The holidays are finally here, and there truly is no time like the present. With circuit breaker restrictions a (relatively) distant memory at this point, Christmas is an excellent opportunity to have guests over for a party, and naturally, you’ll want to be prepared.

Aside from ensuring the space is tidy and well-stocked with food, one of the best ways for homeowners to leave an impression on guests is through their home theatre systems. Movies tend to be a staple of Christmas gatherings too, and you certainly can't watch one without a proper setup.

So, if you need a nudge in the right direction, here’s a handy checklist to make sure you’ve got all the essentials nailed down.

You can't spell "festive" without "T" and "V"

This one goes without saying, but you’re not going anywhere without a TV display.

The year-end holiday period is one of the best times to go shopping, be it for groceries, luxury items or even appliances. There are loads of seasonal discounts on countless different items, including TVs, and we probably don’t need to explain why you need one at home, especially if you intend to have guests over.

Alternatively, if you’re willing to look at more unconventional avenues, projectors are quite viable too. Granted, most folks don’t really consider them direct replacements, but you shouldn’t sleep on them - many modern projectors are actually surprisingly compact and work great as makeshift TVs in home theatre systems.

Break out the Christmas carols

It’s not rocket science; Christmas isn’t quite Christmas without Santa Claus nor Jingle Bells, and by that same token, a home theatre system isn’t one without audio.

Having a good audio setup in place for family gatherings is arguably just as important as the TV, if not even more so. Not only can you keep your guests entertained with tasteful background music, but with the right gear, your cinematic experiences can go all the way up to eleven.

Of course, a complete, high-quality set of speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers won’t come cheap on the market, but they’ll be worth the investment. A skillfully tweaked audio system works wonders for setting the festive mood, among other day-to-day uses, so don’t be surprised to find yourself humming to the beat while prepping the Christmas turkey.

There are lots of Christmas movies out there

Now that you’ve got all the “equipment” you need on hand, you’re going to need some “content” to entertain your relatives and guests. Fortunately, subscription services like Netflix, Disney+ and Viu Premium afford us near-endless variety both in and out of the festive season.

With so many choices at your fingertips, Home Alone will be far from the only film your guests can enjoy, and that’s just from Netflix’s roster alone. If your relatives and guests happen to be fond of other genres like Korean dramas or BBC documentaries, it’s easy to prepare alternatives.

In such cases, you might want to cast your eyes over to the HomeHub+ section, as it nails three entertainment-related birds with one stone. From a Netflix Premium subscription to additional passes for either Asian+ or Entertainment+, your guests will be spoilt for choice scrolling through (and enjoying) the vast repertoire of popular TV content from StarHub.

Connections are what make life fun

With smiling faces and festive vibes all around, these are truly the moments that make life, with all its myriad ups and downs, delightful. At its core, Christmas is a season to connect with the people we love, and all of us certainly appreciate the downtime that comes with it.

Speaking of connections, you’ll want to ensure that your broadband is stable and offers sufficient bandwidth for everyone. Granted, your WiFi isn’t technically a part of your home theatre system per se, but a choppy connection is something that we have zero patience for any day of the year.

Once again, HomeHub+ comes to the rescue. In addition to TV+ passes, it also ships with speedy 1Gbps or 2Gbps Broadband subscriptions by default, so you (and your guests) will be able to enjoy the myriad of available content seamlessly from start to finish.

In fact, should you decide to pick up the 2Gbps subscription, you’ll get to choose between high-value freebies like a Nintendo Switch – OLED Model or a brand-new 65” Xiaomi 4K TV. Naturally, the kids will certainly prefer the former over the latter, but either way, you’ll be saving a great deal of cash in the long run.

With all of these checked off, we have one last task for you to do, and that is to kick back and enjoy the festivities yourself. After putting in so much work this past year, much less organising this gathering, you deserve a nice long break as much as the rest of us - happy holidays from StarHub!