What food shall I serve at 80s party

[MagentaRocks]

Planning a post lockdown 80s party at mine. Probably over 50 guests. Going to be a BBQ and buffet. Trying to think of typical food from the 1980s. So far I have
Vol au vents
Cocktail sausages on sticks
Sausage rolls
Cheese and pineapple hedgehog
Sandwiches (cheese, ham etc)
Carrot sticks and dips
Monster munch
Space raiders
Fruit salads and black jacks
Dib daps
Wham bars
Cupcakes with 80s theme (rainbow cases, 80s toppers)

There will be burgers etc for the BBQ part. I have so many decorations - it will look amazing and a very long 80s playlist.

Can you think of any other typical 80s buffet food I can serve?

I went to quite a few parties in the '80s. We would have things like -
Meat platter
Baguettes
Different salads
Cocktail sausages/party eggs/sausage rolls
Cheese board
Vol au vents
Crisps/peanuts
Pizzas

For a hot buffet it would be something like curry or chilli.

A lot of the things people have listed would only be served at a kids tea party.

@daysofthunder what!! Cremona foam is back?

Wonder if you can get that delivered to England.. toddles off to Google

I don't really remember what I ate, but 20 B&H and Sex on the Beach cocktails were what I lived on

I've been to gatherings as recent as the other year where the dreaded cheese, pineapple and pickled onion hedgehog makes an appearance, also vol au vents alongside the Indian snack selection, crisps, sandwiches. The previous are both rooted in the 70s aren't they? They're just forever linked with buffets/party food which is why people are suggesting them as they'd have had them (or seen them) in the 80s.
The party sounds great either way.

Did hosts provide free cigarettes - displayed in a brandy glass?

Everything beige and creamy - loads of horrid pastry stuff - vol a vonts, pies, sausage rolls, quiche and then gross “salads” smothered in mayo - potato salad, coleslaw, Waldorf......followed by chemical desserts - mouses, Costco style cakes,

to cut a REALLY long story short - a man i know wanted to know what the vegetarian thing was in a restaurant. he was told they'd sold out and he said "i'll pretend i'm in the 80s and have to have just chips then"

it REALLY made me laugh.

oooh and i LOVE the free fags thing!
and a big marble ashtray with a matching lighter.

My mum used to do a good line in animal-shaped food at any parties we had in the 80s - pink blancmange set in a rabbit mold surrounded by lime jelly and a fish mold filled with salmon mousse.
Cheese & pineapple hedgehog is a must have, cheap cocktail sausages, vol au vents filled with prawns and Marie Rose sauce, egg mayo or mushrooms in cream of mushroom soup (I think), cucumber sandwiches, party rings, jelly & ice cream. I really want an 80s party now!

@cigarettesanddisappointment Exactly the same mould my mum had. God, it takes me back!

Love this thread and most of my ideas have already been mentioned (another vote for cheese and pineapple on sticks/hedgehog, French bread pizzas, coronation chicken and plainish peanuts)
Also maybe a Sherry trifle in a cut glass bowl with hundreds and thousands on the top?
Candied jelly orange and lemon slices and lots of glacé cherries everywhere and on everything too!!
It sounds so much fun OP, enjoy

a lot of this featured in 60s/70s parties. Parties in the 80s were lots of garlic bread/goulash/chilli/curry
we did bruschetta and pizzas as well

That pink rabbit blancmange really doesn’t look appetising at all - like it’s been skinned alive !

Even if some of the things suggested were originally 60,s and 70,s buffet stuff,clearly some of us remember them from the 80,s so they were featured at 80,s buffets often.

So, those people moved on to 80’s food in the 90’s then? Slow adopters? Obviously there were always people like this, my grandparents were great examples. They died in the 80’s but no way did they eat or have ‘modern food’ at a do. Nope, all 60/70’s hangover for them. They honestly believed moving in from the 50’s was progressive. So, it’s really whether OP is going for food that was ‘80’s food’ or food that some people still stuck in 60/70’s ate in the 80’s.

My vote is for the creamy yellow chicken curry. Every single party I went to in the 80’s had this. Quiche was big as well. Nothing went together as far as good matching went, it was odd. Wine that would now be deemed cheap and undrinkable.

My memory of the 80s was similar to @PinkTonic. Lots of cheese boards, with strawberries and grapes.

There was also a time when every dinner party you went to featured a chocolate tart from Delia. It was so popular that supermarkets started selling liquid glucose, which was one of the ingredients.

I agree with the posters that we have a lot of things from the 60s and 70s. I still do devils on horseback and they always go down a storm. Wrap a bit of streaky bacon round a prune, secure with a toothpick and bake in the oven till the bacon is crisp.

Bacon and avocado sandwiches.
Nik Naks crisps

Garlic bread
Chicken kiev - the mini ones would be good for a buffet these days.

@Sssloou I don't think it was an 80's thing, but certainly my duncle still did that in the 80's. He could also mix a martini that blew your socks right off.

French bread pizza
Pop tarts