Party and Catering - any ideas?

sam_rhino · 6 April 2006 at 4:47PM

Hello all,

In June my parents and I are having a joint 30th/60th/leaving England party. We've sent out 320 invites, and are hoping under 200 people come (otherwise they're never going to sit down!!).
We've got a good rate on the local town hall and Dj, but haven't a clue what to do about catering. It's a black tie event inside, with kitchens on the premises, but we've only got them from 6pm til the party starts at 730.
Any ideas for what to do about catering? I don't think we can afford to get it catered for us, but my brain has drawn a blank with how on earth to feed all these people!
Any suggestions greatfully received.
:-)

outrageous_monkey · 6 April 2006 at 5:01PM

I'm gonna be boring and suggest something like, soup and a roll for starter. You could make that up in advance and take it with you to warm up. Mind you, soup for 200 people, maybe make it there. If they are supplying the kitchen then I guess they will have large catering equipment. A roast dinner, chicken breast or sliced beef ???? For dessert I'd go for something really easy like summer fruits and icecream. At least you wont have to do any cooking for that, especially if you have a starter and main course to cook.
Hope this is of any use to you. But dont worry others will be along soon with much better advice than I can give.
Julie

recovering_spendaholic · 6 April 2006 at 5:18PM

I have done buffets for up to 300 people before today and it takes some planning, but you can do a lovely spread for a reasonable cost. I usually do big bowls of pasta salad (boiled pasta, sweetcorn, peas, onion, cucumber, red pepper and tomatoes dressed with your favourite mayo/salad cream/etc) - I make this at home and take it in big bowls. You can get giant (REALLY giant) plastic disposable serving bowls in Costco for £7.99 for 3 - they come with snap on lids and plastic serving utensils too. I reckon a bowl of this size will feed 50 - 70 people easily. I do 2 bowls of pasta salad, 2 bowls of rice salad (I make this the same as the pasta but use rice, but you can make it with boiled rice, grated apple, sultanas, onions and curry mayo too if you want), 1 bowl of sliced tomato and red onion with balsamic vinaigrette, 1 bowl of thinly sliced cucumber ( you need about 20 cucumebers to fill the bowl!)dressed with oil and white wine vinegar, sugar and dill, 2 bowls of new potato salad ( just boiled new potatoes in their skins with chives and mayo and salad cream mixed) and a couple of bowls of HM coleslaw. It doesn't take long to do them - about two hours (if you've got a food processor and a couple of helpers to do the lot. Then I buy loads of cold meat and arrange it on platters (again you can get three giant platters for £6 in Costco), a platter or two of egg mayo (hard boiled eggs cut in half dressed with half mayo, half salad cream and sprinkled with cress and paprika), a bowl of prawns with marie rose and also garlic mayo served separately, loads of french sticks cut up, individual butter pats, and a couple of tubs of nice pate. It's not gourmet eating but its nice and always goes down well. For dessert I usually do another huge Costco bowl filled with strawberries sprinkled with sugar, a bowl of whipped cream and several gateaux - Costco do nice ones for £6.99 and they feed 20. I also buy Costco Cheesecake factory cheesecakes (£9.99 for 16 portions). i also get a load of cheese and put it on a bread board with grapes and apples and a basket of cheese biscuits next to it. Buy a banquet roll to dress the buffet table and some disposable cutlery and plates and you're done!! Get a couple of bunches of flowers for the table and it'll look really pretty. good luck!!!

sam_rhino · 6 April 2006 at 5:23PM

Thank you both. I've had nightmares about catering it ourselves, but you both made it sound achievable and some really good easy ideas!
10 weeks sounds like ages and ages and ages, but I'm sure it'll come really quickly!

:-)

Yoga_Girl · 6 April 2006 at 8:12PM

Will you be able to get some "willing volunteers" to help out with the food preparation so that you can "divide and conquer" - once you've decided on your menu then could you allocate certain dishes to other family members?

sam_rhino · 7 April 2006 at 10:19AM

We're hoping that we can persuade some nice people to bring puddings!
I had a good chat with my Mum this morning and a potter around web sites yesterday.
We have 2 options - the 3 course meal option, which'll be 1 hot & 1 cold soup, then paella, and whatever puddings arrive (this is if less than 150 people say yes, so we can sit them down).
or the buffet, make as much as we can beforehand, everyone can eat standing or sitting, if there's enough chairs, for if more than 150 people come!
After reading the messages yesterday I stopped panicking about catering it ourselves. So now all we have to do is wait til we know how many numbers, and then chose the food accordingly.
So next thing is decorating... my friend hired a gas cylinder to do helium balloons herself (she made weights out of sand filled balloons wrapped in funky holographic paper (the cheap stuff from the pound shop) which looked cool. Not sure which is cheaper -doing the balloons ourselves or getting them delivered. It's getting quite exciting now :-)

Queenie · 7 April 2006 at 3:25PM

:hello: Welcome sam_rhino

:beer:

Obviously your freezer/s are going to be your best friends over the next 10wks

The more you can make and freeze ahead, the easier the prep and the day will go.

Something you need to think about when deciding on catering will be the quantities.

From my Aunts notes, and these are the quantites for approx 25 people so you'll need to, quadruple then double if need be:-

Soup: 1 gallon (serve in mugs or cups)
Meat
on the bone: 7-8lb
boneless: ie casseroles, meatballs. 5-6lb
Deli meat: ie ham 5 -6 lb
Rice/Pasta: 2lb
Cheese (for cheese and biscuits) 2lb + butter 1lb + biscuits 2lb

10 weeks will speed by, but you're right, it can be very exciting too

Good luck! :T :T

TOBRUK · 7 April 2006 at 5:03PM

You can do a lovely knife and fork buffet that can look pretty classy - I asume as you are able to use the kitchen, have they got platters, dishes, knives and forks, plates etc you can use if you haven't got them? We have done a few of these as a family, including parents 25th, 50th, and a few christenings etc.

Cook Ham, beef, etc at home - sliced up on platters
Chicken drumsticks if you like
Lots of different salads, pasta, rice salad, potato salad,coleslaw, waldorff, carrot etc
tomatoes, cucumber thinly sliced, shredded lettuce around the platters
mini quiches
sausages - as children like them, pineapple and cheese etc
Cut piped curried eggs
crisps
Bread rolls

Make large bowls of trifle
Make large cheescakes
Make or buy a few gateaux

the list is endless what you can do for the buffet. If you have large bowls etc, carry them over to the place by cars, and dish them up on the platters, bowls etc when you get there. If you can't get platters and bowls there are places where you could get them fairly cheap or find somewhere where you could borrow. Have a long buffet roll to put over the tables, a few centre pieces (flowers). A few balloons tied around etc

sam_rhino · 7 April 2006 at 7:23PM

:-) I'm sooo pleased I decided to post a note up. The ideas have been brilliant, and the note from Queenie about the quantities is wicked :-)
Thank you lots and lots!
I'm going to have a word with a creative friend as she made her own wedding bouquet from paper, sounds awful - looked lovely, so might be able to do that for table flowers. I want it to look classy, without costing a fortune! :-)

katie_jane_2 · 7 April 2006 at 8:14PM

hi dont know if this could be adapted but its a buffet plan my mum did for me when i needed one .shes a whizz at this as she ran pubs for 16 yrs .this is pretty basic and the prices are based on your average tesco type prices.its also generously done for 70 people.
BUFFET FOR 70 PEOPLE

36 Brown buffet cobs 1.60

100 white buffet cobs 3.80

Tub Marg 1.50

80 chicken wings 10.00

2lbs Ham 8.00

2lbs Roast pork 7.00

+I pk stuffing 0.50

2lbs cheese 8.00

1 doz eggs 1.50

50 crabstix 2.50

Lettuce 2 1.50

1lb toms 1.00

Celery 0.50

2 cress 1.00

cucumber 0.50

red onions 4 1.00

2lbs carrots (stix) 1.00

3 jars pickled onions 1.50

100 sausage rolls 2.00

50 veggie rolls 1.50

8 large pork pies 12.00

50 sm. Scotch eggs 5.00

4 bags cocktail sausages 4.00

2 pks veggie sausages 2.00

2 bags veggie bites 2.00

3 pks of 4 dips 4.50

2 bags tortilla chips 2.50

8 large bags crisps 8.00

Big bag peanuts 2.00

3 boxes bread stix 2.00

100 plates 2.00

100 serviettes 1.00

100 forks 1.00

large box clingfilm 2.00

large roll foil. 2.00

Total 107.90

betterbargains4u · 8 April 2006 at 12:40AM

outrageous_monkey wrote:

I'm gonna be boring and suggest something like, soup and a roll for starter. You could make that up in advance and take it with you to warm up. Mind you, soup for 200 people, maybe make it there. If they are supplying the kitchen then I guess they will have large catering equipment. A roast dinner, chicken breast or sliced beef ???? For dessert I'd go for something really easy like summer fruits and icecream. At least you wont have to do any cooking for that, especially if you have a starter and main course to cook.
Hope this is of any use to you. But dont worry others will be along soon with much better advice than I can give.
Julie

Hire a chocolate fountain, which everyone will love.

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Party and Catering - any ideas?

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