Help! what the heck do I cook?

[UhhOhhh]

My dd1 is 10 very soon. We're having a family party at ours and I'm having a complete brain fart as to what to cook.

There will be 20 people, 4 children, 2 vegetarians, 1 nut allergy and 1 that won't eat chicken. A few that won't tolerate too much spiciness.

I'm not adverse to doing 2 main dishes, 1 veggie 1 meat, most meat eaters will happily eat veggie so not a problem. Except the non chicken eater, he's a meat man. Usually the host will do the main dishes and family members will bring side dishes and nibbles etc.

I'm at a complete loss, please help me!

Piles of homemade burgers and some falafel burgers, piles of buns, bowls of salad, potato wedges, dips and sauces. Burgers can be made in advance and frozen so you can get creative, e.g. lamb and rosemary, pork and sage etc.

Thanks for the suggestion, hopefully the weather will be ok I might be able to do them on the bbq maybe.

Although I know mil doesn't like burgers!

Ohh well if you're doing a bbq you could throw on some sausages too.

Alternatively you could do big pans of beef and quorn bolognase, lots of pasta and garlic bread. You'll need pretty big pans for 20 people, though! Or beef bolognase and veggie lasagne.

Homemade pizza would be my go to for this. Easy and can prep all in advance.

Jacket potatoes. Meat chilli, bean chilli and maybe a veggie bake of some kind. Served with salad, each type in a separate bowl so you don't find yourself with a salad refused, because it may be contaminated with lettuce

My go too safe big catering meal is fajitas with everything in help yourself dishes. So you could have a five bean mix, grated cheese, guacamole, sour cream, chopped steak, fried onions or onion rings, fried peppers, either jackets or wedges, lettuce, tomatos, jalapeños, chicken nuggets etc etc

If the DC want they could have chicken nuggets and wedges or a cheese wrap - something easy and plain or be a bit more adventurous and build a fancy wrap.