Playing host to a houseful of Christmas guests is a challenge that tests our creativity to its limits every year. Sometime during late summer, we invite enough friends and relations to guarantee a party atmosphere. Then, when the time comes – say midway through December - to work out where everyone’s going to sleep and how on earth they might all fit around the dining table, it is tempting to tell our loved ones that there’s not enough space after all.

Fortunately, there is a range of inexpensive, multifunction furnishings on the market that solve the seasonal space crisis and, crucially, should see service throughout the year. Better still, the sales are starting early, so there are bargains to be had.

First, the bedrooms. Over the years, I have experimented with “Christmas camp” bedtime arrangements – that is, the children kipping on the floor in their parents’ room. This scores high on the thrill-o-meter for the smaller folk, but sleepers young and old tend to turn Grinchy in the morning.

If you can’t fit more beds, convertible furniture could be the answer. Ikea (0845 358 3363, www.ikea.com ) has excellent day beds, which can be placed in a study or sitting room as a sofa and converted into a spare bed by night. Try the gothic-looking black, powder-coated, steel-framed Meldal (single £48), or the Hemnes, in white-painted slatted wood, which turns into a double (£215). John Lewis has the Sussi folding bed, a steel-framed single on casters (£87; 0845 604 9049, www.johnlewis.com ); Argos does a cosy foam chair-bed in pink (£49; www.argos.co.uk ).

More pricey, but extraordinarily good users of space, are built in “wall beds” that flip up and disappear behind concertina cupboard doors during the day (from £972; 020 8572 6666, www.wall-beds.co.uk ). And there’s still time to splash out on a sofa bed before the guests arrive. Sofa.com is offering preChristmas delivery on models such as the Lola and the Stella this week, provided they are in stock when you ring (from £940; 0845 400 2222, www.sofa.com ).

Families, of course, come with baggage – and some even want to unpack it when they arrive. But do you know anyone who has a spare room with actual spare stor-age? Ofcourse not. Temporary wardrobes and hanging cupboards will spare your guests the annoyance of living out of a suitcase. Best buy is the Hanging Sweater Organiser, from Store (was £17, now £10; 0870 224 2660, www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk).

The Holding Company stocks a set called Chrome Wardrobe, which amounts to an improvised dressing room: clothes rail, shelving and racking (was £246, now £175; 020 8445 2888, www.theholdingcompany.co.uk). The smartest storage solution this season, though, is Ligne Roset’s Travel Studio range, which includes a wardrobe (£1,958), a desk-cum-dressing table with drawers (£1,713) and a bed with space for a drawer or a spare bed beneath (single £897). Each piece is set on casters for maximum flexibility (0870 777 7202, www.ligne-roset.co.uk).

Now for the eating arrangements. If you need an inexpensive extendable table, look at Dwell’s crossed-leg model (£395; 0845 675 9090, www.dwell.co.uk). A gorgeous and ingenious Italian option is the Mascotte extending occasional table: the top rises, rotates and doubles in size to seat six (£680, from Heal’s; 0870 024 0780, www.heals.co.uk).

Once you’ve got the table, you’ll want fold-up chairs that can be stacked away when not in use. Jake Phipps’s Isis chair is a soon-to-be design classic: so cool, it has a slot on YouTube, it folds flat to just 3cm deep. (£388; 020 7837 1900, www.twentytwentyone.com).

Beyond your budget? Ikea’s Jeff, a galvanised steel and polypropylene job in white or black, costs £6.35.

For tableware, you’ll need supplements to your everyday service, which probably means more white china. All the bargain brands offer cheap and chic white sets nowadays: Matalan has porcelain dinnerware (dinner plate, side bowl, pasta bowl) for £1 an item (www.matalan. co.uk), while Tesco’s 12-piece china set, with four dinner plates, four side plates and four bowls, costs £24 (www.tesco.com ).

Finally, how will you cope with Doctor Who? Can you create a Tardis-like sitting room, with space for more than the usual crew of sofa-surfers, for the television highlight of the holiday? This year, shoppers are investing in 1970s-style squashy solutions, with John Lewis reporting a 16% rise in sales of beanbags. Among the most popular is the colourful, spotty Disc (£58.50) – big enough to hide behind when the Cyber-men appear, but small enough to stash in a cupboard once the Christmas holidays are over.

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