How about a spiral-sliced ham? Or some sort of meatball in sauce in a crock pot to keep hot?

I'd do spiral-sliced ham too -- along with some small buns and condiments to make sandwiches.

You can do bbq pork, porketta, or Italian beef ahead and keep it warm/serve it from a crock pot on the table or counter with rolls and condiments etc.

Do a pot of chili in the crock pot and a large tossed salad and some nice crunchy bread slices. Won't need any tending and people can self-serve.

I think this is a nice idea for a potluck during the holidays with the red and green...

Any kind of roast is a great anchor for a potluck, whether the aforementioned ham, or turkey or beef. If you really want it super easy, you can buy a smoked turkey and just warm it up.

How casual or elegant do you want your dinner to be? Have you suggested dishes for others to bring or will it all be a surprise ?

A poached salmon with a dill sauce is lovely and pretty easy if you are looking for an elegant centre dish that can be done in advance and left out.

If you want more casual then a selection of two or three soups held in crockpots can be lots of fun. A cream based, a tomato based and a broth based....with lots of top ups like shredded cheeses, gold fish crackers, chow mein noodles, jalapeno peppers...all depends on the soups. The last time I did one of those I bought large coffee mugs from the dollar store and had everyone take theirs home as a gift.......was fun

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think DH is leaning towards meatballs. I like the smoked turkey idea, and I've made salmon poached in olive oil before that was very good (except for the unsightly white protein), so that's a good option too.

Is this a sit down meal or a lot of people standing? Or will they go to a buffet and find a place to sit down? That should be considered. If people are standing and munching, then a plate of spaghetti or bowl of soup is not a good idea. Even sit down an balance a plate on your lap will be uncomfortable and likely messy with certain foods. Sandwich foods like porketta, pulled pork, ham, turkey, meatballs, etc are good there. Pasta salads, potato salads, deviled eggs, etc are good. A friend usually serves cabbage rolls at their Xmas bash. Something a little different.

I have 3 "go to " things for that sort of get together....easy and allows me to spend time on other things. You say it's pot luck....so all you really need is the drinks and an "anchor" so people don' go hungry if everyone shows up with peppermint almond bark!
My 3 things are a ham but would not do spiral sliced, would slice it in very thin slices myself and have small cocktail buns handy for sandwiches. Another is a sort of a sliced turkey in a light sauce....again have some buns for those wgho want to make a sandwich....and the 3rd thing is a whole salmon, poached in a court boullion, ( not olive oil) and chilled, the skin removed and served with sour cream and capers...or sour cream and dill....and lots of lemon and crackers and party rye bread.
Keep the turkey BBQ thing hot with a sterno tray....or if you want ham, that can stay at room temp for several hours, but the salmon needs to be on a platter, which is on another platter of ice. Easy enough...I have a small platter which will fit into an oval casserole filled with ice.

Happy party!

Thanks for the further ideas. We ended up going with meatballs made by my DH which were awesome and which are now quietly waiting in the freezer for further enjoyment. Linda, why don't you recommend poaching salmon in olive oil?

And Cynic, I love. your Red Owl avatar!

I absolutely detest spiral sliced hams (a.k.a., ham 'jerky') so good that you have decided on something else.

I think the meatballs are a very good idea and would have chosen those or made some sweet potato biscuits to serve with a sliver of good ham and some hot mustard and cranberry sauce or a beef roast sliced paper thin with small buns and horseradish sauce. Actually, if you get some small slider buns or those Hawaiian rolls, a meatball can make a passable sandwich too. Heck, I have a stepson that made au gratin potatoes and a popover into a sandwich, so probably pretty much anything would work, LOL.

Annie