To spend £120 on a buffet for 16 people

[rainbowmagicunicorn]

We are hosting a New Years Buffet for 16 people (13 adults, 3 children)

This is my food plan:

Part bake rolls £4
Crackers £5
Cheese - cheddar, Brie, blue, Boursin, Wensleydale and cranberry £10
Chutney& cranberry sauce & apple sauce £4
Grapes, pomegranate, oranges £5
Slow cooker Gammon joint £10
Sausage rolls £3
pigs in blankets £5
pork pies £4

Sharing crisps £3
Cheese twists £1
Dips £2.50

Coleslaw £2.50
Potato salad £2.50
Nigellas festive cous cous £2.50

Puff pastry tarts - pesto and thinly sliced tomato, pizza (tomato purée, mozzarella and Italian herbs), caramelised onion and goats cheese:
3 x rolls puff pastry £4
Pesto £1
Tomatoes £1
Tomato purée £1
Mozzarella £2
Italian herbs £2
Canalised onion chutney £2
Goats cheese £2

Pudding
Slow cooker hot chocolate £6
With toppings - mini marshmallows, squirts cream, sprinkles, candy canes £5

Mince pies £2.50
Yule log (homemade) £5
Profiteroles £3
Fruit salad £10

Drinks
Selection soft drinks £10
Tea and coffee (will have in)

Total £120

£120 seems a lot, but yet the food doesn't seem excessive to me!

AIBU to spend this much? Or is this just the cost of things nowadays?

There is no time or format in the OP, hun. Just "New Year's Buffet" which could be a cocktail spread or a seated meal.

Sounds good but you are missing the obligatory cheese and pineapple hedgehog! A Christmas 'must' surely!

Oh hun, she even wrote her menu 😂

It sounds nice but I think you are putting to many options but not enough of each,all those cheeses for that £ means enough for 4/5 people .cut back on options and increase amount of what there will be.
Have a great party.

What are you missing here? She wrote her menu but she didn’t write that it’s all being served on the table at once vs portioned out throughout the day; we don’t know if it’s lunch, mid-afternoon or dinner; if guests are expecting a meal or to come after their own meal and have a snack; we don’t know if it’s stand-up (so baked potatoes don’t really work) or if she’s got a massive table. Etc etc etc.

All of which make a difference to tweaking the menu. If I’ve had lunch already, a few crisps and the occasional sausage roll at an afternoon party is fine. If I’m sitting down to dinner and there’s £3 of crisps between 16, not fine.

That’s incredibly cheap.

Seems like you've got a very bitty spread.
You dont need to do 16 portions of everything but some main items like the ham do need to serve everyone and I doubt a £10 ham would do. I assume you are getting very small amounts of cheese to spend only £10. Lidl do some lovely cheeses which are good value and tasty but I'd still spend more than £10.

think the puff pastry twists are a good idea but then you don't need cheese twists, same thing.

Slow cooker hot chocolate is a nice idea for the kids. I don't think it counts as dessert. How the hell is a £3 profiteroles stack going to go between 16? I think you need to go back to portion out how it's going to work. For example not everyone is going to want profiteroles but say 12 people do (Usually popular) and each wants 2 or 3 balls you are between 24 and 36 balls. How big is the stack? I see you've got a yule log. Maybe you don't need profiteroles but will the log serve 16?

Cost sounds OK to me, but I would simplify the menu and offer bigger quantities but less choice

I'd like to see some veg / healthier ptions too

But, your friends will enjoy whatever you're kind enough to offer. Have fun

Id also echo pp. Some nice dips with veg sticks to replace the porkpie, and cooked chicken i stead of gammon.
I think the price is very reasonable nd nice selection.

If you dont mind shopping around, maybe try Aldi or Lidl.
You can get 12 mincepies from aldi for £2.18. So thats a 82p saving on just 1 product. Theyre delicious too.
Aldi also do click and collect to save the hassle.
I did a big Asda order last week and most stuff was out of stock or substituted. Mac n cheese replaced with Lamb Moussaka anyone!?

What are you missing here? She wrote her menu but she didn’t write that it’s all being served on the table at once vs portioned out throughout the day; we don’t know if it’s lunch, mid-afternoon or dinner; if guests are expecting a meal or to come after their own meal and have a snack; we don’t know if it’s stand-up (so baked potatoes don’t really work) or if she’s got a massive table. Etc etc etc.

It is a buffet.

So we may assume all the savoury foods will be put out at once on one table, for people to help themselves. Puddings / desserts / fruit will probably be on a separate table or will replace the savoury food whenever appropriate. We also assume the food will all be consumed over a leisurely period of time - but not ‘throughout the day’.

Whether it is lunch, mid-afternoon or dinner makes no difference. A buffet indicates a meal, not a snack or party nibbles.

A buffet is always a stand-up affair.

@rainbowmagicunicorn sounds great! Agree I'd be a bit worried there's enough but I am also now thinking of filo pastry tarts! I may have to steal the goats cheese and caramelised onions ones for my party ! Yum

I think it’s clear the op isn’t used to hosting these numbers and doesn’t understand rhe cost of doing so. If you read that menu without seeing the price you’d say wow, that sounds fab, but when you see the cost you think oh dear, she’s signficantly under catering.

on the face of it you’d hear gammon, cous cous, coleslaw, sausage rolls, Pork pies, pastry tarts etc followed by a dessert of profiteroles, Yule log, mince pies etc followed by a cheese board with several different cheeses and think wow. Until you realise there isn’t enough to go round of anything.

Or get a quote from your local Indian takeaway for a biryaani (which is essentially a one pot meal) for 16 people. My sister did this for her 30th and she got a massive pan of biryaani which could have easily fed 30+ seconds. Then she went & bought a few bags of frozen kebabs, samosas and spring rolls. She made her own salads, yogurt dips and bought large desserts from cook. Easily done for £150. You could also roast your own drumsticks or ask the takeaway to provide chicken tandoori drumsticks. This will look more substantial than lots of teeny picky bits.

I host a Boxing Day party every year and have done for 12 years and I will tell you right now, the gammon needs to be bigger. Think of it as a centre piece. My gammon is what people come for and even if I spend £25 on it it still goes very quickly and I don't skimp on other food either.

Other big hits are fresh from the oven cheese bake. Kind of like a fondue with crackers and pate etc. And oddly (and some what old fashioned) people absurdly love vol au vents. Prawn seem to be the favourite but coronation chicken goes down well too. I didn't make them one year, I think it was 2015 and people STILL stand at the buffet table talking about that time when Glasshole almost ruined Boxing Day 🤷🏼‍♀️😲

I know Asda so know roughly how much of each thing you are getting. There's nowhere near enough food for a meal for 16.It would be fine as a snack buffet for later on after dinner, but it's not substantial enough for a meal. Then again posters are suggesting you serve a £5 chicken for 16, so maybe my portion sizes are too generous!

You’ve missed the joke, @Wiluli - the £5 chicken that feeds a family for a week is a MN legend. It used to be trotted out on every budgeting thread. Now only referred to in a spirit of extreme sarcasm and hilarity - as here.

Sounds good value op. £120 for 16 people?!

Nope.

Buffet doesn't necessarily equal "meal."
I've attended many a cocktail buffet that was mainly canapés and a cheeseboard.

We need more info about OP's intentions here.

@ZeldaWillTellYourFortune totally loving you doubling down on it. Everyone else is answering and you’re sat there telling folks off for doing so and demanding further info, even though the op has even responded agreeing she needs more food😂

I’ve no idea what a cocktail buffet is. And “We” don’t need more info. Only you do.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I've taken it all on board and changed my plans to:

Butchers - sliced gammon, beef and turkey for 16 people £35 (got quote this morning)

Bread (homemade) - 4 loaves £5
Baguettes (4) - £4

Cheddar £5
Brie £5

Egg mayo £5

Sauces - chutney, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, horseradish £5

Stuffing £1

Pigs in blankets £5
Chicken wings £5

Sharing crisps £5
Vegetable sticks - cucumber, carrot, peppers £5
Dips £2.50

Coleslaw £2.50
Potato salad £2.50
Nigellas festive cous cous £2.50

Pudding
Mince pies £4
Yule log (homemade) £5
Profiteroles £7.50
Selection fruits £10

Slow cooker hot chocolate £6
With toppings - mini marshmallows, squirts cream, sprinkles, candy canes £5 (I know a lot of people advised to get rid of this but I really think the kids will love it)

Selection soft drinks £10
Tea and coffee (will have in)

Paper plates, cups, cutlery and napkins £10

Total - £150

Slightly more expensive but I'm thinking a much better buffet.

To those who commented that they would be embarrassed to hold a party without providing alcohol, this is a mid-afternoon buffet on New Years Day, not a NYE celebration!

Since it's not at mealtime, and no booze will be served, this is plenty. Your guests will have a great time.

I'm sure it will be lovely, but the thought of any family event without even a glass of wine is chilling for many of us!

Ha fair enough! We aren't big drinkers so wouldn't expect to be drinking in the afternoon, after an evening of drinking the day before!

That seems a much better balance OP.
Just tell people to bring a bottle with them and you are all set.
Enjoy.

That seems much better I agree totally.

I get you’re not big drinkers but I don’t think you need to be a big drinker to have a glass of wine with lunch on New Year’s Day . I think I’d tell them to bring their own but try to stretch to a couple of bottles myself.