aprilz81
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Post by aprilz81 on Jul 20, 2017 15:33:38 GMT -6
DH's 40th Birthday is in September and we are throwing him a pretty big party with the theme being "May your 40th be with you". He is a huge Star Wars fan.
We are going to splurge with a nice cake (our wedding cake baker is most likely going to make this so it won't be a cheap one for sure). For the rest of the meal I'm thinking of doing a veggie tray, chips and dip (probably a potato chip/french onion dip and a hot dip of some sort) and then sandwich platters (mini sandwiches) from a grocery store deli as the entree. Possibly some fruit as a secondary dessert to the cake.
If everyone shows up we will be feeding about 60 people (lots of kids) and while I would love to do something more fancy I don't want to spend $1,000 on food. We even looked into Chipotle catering and while their prices are reasonable to feed 60 people it would be about $700.
The party will be at our house so I do have the space to prep more food, but I want to spend the day enjoying guests and not running around like a crazy person doing food prep.
Ideas are welcome!
ETA: The sandwich platters are "mini sandwiches"... Should I estimate 2 per guest?
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Post by rebeccabunch on Jul 20, 2017 15:46:01 GMT -6
Cute!
That is a lot of people! I would consider pizza or Italian beef sandwiches. There's a place that caters Italian beef by me that's excellent and cheaper than pizza. Not everyone may like that though.
Your party sounds great.
ETA I just saw that you found reasonable sandwiches. I misread that the sandwiches were $700! I would try hard not to make food. You said best, you want to be enjoying the party too. Plus you will be 20+weeks pg.
For us booze is always a big spend but that's not how everyone rolls
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aprilz81
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Post by aprilz81 on Jul 20, 2017 15:59:18 GMT -6
Cute! That is a lot of people! I would consider pizza or Italian beef sandwiches. There's a place that caters Italian beef by me that's excellent and cheaper than pizza. Not everyone may like that though. Your party sounds great. ETA I just saw that you found reasonable sandwiches. I misread that the sandwiches were $700! I would try hard not to make food. You said best, you want to be enjoying the party too. Plus you will be 20+weeks pg. For us booze is always a big spend but that's not how everyone rolls DH is into craft beer and so are a lot of our friends, so we will be getting some growlers or mini kegs for the adults. I'm sticking with some sort of lemonade/fruit punch for the kids and bottled water for anyone who wants it. So yeah, that will up the budget too, but I think the growlers will be cheaper than bottles. If I assume two mini sandwiches per person (some will have more some less) I can do sandwiches alone for less than $150 so not horrible considering we are estimating 60 people. It is way cheaper to do our own fruit and veggie trays and dips but that is easy to do the night before and I can also count on a few friends to come early and help and my parents will most likely be coming up and Mom is a work horse.  |
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Post by watermelonseed on Jul 20, 2017 17:15:39 GMT -6
Great theme! I think your menu sounds good. Is this the kind of thing guests or some guests would bring a dish to share to help with budget?
We have a really place yummy place around us that caters with huge pans of tasty Italian food. Such as chicken Marsala, sausage and peppers etc
I always vote to have a chunk of party food catered.
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snowyowl
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Post by snowyowl on Jul 20, 2017 18:02:20 GMT -6
The growlers sound like a good idea, but just throwing out an idea for a party I've gone to a few years in a row that is quite fun.
My parents have a party where everyone brings a six pack from a different country or state (they pick out of a hat and tell you your assignment). A fun way to ask people to BYOB? You could ask people to bring their favorite microbrew instead.
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teraiin
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Post by teraiin on Jul 20, 2017 18:03:11 GMT -6
I second the suggestion of seeing if you could get some platters of food from a restaurant for a reasonable cost. We have some places here that will do a decent tossed salad, ziti platter, and a loaf of Italian bread.
Some other suggestions is see if you can rummage up some crock pots and do pulled pork or chicken? Or Mac and cheese? That way you can get some extra food with minimal effort haha
I think it sounds like you have a really good start on planning!!
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aprilz81
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Post by aprilz81 on Jul 21, 2017 6:52:50 GMT -6
Thanks for the suggestions!
For casual get togethers I'm fine with BYOB/bring a snack but for something like this we would like to 100% host. I'll look into more restaurants, but feeding 60 people with a lot of kids in our home will be challenging. We are trying to borrow some folding tables and chairs from our church and if the weather is nice we can set those up outside and people can eat inside or outside. We have light colored carpet downstairs (granted I hate the carpet but replacing it will have to wait) so for a large group I'm also trying to avoid messy foods. Did I mention there will be a lot of kids there? lol
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Post by helloerrbody on Jul 21, 2017 7:43:19 GMT -6
I agree that for this type of party you should 100% host and not ask guests to bring food. I however think the #1 key to any good party is enough food and enough booze (much better to have leftovers than not enough), so I personally would budget for more than 2 sandwiches per guest. My husband would probably want 6 lol. Not joking.
You can also add more food for not much $$ by setting out flavored pretzels, M&Ms, goldfish for the kids, etc. Another easy addition would be meatballs in a crockpot.
I would also suggest having wine, too. Or at least let people know they can BYOB if they aren't into beer!
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pippiann
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Post by pippiann on Jul 21, 2017 17:47:56 GMT -6
Have you looked in to chick fil a? The last i remember their nugget trays being fairly inexpensive.
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aprilz81
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Post by aprilz81 on Jul 22, 2017 11:03:38 GMT -6
Have you looked in to chick fil a? The last i remember their nugget trays being fairly inexpensive. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Our closest one is about 20 minutes away (cries). I'll check prices, but I think by the time we get enough for 60 people we are going to be at/over the deli sandwich trays. |
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teraiin
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Post by teraiin on Jul 23, 2017 12:08:59 GMT -6
I agree that for this type of party you should 100% host and not ask guests to bring food. I however think the #1 key to any good party is enough food and enough booze (much better to have leftovers than not enough), so I personally would budget for more than 2 sandwiches per guest. My husband would probably want 6 lol. Not joking. You can also add more food for not much $$ by setting out flavored pretzels, M&Ms, goldfish for the kids, etc. Another easy addition would be meatballs in a crockpot. I would also suggest having wine, too. Or at least let people know they can BYOB if they aren't into beer! These are some good tips! Also DIY veggie or fruit trays as additional finger foods (if those haven't been mentioned), trail mix. I tend to follow be "way more food" policy and tbh if it's self stable stuff I don't open it until I need to and then return the extras haha |
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Post by benandjerrys on Jul 23, 2017 16:04:35 GMT -6
Popcorn and watermelon slices are easy, cheap hits with kids and also adults.
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