How much food to buy for 1st birthday?

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

It's our LO's 1st birthday in a few weeks and I'm going to have a little party for him at home for about 20 people, all family and his godparents. I have NO idea about catering for parties and our house is tiny so I am slightly concerned!

I'm a converted online food shopper so I've got the food coming for the party on the Saturday morning and will be doing the usual things like sandwiches, sausage rolls, quiche, salad, chicken drumsticks etc but I have a few questions:

1) When should I prepare the food? On the morning of the party? Everyone is coming about 2pm and OH will keep LO out my way whilst I get things ready so I have all morning.

2) How many rolls/sandwiches should I allow each person?

3) How do I make things look nice when on serving plates etc?

I really am clueless, quite short on time too as we are on holiday the week of the party until we get home on Friday. Any advice would be welcomed!!

Nicki

For 20 people I'd do:

10 rounds of sandwiches
40 sausage rolls
2 quiche
12 or so chicken drumsticks

A few large bowls of crisps, some french bread sliced and buttered and some salads

I suspect that will be loads, with cake to follow. Most of it is easy to do and nicer fresh, so yes I'd wait until the morning of the party to prepare. You could garnish with some fresh parsley or cucumber twists if you want to pretty it up a bit.

sooty&sweep

Hi

Happy Birthday to your little one !

To be honest I wouldn't make sandwiches they are very time consuming to make and not great if they're made too far in advance.

What about a gammon joint ? this can be cooked the night before and kept chilled selection of salads and nice bread and butter (a few french sticks and a pat of butter & let them butter there own). If you want to offer some more variety then make a quiche or bake some sausage rolls. I've also found a nice cheese board + pates goes down well. Again very easy to do (few chunks of cheese on a board and use bunches of grapes or cherry tomotoes to decorate the board).

Or a hot buffet ? Curry + rice, lasagne + jacket pots & salad. They can be made in advance and reheated.

Jen

JodyBPM

I'd echo what sooty&sweep said above - sandwiches are so uninspiring, time consuming to make, and actually expensive if you want a good range of fillings. They also need to be made fresh on the day. I'd personally go for a cheese board, a big fruitbowl, including strawberries grapes etc, chopped veg and dips, a meat platter (salamis, pastrami, chorizo, parma ham etc), big bowls of salad, a homemade quiche or two, olives, a good bread selection, with butter for people to help themselves to, and lots of bowls of fancy crisps. It just looks so much fresher and nicer than sarnies and sausage rolls, and is much healthier too!

If you have a slow cooker, my hot choice would be a big bolognaise cooked in the slow cooker, on jacket pots (done in the oven) served with salad and grated cheese to go on the top - that way veggies can just have jacket & cheese with salad, and its not spicy or adventurous at all, so there should be something for everyone.

gizmo111

Some cocktail sausages and little cakes biscuits etc as well.
Food looks nice on plates with a little salad and nice serviettes.
Did one the weekend myself - only my baby was 18!