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Hello, my son was married early this summer out of state. We are having an informal wedding reception/picnic in a building at a park in our home town. The first problem is that we didn't request RSVPs so we don't have a specific number of people attending. However, the park is close to grocery stores so if we do run out we can fairly easily have someone buy food & drinks, but would rather not have that hassle. The second problem is that we are getting the food from two different places so we can't really rely on them to give us accurate amounts to buy.
Please help us decide what to buy for about 50 people for a buffet lunch. A number are vegetarian. If any of you have done this before please share your experiences. We are expecting that some people may come later just to socialize (as the picnic is like an "open house" scheduled for 4 hours).
At one store we are ordering
Fried Chicken (how many pieces should we order?)
Potato Salad (how many pounds?)
Some type of vegetarian cold pasta dish(how many pounds?)
We are also serving baked beans that we will buy & heat up (to make sure that they are vegetarian)(how many pounds?)
At Sam's club we are buying
Sheet cake (1/2 or whole?)
Large platter of 30 assorted cookies (should we buy 2?)
also a big tub or two of hummus and crackers (the bride & groom love hummus)
and maybe a relish tray and/or a fruit tray (what do you think?)
We checked with a third place and for fried chicken and three side dishes it was $20 a person (not counting anything else). This seemed a little too expensive
Is that enough of a variety of food? Hot chicken, two cold salads & hot baked beans (also hummas/chickpeas & crackers) plus dessert?
Our son also wants to buy chips and salsa just for snacks later. There is a kitchen there with a refigerator & microwave.
How much soda, beer & wine to buy? For this we would rather have extra than need to go and buy more.
I would do some cole slaw along with the potato salad. Another food choice for the vegetarians and it goes really well with fried chicken.
Also I'd consider buying a smaller quantity (sorry I can't help with numbers) of the main dish stuff, and doing a few appetizers, which you could also buy premade if you want. I'm thinking 7-layer dip with the tortilla chips and/or veggies for dipping, something like that. Then there is the easiest appetizer in the world, which I never tried until I moved to Texas.. a block of cream cheese with a sweet & spicy jelly over top (jalapeno, raspberry-chipotle, etc). It's best with triscuits.
I would definitely do a whole sheet cake.
It's been a while since I've done any cooking for that many people, so I'm a bit rusty with the amounts, but I would talk to whomever is preparing the foods (caterer, grocery store,whatever) and ask their suggested guidelines. I would just tell them that I was preparing some other things as well, so there will be more food than just what they are providing.
Debsi is right about the cream cheese thing. We do it all the time. Easiest appetizer ever. My niece does it with bread and butter jalapenos. It's delicious, but I have a hard time finding them, so I usually use raspberry chipotle sauce on top. I've also done it with pineapple habenero preserves.
Hello, my son was married early this summer out of state. We are having an informal wedding reception/picnic in a building at a park in our home town. The first problem is that we didn't request RSVPs so we don't have a specific number of people attending. However, the park is close to grocery stores so if we do run out we can fairly easily have someone buy food & drinks, but would rather not have that hassle. The second problem is that we are getting the food from two different places so we can't really rely on them to give us accurate amounts to buy.
Please help us decide what to buy for about 50 people for a buffet lunch. A number are vegetarian. If any of you have done this before please share your experiences. We are expecting that some people may come later just to socialize (as the picnic is like an "open house" scheduled for 4 hours).
At one store we are ordering
Fried Chicken (how many pieces should we order?)
Potato Salad (how many pounds?)
Some type of vegetarian cold pasta dish(how many pounds?)
We are also serving baked beans that we will buy & heat up (to make sure that they are vegetarian)(how many pounds?)
At Sam's club we are buying
Sheet cake (1/2 or whole?)
Large platter of 30 assorted cookies (should we buy 2?)
also a big tub or two of hummus and crackers (the bride & groom love hummus)
and maybe a relish tray and/or a fruit tray (what do you think?)
We checked with a third place and for fried chicken and three side dishes it was $20 a person (not counting anything else). This seemed a little too expensive
Is that enough of a variety of food? Hot chicken, two cold salads & hot baked beans (also hummas/chickpeas & crackers) plus dessert?
Our son also wants to buy chips and salsa just for snacks later. There is a kitchen there with a refigerator & microwave.
How much soda, beer & wine to buy? For this we would rather have extra than need to go and buy more.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
You need to get on the phone and find out how many people are actually planning to come. Yes, it will be very time consuming but if you don't do it there is no possible way to predict how much food you will need. I would also tell them that luncheon will be served at ______, followed by a reception afterwards. Right now, your guests have no idea of what to expect. A four hour time frame suggests light snacks at best. Some may have lunch before they come. Right now, you have a big mess.
If you can't reach a significant number of guests cancel the event on some pretext and have another later with proper planning.
You need to get on the phone and find out how many people are actually planning to come. Yes, it will be very time consuming but if you don't do it there is no possible way to predict how much food you will need. I would also tell them that luncheon will be served at ______, followed by a reception afterwards. Right now, your guests have no idea of what to expect. A four hour time frame suggests light snacks at best. Some may have lunch before they come. Right now, you have a big mess.
If you can't reach a significant number of guests cancel the event on some pretext and have another later with proper planning.
My son had the picnic information on their wedding website, on Facebook and sent out a few emails to his friends. It said that lunch would be at noon. I sent out emails to our relatives and friends so I have a headcount of at least 25 for lunch (they RSVPed). My son predicts 25 of his friends would come.
It's the new electronic generation. They even sent out email wedding invitations (I insisted on REAL paper invitations to all the relatives & older people). He was only going to put it on Facebook but I insisted that he send out a few reminder emails. I'll have him do some calling to see if he can get a better idea of numbers.
We can't possibly cancel, son and his wife, MIL & FIL have spent almost $3,000 on plane tickets and relatives are coming in from several states.
So we just have to deal with the information that we have.
It will be fine, don't cancel. Unless you want to spend a fortune, I'd forget chicken....unless you have friends that will help prepare it in order to save a bit. I do not like buying chicken take out, too spendy for what you get. And for 20.00 person you could have a feast if you prepared it yourself. Sam's has lots of frozen ready to heat type appetizers. I might have those large subways, or slice roast beef and turkey w/ sandwich fixins....and a variety of large salads for the vegetarians, the humus, the chips and dips....keep it simple enough that you can relax and enjoy it. Another thing I've seen for vegetarians is a baked potato bar. Have large tubs filled w/ soft drinks, waters. Paper napkins, plates, table clothes...Party store or Dollar store prices for these. Have fun!
It will be fine, don't cancel. Unless you want to spend a fortune, I'd forget chicken....unless you have friends that will help prepare it in order to save a bit. I do not like buying chicken take out, too spendy for what you get. And for 20.00 person you could have a feast if you prepared it yourself. Sam's has lots of frozen ready to heat type appetizers. I might have those large subways, or slice roast beef and turkey w/ sandwich fixins....and a variety of large salads for the vegetarians, the humus, the chips and dips....keep it simple enough that you can relax and enjoy it. Another thing I've seen for vegetarians is a baked potato bar. Have large tubs filled w/ soft drinks, waters. Paper napkins, plates, table clothes...Party store or Dollar store prices for these. Have fun!
We hope that it ends up less than $20 a person (that is what one catering place quoted for just chicken and side dishes & nothing else). Although, if you add the park building rental of $250 the total will end up pretty high, but that is OK if everyone has enough to eat & drink and have fun. I'm shooting for simple.
Thanks for the ideas. They are all helpful. I had forgotten that we need to borrow coolers for soft drinks & water.
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