Catering for 21st birthday

debbiedebt

Hi

Can any of you lovely people help me please?

My daughter has organised her own 21st birthday party and I would very much like to do the food. The guests will be mostly around her age and it needs to soak up some booze before they go clubbing!!!

I want to keep it simple but really just don't know where to begin.

There will be 75 - 100 of them.

Thanks for reading this and any ideas will be most gratefully received.

Debbie x

vanoonoo

whats your budget and where will it be held? what facilities will you have available to you?

debbiedebt

It's in a working man's type club but they let you bring in your own food. I will have to do it all in my own kitchen and transport in the car.

My budget is not set - I want to feed them but not be too lavish. The party is from 8pm to 12.30 then the young ones will go to a night club - the rest of us will go home.

vanoonoo

things like bowls of pasta salad, rice salad, potato salad, coleslaw, chunks of crusty bread, the usual sausage rolls, cheese board, cake of some sort (cupcakes are currently really popular). this would involve plates or bowls and cutlery. maybe slices of homemade pizza but they'd be cold. chicken wings/drumsticks, bruschetta, pitta bread, dips, tortilla chips depending on the time of year maybe a big vat of chili and jacket spuds with grated cheese. avoid curly sandwiches

hope that helps to start the thought processes. if all else fails I've got a code for 50% off dominos pizza valid until end of august for £40 or more spend, get 20 pizzas delivered in (not very old style but at least its easy)

vanoonoo

still thinking:

bowl of cous cous with something like roasted veg or chick peas mixed in
garlic bread
onion bahjis

all of these and those in my prev post are things that can mainly be prepared in advance and pulled together on the day so you're not having to do absolutely everything at once ie rice can be cooked and frozen and then have chopped veg stirred thru when defrosting, sausage rolls made in advance and frozen and will defrost ina couple hours likewise with cupcakes that you can decorate on the day even at the venue if youre confident

get some friends that are attending offer up their fave recipe and bring it along on the day. not each thing you make needs to be enough to feed 100 but in total each person attending needs 8 - 10 things on their plate to feel theyve been fed ie a spoon of coleslaw, a chicken wing, a lump of bread, a bit of cheese, a sausage roll is 5 things to start and they'll prob go back for a few more and then a bit of cake. hope that makes sense.

debbiedebt

Thanks Vanoonoo for all your ideas.

It looks like I'm either going to have to enlist all my friends or go for the Dominos option which I have to say is looking more attractive by the Minute!!

Thanks again.

jools27_2

I catered my daughters 21st last year, made wraps, sandwiches, chicken, sausage rolls, salads, pasta salad, coleslaw, dips etc, and they didn't eat too much of it. If the venue had allowed use of kitchen we would have made a vat of curry, chilli etc but wouldn't let us use kitchen. In the middle of the prep my mum asked me why I wasn't just getting pizzas, chips etc from the chippy next door and I thought "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT EARLIER??????"

nuatha

There’s a lot of work in catering for those numbers, but it is doable. I’d suggest concentrating on finger food as it’s a lot less work on the night.
I’ve done several gatherings of around those numbers, the biggest problem tends to be enough fridge space and transporting the sheer volume of food to the venue. (Lettuce boxes are useful)
Two websites I’ve found useful for quatities, ideas and recipes are
Growlies and Ellen's Kitchen

Items I’ve found go down well and are relatively straightforward to produce are:

First the cheats
Mini Onion Bhaji, Samosas, Mini Veg Spring Rolls
(I use Daloon catering packs from Bookers, simple to bake off in the oven and go down well.)
Mini sausage rolls, Mini cheese onion rolls (currently make my own, but have used frozen supermarket ones)
Cheese straws (ready made puff pastry, rolled out, smeared with dolcette, folded and rolled, cut into straws and baked)
Chicken drumsticks, simply thaw and roast.

Sandwiches
Egg Mayo, Cheese Savoury, Ham and Peas Pudding
(If you’ve got a large worktop you can do a whole loaf (or more) at a time. Layout the bread in facing pairs, as close together as you can, use easy spread butter and butter right to the edges of each slice, a palette knife makes this fairly easy. Add filling then reassemble the pairs, stack three pairs high and cut into quarters, arrange on your serving platter, cover with damp kitchen roll and then cling film. This can be done 24 hours in advance. (though there are threads on here about freezing sandwiches)

Salads
Green leaf salad.
Coleslaw (grate white cabbage, onion and carrots the day before, mix in bowl and clingfilm, drain any liquid that forms before use and mix mayonnaise through as close to the party as possible)
Potato salad – lidl do a decent size bucket that is both tasty and cheap.

Pastries
Corned beef, onion and potato pie.
Quiches (if you have access to a cash and carry, buy the catering ones)

Sweets
Coconut pyramids, chocolate brownies, cherry and almond cake squares, caramel shortbread, mini fairy cakes, mini muffins, trays of cookies (including twinks)

A general rule of thumb is that people will eat 10-12 items over a two hour period. With an eight o clock start to the party, most folk are likely to have had a meal so you will probably be looking at 8-10 items. That's still potentially 1000 items to produce.
I'm happy to pass on recipes etc if needed.
HTH

babyshoes

How about some cold roast meat? Pork is easy and relatively cheap. Serve it generously sliced with rolls and toppings such as apple sauce and salad bits - with the crackling on the side if you have any. Chicken pieces are also good cold. If you can afford it for so many people, medium-rare roast beef is yummy in a roll with salady bits.

If you have some outdoor space, a BBQ is always an easy way to do hot food for lots of people, even if you have to do it under a gazebo or similar. Bulk buy burgers and hot dogs or sausages plus rolls to put them in. Don't forget to buy a few veggie equivalents if you go down this route, and cook them first or on a different BBQ so they don't touch meat.

Put out the cheaper, more filling carb-y foods first so people eat less of the more expensive stuff later on. Things like crisps, garlic bread, basic sandwiches, sausage rolls, a couple of bought in pizzas etc (when ordering pizza, ask them to cut it into squares rather than slices - you will get more squares and they tend to be easier to handle). When those are finished or people start to slow down, bring out the main meaty foods.

vanoonoo

oooh I just thought - not sure how much it costs or if you have a local place but hog roasts are really popular round here at the moment. unless your DD's friends are all veggie that might be a fun option and less hassle for you? probably a bit more expensive than dominos tho!

kiss_me_now9

Honestly, from a 22 year olds perspective, go with the Dominoes