactly when the calendar is fullest. Book by the end of November for a real choice; the first week of December is still workable in most cities.
New Year's Eve books out second, usually by mid-December. Holiday parties in the first three weeks of December are the easiest to staff on weeknights and the hardest on the Fridays and Saturdays, so a Thursday party gets you more chefs to choose from.
Chefpost requires 48 hours' notice on any booking. Christmas week itself is possible but not guaranteed, so if you are reading this on December 22, talk to our concierge and we will see who is free.
Home tables, real kitchens, and the season cooked where it is eaten.
The format is specific. Here is when it fits and when it does not.
Chefpost cooks Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Hanukkah, holiday parties and New Year's Eve in your kitchen across South Florida, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Atlanta and Boston. If you searched for Christmas catering or holiday party catering in Miami, New York, Houston or Atlanta and would rather have it cooked in your own home, this is that version. Pick your city to see the chefs who cover it.
Thanksgiving, pricing, and the dinners that come before and after.
Tell us which night, your city and how many seats. We will match you with vetted chefs who have cooked holiday tables at your headcount, with real menus and real reviews.
What hosts ask us before booking a chef for the holidays.
