Catering advice

[mfms]

Hi,

Preparing my two DS's christening, they're nursery age.

There's around 40 confirmed guests but possibly more.

Does anyone have any advice for catering this myself? I would do a cold finger food buffet, suitable for children.

Does anyone think this is going to be horrendous? I'm not a caterer, I'm just super skint!

I have a popcorn machine, bouncy castle and candy floss machine for kids booked.

Or should I just hire someone? I'm funding it all myself and I'm a student so I was hoping doing it myself would be cheaper.

If I'm horribly wrong please let me know.

Thanks!!! 😊

Absolutely nothing wrong with a cold buffet, its the cheapest way to do it. Plenty of sandwiches, quiche, chicken drumsticks, sausage rolls, chicken bits, crisps, cheese and crackers etc! Dips with crudités is good as well.

People are there to celebrate your baby and be with friends and family, not out for a slap up meal.

You could even ask people to bring something to share.

If you are on a tight budget you could make rolls or sandwiches, cream cheese and cucumber / ham and tomato.

Buy bags of frozen sausages and roast them in the oven with a glaze of honey (or brown sugar). Tomato sauce and mustard. Cut in half and put on cocktail sticks.

Thanks everyone I've been having a panic

An I between option is to order some platters from somewhere like M&S. more expensive than doing your own but not as expensive as paying a caterer. Or you could just browse them and try to replicate on a budget. I would be more than happy with a plate of sausage rolls, crisps, salad etc

Or you could roast a shoulder of pork/lamb, couple of chickens or a brisket/topside of beef, whatever is cheapest. Low, slow until it falls apart. Pull apart and store until needed. Remove from the fridge in plenty of time to come to room temperature. Lots of rolls, salad, nice chutneys etc.

Set the table the night before then you only have to put the food on the table in the morning.

Count your serving spoons and tongs.

If you have a few children coming, have a plan for spills, messes etc to help suddenly stressed mums. Extra towels in the bathroom etc.

Gosh, sorry. It’s a zombie. @mfms I hope you had a lovely day.