To not do food for party

[ttctimeforme]

If you went to an party in the evening at a venue, around 7:30pm onwards.. would you expect food to be provided?

Pizza will be easiest but make sure you preorder in enough time with the shop and they will probably offer you a deal for a mass order.

You can't leave food out all afternoon but from working in kitchens I can tell you that food, I've removed from the refrigerator, needed to be consumed within 4 hours or we threw it in the bin. So you have a decent window of time. This really isn't a big drama , you can easily achieve it op 😁. With family nuggets, using in date food, I would extend it to 6 hours as that's still a small window and your family aren't going to sue you .

OK. Having done or been to quite a few surprise parties (including one of my own), here's my thoughts.

1. Yes to food. Definitely.
2. We catered for 100 guests for my mum's 80th surprise party. If you're making food yourself don't bother with sandwiches. They are the devil's own to keep together and always end up smooshed on the floors. Bought ones are different for some reason.
3. So, if you're catering yourself, finger food - cocktail sausages, pork pies (mini ones cut in half), sausage rolls (don't forget the vegetarians/vegans), quiche cut into small chunks (couple of bites to eat it), chicken drumsticks baguettes or cut 'nice' bread (artisan types) - put damp kitchen towel sheets over them then seal with cling film, stays fresh for hours. Make sure the kitchen towel is damp, not dripping, well wrung out. Same for things like cucumber that shrivels up after an hour or so. Think food that you can eat without a fork. You can add coleslaw, some salad, pasta/potato salad that you can eat with a fork of course. Just not stuff you've got to cut up unless everyone can get a seat to eat. Add in some small cakes and you're done.
4. At my sister's surprise party the catering team did pizza. That and the chicken drumsticks were the quickest thing to go. But...if you order in are you going to be watch checking to make sure it arrives on time? You don't want it at 7.30pm as that would spoil the surprise, so are you going to be edgy until it arrives later? If so, choose something else. Surprise parties are 'edgy' making as it is!
5. Has the venue got a fridge? Can you use it? If so a quick pick up of above finger food, pop them on the larger platters - M&S and Waitrose put theirs on black platters if I remember back to work things we've organised.
6. Then you can rope people in to put the food out when the time is right. You're not serving it immediately - stick some crisps, olives, nibbles on the tables while they wait. If you have it out when people arrive you'll have either a) people at the buffet as the guest of honour arrives or b) nothing left for the guest of honour!
7. It's not a problem to have a pay bar. Probably nice to let them know there is one. We've put money behind the bar in the past - one venue had a good idea and supplied us with a ticket for a free drink for each quest. We then just paid the bill for x number of drinks at the end. You can do something similar and make it a free wine/beer/soft drink then pay as you go.

So by your logic unless you have loads of money you’re not entitled to celebrate your birthday with all your friends and family, you must choose just a few. Nice.

But OP back to your post, as I know it’s not about budget but more logistics, I think in your position I’d find a venue that could offer catering. I can’t believe though that there are no outside catering companies in the area, is it in the middle of nowhere? If you have friends and relatives living near the venue could you ask them to help source a caterer by asking around?

It’s not really a party if there’s no food, it’s just a meeting. Although I’ve been to meetings that have at least provided food. Food is pretty important at a party or you’ll be labelled a terrible host. 🫤

Asda Sainsbury's etc do platters of sandwiches

@ttctimeforme I enjoy meeting up with friends for going out for food and drinks, but then that's not a party just a night out.

@ShillyShallySherbet it is a bit in the middle of no where, not a big town at all. There's no where to get married here etc, if you was to get married you'd have to go further afield.

I'm thinking of going with the Morrisons sandwich platters etc as then I can collect as late as 4pm and they can keep refrigerated until then.

Then I'll ask a family member to arrive slightly before we do and set that all up for me. I just hate putting people out so don't want to ask someone to make all the sandwiches for me etc. even though they would probably be more than happy to. Usually I do this stuff myself but living with the person who's surprise party it is, this won't be possible.

This thread is hilarious. OP how dare you throw a party with only 30-40 guests for a loved one and have no food, drink, entertainment or decorations? 😂

I'm not sure why so many people have made the assumption that there won't be drink, entertainment or decorations! It's a venue with a bar so why would there be no drink.

You conceded in the first couple of pages that yes you needed to do food so I'm not sure why you're getting so much hate!

Most charcuterie is bacteriostatic due to the curing process and high salt content so will be fine left out for the full afternoon as long as it’s covered/wrapped. Cheese is also going to be fine, but again, leave it wrapped. Stick with pasteurised cheese too. Ideally, leave in packaging and you could store in cool boxes if you’re worried. However, these foods taste better/are more palatable at ambient anyway.
The pp was right about the 4 hour window but this is a legal requirement for commercial operations only and is because after this time microbes grow exponentially.
Sandwiches and other high risk foods absolutely shouldn’t be left out, but cheese, charcuterie and bread you’d be completely fine with. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about here.

I can't imagine that anyone would have eaten their evening meal early enough to get to a party for 7.30, and I'm amazed that you weren't planning on providing a buffet.

@sparepantsandtoothbrush well obviously there will be no drink as I have now emailed the venue and cancelled the bar staff. Everyone can dehydrate. I don't want them to have too much fun. I've also thrown all the decorations in the bin 😄

I would expect there to be food and I would provide food at a party starting at 7:30pm.

I do not think I would expect a paid for bar though. Although this is a nice thing for people to do and some would say it’s a “must” I personally would not be insulted if I went to a party where I had to pay for my own alcohol. In fact I have been to many parties and events where I have paid for my own drinks.

We had a small ceremony for our wedding day (under 30 people) and after our ceremony we laid out snacks that didn’t need to be refrigerated (the place didn’t have one). We had crisps, breadsticks, nuts, dips, cheeses, cakes, biscuits, fruit salad, buttered rolls etc. So nibbles could be a good option to go for if you do not want to provide a full buffet or dinner. We did have a roast dinner after at the afternoon/evening venue and a buffet in the evening but this was an all day wedding.

Brilliant. You're a woman who gets shit done 😂

No. It wouldn’t be sufficient.

You’re inviting people at 7.30pm - that’s a dinner invitation. I would expect this to be a dinner party. I would judge you if you put out a few doughnuts and would ask you when you’re serving dinner.

Your event sounds really trashy. I don’t understand why you’re abusing people.

You want people to travel to an event and not feed them or give them drinks. Utterly awful.

@Intrepidescape abusing people 😂

What's this nonsense in aid of? You're the one incapable of organising a party, why act like a tit when people are giving you the advice you've asked for?

To be fair @Johnnysgirl that post you quoted is really funny

@ttctimeforme honestly this thread has gone a bit bonkers, you’ve taken on board the advice given and I’ve no idea why people are bring nasty and saying you’re incapable of organising a party. You simply asked a perfectly reasonable question, I’ve been to parties at that time of night where there was a bar and no buffet, as I said upthread, just cake. I made sure I ate before the party and had a lovely time. But if budget is not an issue then I think on balance it is nice to feed your guests. Hope you have a lovely time.

Sounds perfect. Enjoy your party

@ShillyShallySherbet thank you and thank you as well for your responses to the thread as they've been really helpful. We obviously move in very different circles to some who have responded but I feel we know what's actually important in life ☺️

@BertaHoon I don't think many guests would choose to eat cold pizza

If you do go for takeaway - look up the local takeaways first and check that your options will be ok with an order for 40 people. You shouldn't need to order it in advance, but letting them know can prevent disaster!