The best festive party food and picky bits from M&S this year

Marks and Spencers really know what they’re doing when it comes to party food, and this year they have absolutely excelled themselves.

Oh M&S, we do love you. From Percy Pigs to Colin the Caterpillar, you seriously just don’t ever get it wrong.

And at this time of year, their picky bits selection is truly sensational.

It’s the only correct place to stock up at if you’re hosting a family gathering, a New Years Eve party or just fancy a picky tea to be fair.

We want every single meal presented in buffet format, and every single plate to feature a tiny portion of pastry, something on a cocktail stick, something else on a skewer, something with a piece of fruit jammed on top and some sort of novelty cheese.

Every year the supermarkets clear out space in the fridges for their selection of Christmas party food – but we all know that M&S is king when it comes to completely excessive creations for the festive season.

And the best bit? It’s all priced on a 4-for-3 offer, so you can get a free extra when you buy three items.

Here are some of the best party food items we found in store.

This is not just any picky tea… this is an M&S picky tea.

Party food? Sorry, I thought you said pâté food

Has Heston Blumenthal got a side-hustle at M&S that he’s not telling us about?

This year’s Christmas party food features duck live parfait cleverly disguised as little clementines – adorable.

And on the same theme as unnecessarily-shaped party food, M&S also has a ‘picture perfect antipasti wreath’, which as far as we can tell is just a normal antipasti platter but in a circle.

The show-stopping party-winners

You know the sort of family buffet where everyone’s asked to contribute a special item? These are the ones that will get your Aunt Linda absolutely seething with envy.

Imagine being the smug git who rocks up with steamed bao decorated in immaculate reindeer faces, or a cheesy garlic doughball sharer in the shape of a literal Christmas tree?

Not to mention the one M&S picky bit item that set our literal hearts racing – the pulled ham and rarebit crumpets.

Sign us up for those brownie points.

Battered cheese… chedd-are you listening now?

We can all agree that a cheeseboard is one of the best bits of Christmas – but imagine it all being BATTERED.

M&S has got arancini balls laced with cheddar cheese and a creamy sauce, all rolled up in breadcrumbs, plus halloumi fries with a sweet chilli sip, and even melt-in-the-middle profiteroles made with cheddar instead of cream.

This is how I would like all my profiteroles to be from this day forward thank you.

‘Take-away-all-my-money-I-need-these’ takeaway-inspired picky bits

This is how M&S views a take-away and it is, naturally, *fancy*.

There are teeny chip-shop style sausages in a salt and vinegar batter, with proper chippy curry sauce for dipping.

There’s also spring rolls stuffed with normal burger fillings – British beef, gherkins, and caramelised onions.

Nice to meat you

Oh yeah of course M&S has gone extremely high-brow with its charcuterie bits. What did you expect?

You can buy an entire joint of Spanish serrano ham, and just feel like an absolute boss carving tiny slithers off it in its wooden stand and special knife (included).

Or you can cheat a little and buy an entire board, beautifully assembled for you so you just whip the clingfilm off and pretend you’re an Insta-goddess.

And then there are cheeses in the shape of snowflakes. Obviously.

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Featured image: The Hoot Leeds