Dinner party for 16?

[teenyweenytadpole]

I want to do a fairly posh dinner for 16 people for a celebration - so nothing like chilli or lasagne but not an unlimited budget either. I was thinking canapes (bought), then something like pate, then a main course I can cook ahead (beef bourgignon maybe?) and then for pudding something like bought lemon and chocolate tarts with raspberries. What do you think? Any ideas for how to make catering for this number easy?? I can cook, but tend to get messy/flustered! Other option is Waitrose type entertaining food but it looks quite £££ for what it is.All ideas welcome! Thanks.

For my last posh dinner we had:

canapes (I made mine, tasty bits on crostini, but you could buy)
Chestnut and sage soup - made in advance, reheated at last minute
Venison braised with juniper - slow cooking, so easy to do in advance, just did mash and cabbage at last minute
Poached pears (cold) with bought deluxe ice-cream and home made biscuits.

And don't forget the cheese board.

Nice ideas, thanks for the reminder about the cheese board! Am just wondering now how about how to get hold of some nice big pans....

White choc cheesecake
Tiramisu
Nigella's choc macaroon with whipped cream and raspberries
Anthony worrall thompson choc brownies with posh vanilla ice cream (my fav)
Lemon posset with shortbread

All can be made in advance.

Starters:
Soup -butternut squash and red onion
Pâté and Melba toast
Camembert
Garlic mushrooms on bruschetta
Buffalo wings with blue cheese dip
Red onion relish and goats cheese on bruschetta

Beef Bourgogne sounds fab- slow cooker?

Some good ideas here - I'm doing a posh dinner for my parents golden wedding for about 20-24 people. I can access some big pans from the scout troop that the DC go to - would that be an option for you, Teenyweeny?

your menu looks great. do what you say in the post, buy in as much as possible, cook the day before.

write a list, tick things off as you do them.

the night before: make sure that you have ice cubes in the freezer, maybe some nice ice cream, just in case. wine in the fridge. lay the table and cover with an extra table cloth.

get someone to help put out the canapes and serve drinks on the day.

the supermarkets may still have some Christmas bargains like biscuits for cheese, cheeseboards, etc that you can get for a reasonable price.

Hi thanks for your ideas, a friend has offered to come round and help me set up the tables and do flowers for me. Thanks for the offer of pans - just remembered that a friend works for a company that sometimes do customer events and they have a fully fitted catering kitchen on their premises, might see if she can borrow some pans for me. Otherwise I will just beg borrow and steal.

If you have asian supermarkets nearby, they often sell enormous catering size pans at bargain prices. My mate recently got some for a party she was hosting and she got enormo pans for £12.99.

If you can make your own puddings, do. It always impresses people. If not, make sure they are presented to look homemade. My tip - get the posh stuff from the supermarket that doesn't have a branch near you. (or find a good member of the local WI) .... bit of icing sugar drizzled over and you're sorted!

A huge stack of brownies, decorated with raspberries, jug of cream and nice ice cream always looks fab. Could also do a fruit salad incase freaks people want something lighter

Hi all well this dinner party was going to be a birthday celebration for DH who turns 50 soon but in light of events last night he can shove it. See my post in Chat. Thanks for your ideas though!

Sorry to see this teeny, hope you and DD are OK.