Your best Party Food Ideas please!

[CrystalMethHog]

It's my mams 60th next weekend and my sister and I decided we would throw her a surprise party to celebrate!

We wanted to keep costs down so I said I would do the food, nothing special, just a buffet. We were anticipating 30-40 people.... 72 have rsvp'd so far

So lovely mners... what would you expect to see on a cold food buffet? What food would go down well?

TIA

Is it a night time party or afternoon?

If it's nighttime you could just go with 'table snacks' rather than a buffet and put out some nice nibbles on each table. Or if you want to go big but cheap try and stick to stuff you can make yourselves like sandwiches or sausage rolls. Maybe a ploughman's supper? If it's afternoon you could get aways with cream teas for everyone maybe? Could you ask family members / close friends to bring something along?

I would expect to see a variety of sandwiches (on different bread types eg white, seeded, mini rolls etc, just so they don't look all the same, and including at least one veggie option), crisps, sausage rolls, quiche slices, veggies with dips, cocktail sausages, pork pie, fruit platter and a cheeseboard with crackers and grapes. That is probably a bit "beige," but I think is popular! also mini cakes.
I would also have a look at the party food platters from M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury's etc and see what they offer - you can probably replicate this at a much cheaper price!

I wouldn't do sandwiches at all, far too time consuming to make, especially for 70 people.
I'd do things like, sausage rolls, cooked sausages in honey & mustard or BBQ sauce, cheese board, chicken drumsticks, platter of hams and salami, pork pie, a couple of salads such as coleslaw and rice salad.

A lot of the guests will be relatives, maybe ask them to each bring something for the buffet?
Buy ready made as much as possible unless you are a dab hand at rough puff pastry! Somewhere such as Costco would be a great place to shop.

Cooked pasta mayo cucumber and peppers

Breadsticks and dips

Meat platter of ham and chicken rolled up

Cheese platter and crackers

Fruit salad

Cakes / biscuits

Breads, dips, samosas, spring rolls, veg sticks, cooked sausages in honey & mustard or BBQ sauce, cheese board, chicken drumsticks, platter of hams and salami.

Timing makes a difference though.

These are great thank you!

I'm in two minds about sandwiches.

It starts at 7pm

Wraps are sometimes better than sandwiches, don’t try out as quickly.
Things on skewers always good, chicken tieka pieces, cherry tomatoes with basil and mozerella, fig and blue cheese, mango and prawns.
Crudités and dips with toasted pita strips and breadsticks.