Catering for 12 people - inspiration needed!

[Overwhelmedandoverworked]

I have 12 coming for early dinner (couple of weeks time) - but out all day before so something I can prep in advance. All I can think of is chilli or curry but there are 3 reasonably fussy children in the mix - any inspiration much appreciated

Lasagne? You could do one meat one and one veggie one.

But 'reasonably fussy children' - what does that mean? What do they not like?

Lasagne and garlic bread? If the children don't like lasagne you can keep some sauce back and they can have it with plain pasta?

If not too formal you could do a jacket potato bar and you could prepare various toppings eg salad, ham, tuna beans etc and just put a load of potatoes in the slow cooker in advance. Might be good for this hot weather to have a semi cold dinner.

Oh I would do a Mexican because you can have everything ready for when you get back. Do a big slow cooker of veggie chilli and an unspiced one for the kids. Prep guac, salads, grate cheese, have tacos and wraps ready to go and a big bowl of oven chips in the middle of the table as a safety net. Job done.

I like the Mexican buffet idea then the children can basically eat tortilla chips! Reasonably fussy = most things beige

Sausages can be cooked in advance and refrigerated. Just blast them in a pan for a few minutes.

Quiche and salad. With maybe a pizza for the DC.

Pulled pork

Burgers on the BBQ with home made slaw and brioche bun. Super easy

second vote for pulled pork - prepare everything in advance. have burger buns, a big green salad, a big dish of pork and some relishes. add in crisps / chips / maybe even baked beans for the kids. then all you need to do is reheat the pork before people arrive.