Does this sound like an okay party spread?

[bdaypartyfood]

Currently planning a surprise 30th birthday for my partner and catering it ourselves. It’s a family party so a mix of ages and some children there! Probably about 60-70 people coming.

I’ve never really done a buffet before but my current plan is this:

Ham sandwiches (1x platter)
Cheese sandwiches (1x platter)
Egg mayo sandwiches (1/2 platter)
Tuna sandwiches (1/2 platter)

Cherry Tomatoes (500g bag)
Celery
Carrots (1kg bag cut into sticks)
Cucumber (2 whole cucumbers)
Pepper (1 pack of 3 peppers)
All served with various dips

Mini sausage rolls (50)
Cocktail sausages (50)
Vegetable spring rolls (24)
quorn cocktail sausages (1 pack, only one vegetarian that I know of!)

Cheese & onion crisps
Sweet chilli crisps
Salted crisps
Tortilla chips
Onion ring crisps
(All one big share bag per flavour)

Chicken bites (72 pack)
Cheese pizza (x2)

Breadsticks (2 packs)
Coleslaw (1 pack)

Strawberries (2 packs)
Grapes (2 packs)
Watermelon (1)

Fairy cakes (24)
Mini flapjack (20)
Mini brownies (20)
Mini rolls (20)

Also doing some gluten free sandwiches and some gluten free cakes (only one person is wheat intolerant not coeliac so no cross contamination concerns)

Obviously a proper birthday cake as well!

Does this sound like a good spread of food? Too much or not enough?

Trying to stick to a budget where possible as the room hire was expensive!

Thanks in advance for advice!

🤮

I went to a 6 year old birthday party with about 12 kids and 12 adults - 4 platters of sandwiches - 95% finished. Essentially you're just providing loads of snacks.

What about a big tray of pasta ??

What time is the event? Is this timed as potentially replacement main meal or the equivalent of ' high tea' . Will guest have come on long journeys and not eat after lunch time?

If people arrive hungry and you plan to open the buffet table not long after arrival then you've probably not got enough. Allow for a round of sandwiches per adult person, cut into 4. 4 types of sandwich is probably enough. Crudités and dips on buffets are hit and miss. Half the guest wont touch these.. Allow for 50 %of guest having a serving of theses. Sausage rolls and scotch eggs and/or quiche slices, and pizza slices are enough savoury items and are reasonable filling if the size of each is not too tiny . If they are mouthful sizes as opposed to a normal serving double up... The frozen variety packs of Indian snacks are good for vegetarians, and others will eat these . Allow 2 to 3 of the savory option per person if they set i g size is reasonable. I would only do 2 favours of crisps and keep spare packets ready to top up. Kids are actually quite happy with the individual bags in multi packs.

Add salad garnishes and salad platters to prevent to overwhelming beigeness appearance of food

Cake options plus birthday cake, if that's going to be cut and self ex is fine., with fruit options..id go for melon and pineapple slices rather than grapes.

Make sure the veggie and gluten free food is on separate table or at least with large flags , as it's common for others headed to buffet first not to realise and pile these onto their plates.

Probably, yes. But the party in this post includes kids!

So you’d eat with your kids at 6pm even if they weee staying with a sitter and you were going to a party at 7pm where food was being served?

What's wrong with butties?

At 7pm at a party?

If you only have a budget of £200 for 70 people that's less than £3.00 a head. I would reword the invite to '' bring a bottle and 'nibbles will be provided' to make it clear the 'buffet' is not a proper meal. It's important to manage expectations especially if people have travelled from further away and r need to eat before they come.

I did a ceilidh party for 60 people a few years ago. My main budget went on live band in village hall. and I said ' 'a ploughman's platter tea would be served. I got large baguettes cut them into a decent serving, , slice of ham ( ham left off the veggie plates, and gluten free rolls for the 2 gluten intolerant guests) , cheddar cheese, pickle, cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices and lettuce leaf per individual plate . I didn't bother with crisps or dips or sausages . I used white paper plates and all the used plates went into bin liners at the end.

I bought soft drinks, and beers only. I served frozen supermarket gateaux on paper plates as dessert . All was eaten and I even got compliments on the ploughman's platters. No one complained about the ' lack.of choice' and it was much simpler to calculate and organise and clear up.

But at today's prices I reckon you have to pay £6.00 per person to do this.

Why not?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😆

I’ve used the Sainsbury’s buffet food before and it was great. Delivered the morning of the party and made things so much easier. Thought it was reasonably priced too

Wouldn’t appeal to me (and I suspect most)

Dressed up, evening party, dancing etc… and bacon butties on offer? Thanks but I’ll pass

Each to their own but I think most would like butties. Certainly most people I know would.

I would be curious what posts on this thread think….

Would you serve bacon butties at an evening bash starting at 7pm?

Yes, I would have a bit of a lighter meal than usual, unless it was specified that it was a dinner party. Which in this case it isn't. It maybe depends on your social circle but it's really not that unusual. The OP also seems to anticipate that guests would not be expecting a full meal.

I have seen them served at quite fancy wedding receptions around 11pm or midnight.

Yes but for those who are pissed to soak up the alcohol!

They will have had no doubt a formal sit down meal much earlier in the evening

completely different scenario

Yes. It’s fairly standard here, Scotland, late night bacon or sausage buttie.

Yes late night!

Not at 7pm at the start of an evening party

and the Op is doing the cooking… bacon butties for 70??

I would seriously ditch the egg and tuna sandwiches. The thought of the smell of them at a buffet would have me retching. Maybe some salad wraps with a nice spread inside? There is a huge amount of ham and sausages etc which also smell revolting and look sweaty so maybe mix that up with more fresh options? Grated Beetroot and hummus? Coronation chickpea with mango chutney?

Definitely add more crisps and some more savoury options - samosas etc.

Not really, given that one of the posters on that thread was talking about "an evening party, dressed up, dancing" and that it's fairly common at weddings to have evening guests who were not there for the sit down meal.

Yes at 11pm/midnight as you
said. Presumably the bride and groom have served something before then!

anyway logistically… the Op cooking >70 bacon baps??

I am a vegan, yet you sound like the sort of person I would be friends with. You and the poster who thinks the OP should allow 1.5 bottles of wine per person…

OP, for £200 I would do what others have suggested and serve sweet and savoury nibbles rather than trying to do a full buffet. Your options were fine to me (not overly imaginative, but you should absolutely serve what you think your guests will like!) but it was just nowhere near enough even with your updates. Plus, there’s all the issues of prep time/fridge space/logistics of transporting huge amounts of food to consider.

If you push it back to 8pm then that gives your guests time to have an early dinner before they arrive, just make it clear on the invite. I hope it all goes well!

I’d spend the £200 on enough booze for a welcome drink / toasting drink for everyone

and nibbles

but make clear on invite that nibbles

Haven't read everything, so apologies if this has been suggested already but have you tried contacting local butchers about a hog roast (you can have veggie sausages and gf roles for those that need them). Our local one comes out at between 200-250 depending on if you extras.
Much less stress.