THE champagne is on ice, the sparkly outfit is zipped up – and all that’s left to do is lay out the perfect party feast.
Supermarkets are offering their biggest and best ever range of canapes for December 2025.
There are snowman and polar bear shaped bao buns, prawn lollipops, fish and chip bites complete with mushy peas and even mini turkey toasties.
But which of these bite-size will most delight the taste buds?
Lidl Deluxe Pork and Cranberry Sausage Wreath
A real showstopper, this attractive wreath would make a fab addition to any buffet. It takes 45 minutes to cook but it’s well worth the wait.
For less than a fiver, it’s great value. It serves eight, working out around 62p a portion, but you get a generous slice.
The pork sausage meat had a hint of cranberry and sage flavour and it all tasted very meaty and wonderful.
The puff pastry cooked perfectly and had a parsley breadcrumb sprinkled over the top.
- Value: 5/5
- Taste: 5/5
- Total: 10/10
M&S Snowman Bao Bun
Perfect for adding some Christmas cuteness to any festive buffet.
They cook well and only take just over a minute in the microwave, so easy to prepare and surprisingly tasty, too.
They are expensive at 93p each. The bun is quite sweet but the kids devoured them.
Everyone had lots of fun deciding whether to bite the head off first, or eat the body.
- Value: 3/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total score: 7/10
Tesco Finest Pudding Wrapped Piggies
- Price: £5.50 for 6, tesco.com
Really delicious, these went down a storm when I served them at a party.
I did have to turn the oven temperature down a bit as I thought they were going to burn but they cooked perfectly on the lower setting.
Lovely sausages, wrapped in a bit of bacon. Filling but quite pricey working out around 91p each.
- Value: 2/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 6/10
M&S Collection Mini Turkey Feast Toasties
- Price: £7.50 for 8, ocado.com
These bite-size toasties are a novel and fun nibble to serve.
They only take six minutes in an air fryer or eight minutes in the oven and they come out looking crispy and delicious, I couldn’t wait to tuck it.
Flavour-wise, they didn’t disappoint.
Each bite is well-filled with pulled turkey, sage and onion stuffing, ham hock, Emmental cheese and cranberry sauce – and there’s a turkey gravy to heat up separately and dip into.
Honestly, so more-ish. Not the cheapest party food on offer but these taste spectacular.
- Value: 4/5
- Taste: 5/5
- Total: 9/10
Asda Exceptional Prawn Lollipops
- Price: £4.50 for 10, asda.com
A unique take on prawn toast, these innovative seafood lollipops come in two flavours – coconut and lime and sweet chilli – and every stick is coated in crispy puffed rice.
Indulgent, more-ish and great value working out at just 45p each. None were left.
- Value: 3/5
- Taste: 3/5
- Total: 6/10
Waitrose Polar Bear Bao Buns
Festive polar bears with super cute faces that almost makes you feel guilty for eating them.
Easy to make, simply steam them for seven minutes or microwave in less than two minutes.
They’re filled with shredded vegetables and a sweet, sticky, hoisin sauce.
Delicious but I would have liked another spoonful of filling inside. Great talking point though. I’d definitely buy more for the festive period.
- Value: 4/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 8/10
Asda Mini Festive Feast Toasties
- Price: £3.50 for 9, asda.com
Mini toasties, stuffed with tender chicken, stuffing, bacon and cranberry sauce.
Easy to prepare. These cook in just ten minutes in the oven from chilled, or eight minutes in the air fryer.
Ok, they are not as nice as the M&S ones, but they were pretty tasty, £4 cheaper and you get one extra in the pack. Perfect for serving en masse.
- Value: 4/5
- Taste: 3/5
- Total: 7/10
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mini Wagyu Beef Cheeseburgers
- Price: £6 for 8, sainsburys.co.uk
Tiny little burgers which are gone in a bite or two. They had a lovely smoky taste, as if they’d come off a barbecue.
The rolls were ok, perhaps a little dry, but guests lapped them up.
You cook the burger in the oven or air fryer but then you do have to build each burger individually, which was a bit of a faff.
They come with their own tomato sauce.
- Value: 4/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 8/10
Aldi Specially Selected Japanese Style Chicken Sliders
- Price: £3.99 for 8, aldi.co.uk
Steamed buns filled with chicken, carrot, spring onion and water chestnuts in an Asian-style sauce and topped with a coriander leaf, which looks a little like a Christmas tree, to give them a festive twist.
Easy to cook and will be ready after about a minute in the microwave.
Surprisingly well-filled – more filling in fact than both the Waitrose and M&S buns, and half the price.
- Value: 5/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 9/10
Aldi Mini Beef Wellingtons
These looked a little flat in the packet but they puffed up well once cooked.
They took a bit longer in the oven than most canapes, around 17 minutes, but the buttery puff pastry was delicious and each one was filled with succulent and slow-cooked British beef, gravy and mushroom duxelle, which stopped the pastry going soggy.
Great value at less than 50p a bite. These made my spread look a little fancier I reckon – and they tasted divine.
- Value: 5/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 9/10
Waitrose Wagyu Beef Mini Pies
Working out 66p a pie, but these are pretty substantial and I felt good value.
Bigger than many of the other nibbles, they have a lovely rich flavour with small chunks of Wagyu meat inside.
I would have liked more filling but the flaky, buttery pastry was delicious.
Better than your average bite-size pie but a little messy to eat making lots of crumbs.
- Value: 4/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 8/10
M&S Fish and Chip Bites
Battered basa fish with potatoes and lovely mushy pea and mint dip.
A lovely flavour but they were messy to eat and I wasn’t the only one to end up with mushy peas all down my sparkly top.
Fine if you are serving on a plate and a knife and fork, but a messy canape! Tasty though, and a good size.
- Value: 3/5
- Taste: 3/5
- Total: 6/10
Morrisons The Best King Prawn Collection
- £6 for 9, groceries.morrisons.com
A selection of three different king prawns, including crispy coconut king prawns, festive stars and Penang style curry king prawn baubles. I liked the variety.
Not the biggest or best value, but they did taste nice.
- Value: 2/5
- Taste: 3/5
- Total: 5/10
Iceland Sweet Chilli Marinated King Prawn Ring
I was really impressed by this prawn ring from Iceland. It’s exceptional value and looks fab on the buffet.
You do need to defrost 12 hours before serving, but the prawns were plump, full of flavour and the sweet chilli marinade had a lovely warm, spicy heat. Impressive.
- Value: 5/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 9/10
Lidl Salt and Vinegar Fish and Chip Sliders
Incredible value, a lovely flavour and easier than the M&S fish and chips bites to eat.
It’s basa fish and these have a lovely, tangy salt and vinegar flavour.
Easy to cook from frozen and unbeatable Lidl value, at less than 25p per snack.
- Value: 5/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Total: 9/10
