it’s festive for a holiday, easy to make at home and just bring without needing to cook or heat up anything there and it won’t ruin people’s appetite for dinner. Also, your presentation can be Christmasy colorwise. You could have traditional red cocktail sauce (ketchup and horseradish) and an alternative green sauce (either pesto sauce or a green salsa).
My sister and I ate shrimp cocktail a lot while we were in FL because it was easy and yummy and we could get it inexpensively. The supermarkets there frequently had buy one bag/get one bag free sales so it wasn’t expensive. We bought the frozen shrimp that was cheaper than the unfrozen shrimp (that had been previously frozen anyway). You can buy it frozen already cooked or raw. It’s easy and very fast to cook. I’d serve it with tails on. Do you have something like a Costco nearby? If you’re not going to buy it fresh off the boat, frozen will be fine.
