Lunch box idea

mety

Hello

We are in the very early stages of planning and I've had an idea but I'm not sure if I'm completely off my head. Most people on these threads say that caterers are most expensive part. At first I thought about having a traditional Scottish Penny Wedding where guests bring their own booze and food but I think logisitically this will be a nightmare. Then I had an idea we could buy tartan lunchboxes (we have a tartan theme) and load this up with excellent food in an attempt to save cash on waiting staff and three courses etc.

Am I being mad? I've no idea what I would put in, it would need to follow a Scottish theme...

Any thoughts on this most welcome - OH is in the pub so I can't ask him

:rolleyes:

MRSMCAWBER

Hi Mety
i think its a great idea..and it would be something different too....
how about getting an assortment of cheap picnic hampers and packing them up for each little family group...that way you could put in serviettes, cutlery etc and even a disposable camera for lots of spur of the moment pics? and it might look a little fancier in hampers.... you could lable each one with the name of the family and tie tartan bows on...might be easier than finding tartan sandwich boxes!!
if i think of anything else i will be back LOL

mety

Thanks very much, I've been on so many wedding websites now I think my brain has frazzled! I really like your idea of the hampers. I scoured the internet and managed to find one website that sells tartan lunchboxes, it's in America!! Works out at £420 for all plus shipping so it is still a bit expensive especially when I'd need to buy the food to put in it. I'll run a search now on traditional scottish hampers to see what I can find!

Thanks again

pavlovs_dog

sounds like a great idea in theory, but i can see how it would be easy for costs to run away on an idea like this.

plus logistically, do you have access to somewhere to chill the food until needed?

mety

Thanks pavlovs_dog, you're right it would need to be thought out extremely well. From searching scottish hampers there are plenty of ideas for things to go in with the exception of cooked food. We couldn't stick 70 boxes in the fridge so the main would need to be chilled/cooked then put in at the last minute. I'll need to have a good think of possiblities and how we could organise this. Failing that, back to the drawing board

MRSMCAWBER

Hi Mety
If you have freezer space jou could freeze individual cartons of juice the day before and then in the morning when you pack up the hampers put 1 in for each person, should keep food cold enough..plus everyone gets a nice cold drink...
if you do go for the hamper thing keep an eye out on places like woolies, asda etc as they usually reduce them down..when i got mine it was £7.50 and had funky coloured plates, bowls, cutlery n mugs....i have just given it away _typical...and it doesnt matter if you end up with lots of different styles...you could add tartan bows, little bunches of heather and probably get hold of tartan serviettes etc....
ooooh your getting me all excited... i love organising things :-)
plus you could either let each family keep the hamper...or clean them up and sell them on..and recoup some of your spends - being very money saving now :-)
jill

mety

Hello

Yes I'm starting to get quite excited by the idea now, I think this will take the most organising but should be possible with a little imagination and some creativity. We'd be happy to spend quite a bit on this but as a rough estimate I think it would be a quarter of what we would spend on proper catering and staff etc which is excellent. I'm going to do a bit more research now. I've already found tartan confetti so there should be plenty of accessories to tart things up. Obviously we won't be going completely overboard with the tartan. I like the heather idea and now I'm thinking about bouquets of thistles for the table rather than expensive flowers. It's actually beginning to be fun - maybe I'm still at the excitement stage :j

Thanks again, happy to hear your ideas! :T

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there...yep its me again :-)
if you cant do the bouquet of thistles....i had terracotta plant pots and suacers and we grew herbs in them,,they looked great, smelt stunning and we had no worries over any of the tots deciding to eat them...you could always tie a tartan bow around them.and the cost sooo little to do....the only thing is - i didnt get to keep one as the guests loved em and all wanted them, so we had people hiding them under chairs and all sorts...so your truely didnt get one !!!!
ooooh you have me at it again....have you any ideas for name places?..only i cross stitched mine and then my mum used the leftover fabric from the bridesmaids dresses to make them into napkin rings....you could sew them to tartan ribbon!!!and this was all 5 years ago....well before i became a money saver LOL.....
enjoy the fun....i loved all the planning...i had a blast, and was so chilled it was silly..mind you my mum used to be a seamstress so made the bridesmaid dresses and matching ties...and she also used to make weding cakes so she did that to....the bottom tier weighed nearly 4 1/2 stone LOL..and we had 3 tiers plus a sponge one.....and she did the flowers...oops probably explains why i was chilled LOL...good old mum!

Emms

Its not the best picture but its the best ive got of the thistle and rose arragement we had for our cake table. It was only £12 and absolutely lovely. Dont know where abouts in Scotland you are but we got it made up at the flower shop in Debenhams in Glasgow. I could have carried at as a bouquet it was that nice and looked lovely on the table.



Emma