BIG family birthday tea - HELP!!!!

snoopy_and_woodstock

The OP is my mum,


And i just have to say that she is the most fantastic cook in the world!!!! Our family only seem to like horrible junk food, and don't get the whole attitude that we have about healthy fresh cooked food (which thanks to this wonderful site is even easier and tastier!!!).

And they mock what they don't understand. :mad: :mad: :mad:

My suggestion would be cheese and onion rolls (like sausage rolls) and mini yummy HM pizza (hhhhhmmmmm can't wait my mouth is watering!!! :drool: ), salad with rolls etc, or we could just have chocolate :EasterBun

Love

Snoopy xxxxxxx

JillD_2

When I've done family meals I either do pasta bake as others have said, or else pizzas (do 75 year olds eat pizza ?)

Pasta bakes have the benefit that you can make in advance and then reheat on the day, and most 2 year olds I know like pasta.
Pizza has the benefit of being finger foody so minimal mess and of course you couold do ham on a couple and make the rest veggie. Homemade piza dough is very cheap and easy. Even I can do it and I am not the greatest of cooks.

For pudding I usually do a big fruit salad and provide cream and/or ice cream.

And then coffee and tea with some cakes or biccies.

Good luck with it all
Jill

lostfarmer

I did a buffet for my Mother in Laws 60th last year- amoungst other things we had:
HM Mini Quiche
HM Mini Pizza
Cooked joint of ham sliced
Cooked chicken breast joint sliced
Puff Pastry cheese and pesto twists (roll out pastry really thin, cut in half and put a small amount of pesto and cheese on one half, top with other half, flatten and cut into strips about cm thick, twist a few times, pop on baking tray and brush with beaten egg)
Tortilla wheels (sure it was from here, but top tortilla with choice of filling, roll up, chill for a bit and then slice into wheels a couple of cm thick)
Rice Salad
Potato Salad
Moz & Cherry tom salad
Smoked salmon blinis
Chipolata saus, carrot sticks, celery stick and many dips
French Bread

Puddings:
Lime and Mascapone Cheesecake
Chocolate Brownies
Flapjack
Birthday Cake!

I found this lot OK to make and spread the prep over a couple of days (even chopping stuff the day before ready to go in the quiches etc and making the pastry)..

You can do it! And when you do people that are used to ready meal and 'prepared party snacks' will be blown away by the taste of home prepared equivalents!

Good Luck!

PS: We had 24 in our house too, similar ages, you'll be fine!

flea72

if seating space is limited, i would only go for finger food, because unless you can sit down, or find a suitable surface to rest on, there is no way you would be able to use cutlery

Paulie'sGirl

hey,

My Nana and Mum catered weddings for 250 or so for people from church. I'll list some stuff they usually serve, and you can PM me if you want me to consult them on recipes and quantities etc (the notebooks are scary, too many, dad's trying to condense it to a spreadsheet...) But do bear in mind that you can have more variety when you cater for larger numbers IFYSWIM cos it means more dishes but fewer of them, so don't attempt everything! Pick a few you know will go down well

bowls of salad
pasta salad
quiche
cheese and onion pie
corned beef pie
sliced cooked meats
quartered sandwiches in the following:
-egg and cress
-ham and tomato
-plain ham
-plain cheese
-cheese and cucumber
-tuna mayo
potato salad
sausage rolls
picnic eggs (the tiny version of scotch eggs)
halves of mini pork pie
things on stick (generally the kids do this, cubes of hotdog, cheese, pickled onions and pineapples in varying arrangements on cocktail sticks. secure in a spud covered with foil)
crisps
nuts
gateaux
cheese cake
onion bahjis (mum makes these herself, cheap and really easy. baked not fried)


I'm stuck now, if I think of anything else I'll edit it.

So, to recap:

To make it easy for you, go to the pound shop and get paper plates in large and small sizes. If you want get napkins too. then everything goes in a binliner at the end

Pick things you can do in advance, leaving you time for the necessary last minute stuff.

Assign a few items to each of your sisters, even if they are in a sulk

If you do go with the hot buffet idea, use the styrofoam plates, its less dangerous

Assign a small (but not too small) child to tour the house with a bin bag collecting plates which have been laid aside to pretend accidental standing on and grinding into carpet...

Something my mum doesn't do, but I have, is make pizza in a rectangle, and give 'fingers' of it as a buffet item. Its easy enough to make your own Child friendly

Hope that's not too long and confusing!

PG xx

taurusgb

Thank you so much everyone for your wonderful ideas and your support - I just love this site! :j .... always someone who is willing to help or advise or make you feel better about yourself (in this case all three!!!)

One sister - the one on benefits is willing to help (she is bringing some sandwiches, sausage rolls and salad) should have made this a bit clearer in my first post, but I just can't ask her to pay 1/3 because of her financial situation. Other sister is in major sulk mode and hasn't been heard from for over a week so don't even know if she will turn up :rolleyes: but since she is a major player in making me feel useless and stupid, if it wasn't for my Mum I'd probably find it easier without her here!:mad: ....thank Heavens for snoopy_and_woodstock - she is a wonderful supportive daughter and I can't think where I'd be without her :j :j :j :j :j :j she always makes me feel better!

Thanks again everyone - for reading, for advising, and for not making me feel useless:A

I'mcomingbackasaman

If you need serviettes they have some good quality ones in Lidl 25 for 45 pence. And if you need a very large sponge or fruit cake they're only £9.99 decorated from Costco.

scuzz

We always used to have finger food when people came round we had:

chicken drumsticks (Tesco currently BOGOF on chicken drumsticks and thighs)
cocktail sausages
HM scotch eggs
valouvants (sorry on spelling!) can have various fillings
sarnies - various fillings
cheese and pineapple (it was the 80's! & early 90's!)


I'd also put out bowls of nuts and crisps. You could do a big bowl of coronation chicken, salad, cheese board, pasta & tuna salad.

Sweet things, what about some HM banana bread, chocolate rice crispie cakes for the kids, sponge

If people want to moan, let them host the party and do all the work next time

mummysdragon

One New Year eve I purchased a large joint of pork..cost £15, I put this in the oven for quite a few hours, covered in foil until the last hour or so. I bought 6 dozen bread rolls. 2 packets of stuffing mix which I made up and 3 jars of apple sauce.
This served 40 and went down so well everybody said how much they enjoyed it.
Cost on average 50p a head...for a hog roast, which they even helped themselves to.
You could always buy some ice cream and do some jelly for the kids and get some ready made cakes for the adults.