If it has a custard base, then yes, refrigerate it till it's time to eat it.

Is it winter where you are? Is your garage cold? That's where I store a few items, safely stored in storage bin.

I live in Florida, it would have to be pretty cold for the garage temp. to get down that far, it's attached to the house. Maybe I'd better wait and make it tomorrow, then try to figure out how to stuff what's left in the frig. Don't know if family will want to take any home, everyone is already complaining about all the holiday calories that have accumulated.

Oh, my. Yes, I'd certainly refrigerate it.

Another vote for refrigeration!

Yes refrigerate. Do you have a cooler that you can put it in with ice packs to keep it cold?

Are there other things in your fridge that can come out for awhile? Whole citrus, tubers, aliums? Jam, nut butters, chocolate sauce? There are a lot of things that need refrigeration in a warm climate that other people never refrigerate at all. You can put them in a cardboard box for some insulation if you don't have a cooler, or can shift them to a camping cooler if you have one. Or leave them out if you have a cool place. I was once in South Florida at this time of year, and while it was warmer than in SoCal, it wasn't hot.

Another trick for making room in the fridge for the bread pudding is to take the air out of things. Like, can you take something out of a partially full container and put it in a zip bag? Will you be using melon or peppers that you can cut open now to release the airspace inside?

Do you have space between the products and the next shelf up? It's not good for the operation of the fridge to block the airflow, but in a pinch since it's just until tomorrow, you can put your bread pudding on top of jars or carrots or whatnot, or even put a baking sheet on top of some of the taller things to make a shelf for it.

Good luck! But refrigerate custard.

You could always cook it day of and serve warm or room temperature. Refrigerate the leftovers.....

ETA you could make the custard base ahead and put that in the fridge....thinking smaller container. Bake it the day of and serve.

When I refer to "custard" I mean the egg and milk mixture that is added to the bread, sugar and raisins, mixed and baked. It will also have a rum sauce poured over the top. Lots of sugar in both. OK, looks like refrigeration is winning here, I'll just wait until tomorrow and see what I can do with the leftovers. I'll only be using the oven for the cornbread right before we will be eating, so there won't be a problem with that. I've always made it a couple of days ahead and refrigerated it but this new refrigerator just doesn't have the room in it that the old one did, I sure screwed up on this purchase.

Am I the only one with an assortment of different sized coolers? And an armload of ice packs in the freezer...

I rarely get caught short of refrigerator space with a spare in the garage, but I do have coolers and have used those. I've used a neighbors refrigerator. My SIL just up the street has two refrigerators. I have a lot more trouble coming up with clever ways to keep things hot than cold ;0)

To answer the question...refrigerate.

The weekend before thanksgiving I took my entire crisper drawer out on the deck table...right outside my kitchen. (it is often stuffed). And it is huge for such a small kitchen fridge. Counter depth. Gave it a cleaning a left it there. Veg contents in cooler with frozen water bottles under a newspaper layer.

I used the space in the fridge for the turkey, some do-aheads, etc.

It is still there...the cooler. The crisper drawer is back in but still stuffed. (the holidays) The deck cooler has some un-cut squash, beets, radish, and just purchased today...a giant bag of collards. Handy to have crisper drawer veg close by. I have a downstairs extra fridge and a cold garage downstairs. Not so convenient, up-down-up-down.

A good sized cooler is a packed kitchen fridge best friend. Ah, and all that fruit from a gift is in there. No need to run downstairs for a pear to have with cheese. A breakfast grapefruit.

We are having 45º days and barely below freezing at night. Minor, but in years past or maybe February with heavy snow, I just put a cooler in the pantry if I need it. Even though I have a second fridge downstairs.

Test your bakeware how it fits in even a smaller cooler. (I may choose a smaller one for some things that fit if I need cooler/non-fridge room)

A cooler works for heat retention as well. Pre-heat your cooler with a hot kettle, on thick newspaper, or 10 junk mail magazines...a hot casserole out of the oven stays hot for hours in your cooler.

Yes. That's custard. Raw or cooked, it has to be refrigerated. I'm glad you've decided to make it tomorrow.

Sugar is a preservative but custard isn't fudge. Butter keeps pretty well, and the worry is more that it'll go rancid than that it'll grow bad things. I wouldn't even keep the rum sauce out though that's probably okay,.

So sorry your new fridge let you down!! I have almost gotten to the point of getting another cooler for entertaining, but I've managed with the above tricks to stave it off. I've been looking idly at a freestanding home blast chiller which will also do refrigeration temperatures (very expensive) and a freeze/chill chest, like an electric camping cooler, which does a range from way lower than ice cream, and as high as white wine, or maybe even red. It could be a cheese cave, an ice cream hold at the right temp freezer, a wine chiller or an overflow fridge, but I worry it'll be engaged with another project right when I most need it. :)

I do have coolers and ice packs (Freez-R-Brix are awesome). Still need actual refrigerator room. We panic when the lowest low is below 50° F. Can't use Mother Nature. Moving the jams and other small, less delicate things, or more hardy produce, and letting the fridge have the fancy cooked dishes works best and has least chance of accidental bacteria growth if you forgot it and it gets a bit warm.

You can put a flat sided cooler down horizontally and fit a larger dish in it, but I wouldn't bother except for transport, or holding hot on the day. Ice chests make excelling hold hot boxes. Put a kettle full of boiling water in first--on a board so you don't melt the chest--and close it, same as you'd put boiling water in a Thermos first, to warm it up before putting in your coffee.

I vote for refrigeration. But, Rita, you've made me hungry for Johnny's of Door County Bread Pudding. I think I have everything to make it tomorrow. It will be my treat for New Year's.

ditto.

you can always throw a bag of ice in the washing machine and xfer some other stuff to there temporarily to make room in the fridge ...