Victory Community Wangaratta said their annual Christmas dinner - held the Saturday before Christmas - would go ahead despite coronavirus restrictions will keep residents apart.

Pastor Bruce Hordern said instead of a communal meal, the group would run a take-away delivery service and try to replicate the Christmas spirit online.

"Normally we use the basketball stadium and deck it out with fairy lights, a Christmas tree and white linen to make it fancy for everyone," he said.

"This is our first time delivering [the meal], due to COVID we had to adapt but we still want the community to feel loved, cared for and supported."

Ps Hordern said Victoria's gathering restrictions, which in December will allow 30 people to gather indoors, meant it was not possible to hold their normal celebration.

"We've been running for six years and it's grown from 50, then 100, then 150, it's grown each year and last year was our largest with 250 people," he said.

To stave off loneliness during a very isolating year, Ps Hordern is encouraging people to share photos of their meal and chat on the Victory Community Wangaratta Facebook page.

"So you still get the sense we're all doing it together," he said.

"We wanted to be able to bring joy to people and the sense everyone was still thought of and show even though we can't see each other as much it doesn't mean we're not in each other's hearts. There are still ways to support one another."

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Ps Hordern said the annual Christmas dinner attracts a wide variety of people from single parents and children to elderly people.

He said residents must register to receive a dinner and only 250 meals were available.

"We're trying to make it very special," he said.

"A three course cold dinner with multiple tasting desert, turkey, ham and all sorts of goodies."

It would have been the sixth annual dinner hosted by the group.

It comes as the organisers of Wodonga's annual Christmas lunch grapple with the significant cost of hosting a COVID-safe event.

Member of the organising committee Ian Bedford said the luncheon, which is held annually one Christmas day, would go ahead.

But, the organisers are facing expenses of $5000 to $10,000 for the waterproof marquees needed to host the event safely outdoors.

Both organisations are accepting volunteers and donations.