OK, so I was stupid enough to agree to do the catering for DD's christening ourselves........HELP!

[MrsTittleMouse]

We're having DD christened, and then a party afterwards. My Mum decided that it would be better to do the catering ourselves, even though we know that 60-70 people will be at the party. Most will be adults, but there will be children aged 0-6 too. How do I decide how much food to have? What sort of food do you offer for 6 year olds? Should we have some games on offer for the little ones (who will get very bored at hanging around the adults who are chatting and admiring DD (I hope!))?
Please help!

[MrsBadger]

madness
Waitrose Entertaining

[MrsTittleMouse]

Wow, that looks amazing!
My Mum has decided that "we'll do a better job ourselves", apparently because she thinks that the caterers at my grandfather's funeral weren't very good ("but don't tell your father"). Obviously it was my Dad who organised the catering for the funeral.
ARGH!!!!!
Personally, I think that there are probably more caterers in the world , but she won't be moved (and is paying a third of the cost, so unfortunately has a say).

[ADragonIs4LifeNotJustHalloween]

You can get catered stuff from Tescos (and, I think, Sainsbury's), too.

[MrsBadger]

the thing is it's not actually getting caterers in, the food just arrives in boxes and you do the rest
get a brochure and see if you can tempt her

or M&S do similar

[lilospell]

Do you want finger food, or will people be able to sit down with knife and fork? Either way, as Mrs B suggests, there are ways of minimising the amount of work you have to do yourself. Will post more once I know what you have in mind. Do you, or any of your friends, have a Costco card?
We had our DCs christened together and combined it with DS's 5th birthday party. We had a clown to entertain the children for an hour or so. Increased the expense, but then we were saving by combining 2 christenings and a bd party, and it really did mean the adults could enjoy being child-free for a while.

[yummybunnymummy]

hi, what time is the christening? We decided to do all the cooking ourselves and it was getting really out of hand, so we just did afternoon tea (loads of yummy homemade and shop brought cakes and scones) we had bread sticks and veggie sticks for the kids to also nibble on and I also took a play tent, tunnel and a stereo which we put in one corner of the hall to help keep the kiddies amused.

we had a brilliant day..

[MrsTittleMouse]

It needs to be finger food, as there isn't enough space in the church for 70 people to all sit down at once for a meal.
Why do I get myself into these things?
I like the idea of getting the supermarket to do as much as possible though. How much notice do they generally need? Has anyone done this and found it reasonable/expensive? I need Mum-convincing time built into the plan, so I don't have much time left!
The church has a load of toys that they'll let us use for entertainment purposes. I think that older children will get a bit bored still though (toys are for pre-schoolers to be entertained in creche during services normally).

[ChippyMinton]

Was going to say the same as Mrs B - waitrose catering is fab. They deliver it to your door at the time you specify and lend you wine/fizz glasses too.

We ordered:
cold meat joints - beef and ham - which come sliced if you request it, so easy to put on a platter
tabbouleh salad
coleslaw salad

and supplemented it with french bread, big chunks of cheese, a box of crackers,pickles & mustards, green salad and cherry tomatoes. This time of year i might do an ovenful of baked potatoes too.

Someone brought a fruit salad, bought a couple of pavlovas and tubs of ice cream, cones and flakes for DIY cornets.

The children seemed to manage to find something to eat from that lot.

The beauty of this is that there is nothing much to prepare, it can all be ready and waiting when you get back from church.

[heifer]

I did the food for our DD christening, also had around 60 people back at our house.

It wasn't that much trouble to be honest, although I do love to do these things normally.

I did a buffet and had the following.

Cold Salmon steaks cut up (cooked in foil with a little olive oil and some fennel)

Cold Ham Joint sliced

Mini Beef and Yorshire puddings link here, they went down really well

Mini Chicken Pies (can't find recipe but had peas and creme frais in)

Samosas (friend made)

Cous Couse
Greek Salad
Summery Potato Salad
Roasted Tomatoes
Baguette

Then puddings, such as triffle, and christening cake.

I did all the work beforehand, and even laid it all out on the table covered in foil before going to the church, so only had to remove foil when I came home, that way I could join in with the chat etc.

All the children played in the garden and over the road in the field so I didn't have to worry about games etc, but I did buy one of these for each child to use during the service

[ChippyMinton]

Just seen your last post about finger food. That's a shame because i think a proper meal works out cheaper than bits and pieces. We have had the waitrose sandwich platters for other parties, which were good, and added bowls of crisps, dips & crudite, mini scotch eggs and small cakes and biscuits.

[DoomNGloom]

So if you are actually doing the catering yourself, rather than ordering from Waitrose or getting caterers in to do the job, how much of this will be YOUR work on your DDs Christening Day, and how much of the work will your MUM do, seeing as it is her idea?

I dont think paying some 33% of costs give her the final say in how you do it, You still pay nearly 70% of costs, and get more work on top.

[DoomNGloom]

Am I still wearing this name?

[Sunshinecursedmummy]

OK we didn't cater our own christening, but had it in a bar. One thing I would suggest, that worked for us, is that you set up some kind of creche area. We took a load of DS's toys down, plus paper and crayons and books etc. so that the kids would have something to do while everyone else was chatting/drinking. It went down really well as people were able to be part of the party while watching their kids enjoy themsleves.

[lilospell]

There are lots of things which aren't finger food which people can eat with just a fork, even if standing up - eg most of Heifer's suggestions. I quite often do coronation chicken, tho did a November party once and bought a frozen turkey which worked out very reasonable. Cooked it, took it off the bone and chopped, mix mayonaise with yoghurt and curry sauce. Salmon cut into little triangles before cooking. Pasta/couscous/potato/bean salad/green salad. Coleslaw - homemade v. cheap but also not too expensive to buy. Bowls of cherry tomatoes. Meatballs, mini sausages. Cheese and biscuits. Buy in sandwiches of you think they'd be better for the children and you don't have time to make.
Costco well worth going to for puddings - chocolate gateau, apple pies, carrot cake etc extremely reasonable (from the baker's counter rather than frozen). They also do quiches and lots of nibbly stuff in the freezer dept and things like meat balls/salmon fillets etc on the chiller cabinet.

[MrsTittleMouse]

To be fair to Mum, she assumes that she will do a chunk of the work, and a good friend of hers has offered to help out on the day. I just find it strange that on the basis of one catering firm doing one meal that she wasn't too fond of, that she's decided this. To be honest, I thought that they were fine, which makes me concerned about how high her standards will be!
It occurs to me that if I can persuade her to do "catering-lite" with a supermarket then they'll have a good idea of numbers/quantities. Just hope that she would trust Waitrose/M+S etc to do decent food....

[JemF]

If you have a Subway close by they do a platter of different rolls, very yummy.