Help - big family weekend away. Help me herd cats

[flibbertygibb]

We are having a big family weekend away at Easter in a huge house in the lakes. There will be 20 of us aged from 12 - 75, my mums and dad, my brothers and their families, and us. I'm the chief organiser but everyone else is happy to get involved and sort stuff out.
Can you help me with my plans? If you've done this before how did you organise meals etc. I want to go with a plan so it's not left to the same people to cook, clear up etc. I also fancy putting in an element of fun, maybe teams. We are massively competitive so this could go down well.
Our current thoughts are; take a curry up for the Friday night so it just needs heating up. We're travelling from all over the country so will arrive at different times. BBQ on the Saturday night, dinner out on Sunday.
We are staying in a beautiful house with lots of outdoor space so we'd like to use this rather than days out. Plus getting 20 people (lots of early 20 somethings who like to sleep) out of the door on time would be like herding cats. Have you done this before, when worked for you? Any ideas welcome? Thanks in advance x

Agree who (couple or small group) will be responsible for each meal (lunch / dinner) and broadly what it will be (curry, lasagne, chilli, pasta etc). Ideally they could bring the main components of those dishes pre prepped.

Then a supermarket delivery to arrive at the accommodation shortly after check in with stuff for breakfast, snack, drinks, desserts etc. Share the list in advance and ask for views and confirm contribution from each family.

Board games or communal jigsaw always good for staying in activities. Football, frisbee etc for using outdoor space?

Seems a shame to be in the lakes and not actually go anywhere. Are all adults happy with this? Will some want to go off and do their own thing?

Agree about the shopping delivery and also meal plan.

Are people happy to take turns? Is there is a dishwasher?

I'd probably plan breakfasts to be pastries / cereals or at a push bacon rolls. Making a full English for 20 sounds hideous.

Make lunch as easy as possible too. I'd go buffet style. Nice breads, dips, coleslaw and potato salads, meats, cheeses etc.

Lots of booze and treats.

Different age groups, but we've done a week with whole, big, extended family in a big old house in a beautiful rural area. DON'T DO IT 🤣🤣🤣 (half joking)

I think you may want to split up on occasion to go places or mooch around. So I wouldn't rule out days out or leisurely mornings in the house for those who want to.

Treats, board games, alcohol, books etc. It's only a weekend so it shouldn't be too bad. If everyone works during the week, they may just want to mooch and read books or go for walks - there are great hiking trails in the lakes and they don't have to be hard going.

Easter may not be that dry tbh, so maybe wouldn't plan to rely on bbqs or anything.

I like your idea of having teams for dinner and washing up etc. We did this too, but in an informal sort of way

We did something similar last year, staying in an old manor house with over 30 relatives. We made some rules.
No going in and out of bedrooms (especially kids) unless invited by the occupier.
One room - designated as the quiet room for people wanting to read, watch TV.
Big room - for the kids to run about in.

No standing about in the kitchen unless you were cooking or washing up.

Don't expect 30 people to want to do the same thing. The men just wanted a few beers and play cards, the teens were taken into the nearby town to look around the shops.

Spend about £50 on Amazon or appoint à games coordinator- sackrace egg and spoon beanbags quoits jenga etc.
Virtual Kitty

When we do an extended family holiday like this, each evening meal is delegated to a couple/ small group of adults to prepare taking into account everyone's dietary requirements (that's was one of the hardest bits), maybe go out all together one evening so no one has to cook. Otherwise, one person spends the whole holiday in the kitchen resentful of having to do all the cooking. Different people enjoy different things and some want to be up and out earlier than others, so there is no expectation for everyone to do the same thing during the day unless there is something everyone wants to do. Often it splits about half and half, maybe families with young children will do one thing and the others will do something else, or a group will head to the beach or wherever and others will join them later when they are ready. Breakfast and lunch is usually people help themselves when they are ready or make their own picnic or get some lunch while they are out rather than trying to all sit down for breakfast together at 8am, for example, when some people would rather still be asleep. Yes, to online supermarket delivery for the first evening. Get everyone to say what they want/ need and agree how the cost will be divided. We had a zoom meeting in advance to discuss food/ activities, but we were there for a week, you might not need that for a weekend.

We do this every year but stay in log cabins which works well as everyone has their own space. Around 30 of us but slightly younger age range (kids go from 2 to late teens). The log cabin side of things works well as everyone has own space. We usually do one thing out & about but it is optional. We do breakfast independently. Lunch is sandwiches or picky bits; dinner usually bbqs. We do a fancy dress one night although I appreciate that is not for everyone. We do kick abouts, kids take their bikes to ride around but there is also a playground & swimming pool onsite which helps.

We did this with 12 of us in the Lakes. One person brought things for breakfast (fancy pastries), juices, tea, coffee and milk, a couple of small packs of variety cereal packs (some of us brought our own porridge and fruit), first night we picked up a take away to reheat from www.google.co.uk/search?q=alexandros+carlisle&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari on the way we phoned ahead what we wanted a few days in advance. Second night we had outside caterers come in and cook a meal for us see here for details it was pricey but they laid the table and completely tidied the kitchen. The last night we had a pub meal which wasn’t brilliant. We took lots of alcohol and took some cakes, biscuits and crisps and the cottage provided a lovely hamper. During the day we did our own thing in family groups. It was lovely to come together at night but I wouldn’t have wanted 3 days of 24/7 of everyone. We split the costs and it was lovely.

Sorry here is the link to the outside caterers www.therowleyestates.com/service/guest-catering/ I think we went with a lady called Lynn or Lynne. But she also does a drop off menu.

Let people make their own plans during the days as different age groups will want different things. Plan to come tigers for breakfasts and evenings.

My big birthday , catering for 15 for a weekend. Curry for first night is a good idea. I did make your own pizza, bought bases, lots of toppings, pair off, make your own pizza, cook it ,eat it.

Breakfasts, cereal, juice, eggs, bread, bacon , mushrooms , tomatoes all available, cook your own.

Saturday lunch I told people they were on their own, go out, have fun.

Saturday I paid someone to come in and cook , serve and clear away a three course dinner .

Sunday booked tables at local pub, everyone paid for themselves.

I also made sure there were snacks, fruit, soft drinks, wine and beer available.

Sorry for the delayed reply, I'm at the in laws for dinner, I'll catch up properly later x

Have you been appointed the chief organiser or do you like doing it?
It’s often a thankless task. Plus you want to enjoy yourself too, you’re not just a facilitator of everyone else’s fun.
I would carve up the time, and get everyone to take responsibility for an element.
Everyone brings food, or have a kitty.
My experience of this sort of thing is that the women do all the work whilst the men sit around drinking. Make sure everyone is involved in the organising.

When I was part of something similar we had a pizza making evening. I made all of the dough up with the yeast earlier in the day. Early evening we set out bowls of tomato base, (bought bags)of grated cheese and a variety of toppings.

We all worked together around the large island in the holiday house, making our own pizzas. It was fab. Needed team work, chat and some sharing. Provided a meal too. It was a really relaxed time, giving us something to focus on as some of the DC's partners were new to the family.

Family still talk about it now.

We did this and each couple were given a particular mea to buy and cook for. If people weren't in couples then they were paired up.

These couples then went shopping beforehand and bought what they needed for their meal and the obviously cooked it when it was their meal.

One couple didn't do a meal but took responsibility for shopping for all those things you would share or don't want everyone to buy, ie milk, bread, biscuits, fruit, snacks etc.

Make sure you know how big the fridge is - no use ordering too much to fit in, oor taking loads prepped for day 2 if won't all fit. Are there any food allergies to take into account? Agree with batch cooking / prep as much as possible. Jacket potatoes with different topping choices and salad, chilli, spaghetti bol, pre made bases and add own pizza toppings as per pp, curry - all things that can be made in advance. Pasta bakes are easy to assemble and quick to cook. Just pre made pizzas of differing sorts and load of garlic bread / dough balls. Chicken drumsticks also not too bad to for a crowd - serve with potatoes salad/salad/coleslaw/rolls. Same with hot dogs or burgers in baps. Maybe check what size pans etc are in the house as if doing a load may need multiple pans for heating or pasta/rice/veg. . And make sure everyone puts into covering the cost of food and drink that is shared.. All adults bring own booze and snacks (can otherwise be expensive and people conveniently forget this).

Having done similar a few times, I've got some rules that I follow:

We book a supermarket delivery, that every can add what they want to.
Breakfast and lunch are self service. And self tidy. Have lots of bread and easy sandwich ingredients. Or things like pizza and bags of salad.
Only cook one meal that's communal and agree the menu ahead. Nominate jobs like veg prepping, laying the table, helping clear away and be very clear on who does what.

Otherwise you'll end up spending the entire weekend in the kitchen and very resentful that everyone else is having a whale of a time.

Breakfast and lunch are self service. And self tidy
I would suggest having a rota for tidying up/loading the dishwasher/putting stuff away, too, or it won't happen.

Its the Lakes
Plan for rain.

Cant you go for a walk? To do use its main feature of natural beauty seems bizarre.

If you just wanted a venue to be together the lakes is an odd choice. Difficult and expensive to get too with poor weather

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes I know it seems odd to go to the lakes and not go walking. We actually go up a couple of times a year for walking holidays. We've picked it this time because it's relatively central for everyone to get to.
I will definitely book an online shop for the Friday and get everyone to add to it for the basics. I also like the idea of everyone doing their own lunches.
I've also just contacted a chef to come and do dinner on the Sunday, it will probably be easier than going out.
I'm off to write notes now!