Bring a dish!?!

[narcASD]

its not AIBU but I just don’t know what the heck to bring! Any ideas? A party of family : friends around 25 adults, 8 kids.
I don’t have a signature dish, not a great cook and don’t want to turn up with a plate of sandwiches, the hosts are quite posh!

Homemade sausage rolls? Easy peasy to make and always goes down well.

I'd do a big oven dish full of bean chilli and a few bags of tortilla chips for scooping.

Tricolour salad. With good ingredients and brownies. Dead easy

Oh thank you some great ideas!

Cheeseboard? You can make it look fancy with grapes, figs, nice crackers

Fairy cakes dusted with icing sugar

Ask the host. What they don't need is 25 people bringing enough food for 25 people!

Is it lunch or dinner? Savory or sweet?

Make it easy to transport and easy to serve, and most of all easy to prepare.

My suggestion is a tray of cocktail sausages in honey and mustard dressing, and mini kebabs on a cocktail stick of feta cube, baby toms and olives.

Honey mustard cocktail sausages each with a toothpick stuck into it, served warm, always gets devoured.

@purplecorkheartafternoon around 2pm, she’s providing sweet, she’s asked to bring savoury.
my friend taking a spicy rice & chicken, smothered friend a Kale superfood salad (it’s really delicious), only thing I’m pretty good at making is curry but takes ages and want something less faffy

like that idea @wantom
hosts are not foodies at all 🤣

Pasta salad is nice with olives and tomatoes.

A good homemade coleslaw might be nice with spicy chicken and rice.

Personally I'd just buy a large lasagne and empty it into a dish of your own

Will the kids eat the spicy chicken and rice and superfood salad? If not I’d contribute some of the more beige stuff, or like people have said nibbles on sticks (cheese and pineapple may be sneered at but always gets devoured). If you want to be a bit snazzier last year I did mozzarella balls in a stick with half a cherry tomato and a basil leaf, with a small pot of balsamic to dunk in and they went an absolute storm. A bit faffy to thread and then you have to wrap and transport but very tasty and looks great.

Simple pasta salad, can be eaten warm or cold (creme fraiche, bacon, peas, asparagus).

Buy a lasagne or cottage pie etc from Cook

Samosas if you have a local Indian shop that sells in bulk (we buy 30 at a time for parties).

falafels, houmous, pitta bread, etc mezze board?

Roasted whole new potatoes. Cut a cross in the top and squish them up a bit, then put a dob of sour cream and a bit of bacon on each one. Sprinkle whole thing with chives and black pepper. Dead easy but looks a bit fancy and is delicious

Cheese straws on similar vein

Cheese board with crackers
lasagna
chili

Giant tray of pigs in blankets. Dead easy and they’re always the first to go.

I sometimes take the “there are bound to be some kids who are fussy eaters” and just take something like pasta pesto or pasta in a tomato sauce. And veg sticks, not mixed into salad. Or a whole roasted chicken (which I have then chopped up). Or offer to take “the breads” and take a couple of baguettes, a granary loaf & a sour dough or something.

@Nosleepforthismum what a great idea! They are the thing that my family always fight over on Christmas Day. The year before last I did about 30 (full size chipolatas) for six of us, gone in a flash.

Pesto pasta is always a hit.

Second the idea of pigs in blankets and also roast potatoes a pp mentioned