Catering for 70ish people doable?

[Unusualllly]

Having a 50th birthday party in local town hall. 60-80 people coming.
Am I mad to do food ourselves? Invite says bring your own bottle.
Do we provide ice boxes at tables for thier own wine/beer?
Slow cookers filled with chilli, salads, bread and nachos in big bowls for folk to serve themselves?
Cake for dessert?
Will this work ok? The panic is starting, I've never had such a big party. Do we need entertainment or just music in background?

Thank you 🙏

You would need a lot of slow cookers! I wouldn't attempt to cater for 70 unless you were very confident you could achieve it and had all the equipment.

It is do-able but I think for what it will cost you (especially if you plan to buy more equipment like extra slow cookers as well as huge shopping bill)- you will likely need to buy napkins, condiments, trays, plates, cups, glasses... also the practicalities of all those slow cookers!- do you have enough plugs in hall?
I would get caterers for at least some of it. Make your own salads, sandwiches etc but get the caterers to do the hot foods- they will bring hot plates etc and maybe crockery/cutlery and take it all away with them which is a bonus!
I would definitely get prices from a local caterer anyway and see if it fits your budget/plans.
Pizzas are great for parties and can be eaten standing around mingling- most will only want a slice or two. Nobody minds if it's gone cold.
I think it's a nice gesture to provide ice buckets for people if they are byo'ing! Is there a fridge available at all? It would be nice to have some cold drinks available for people arriving with bottles not chilled.
Most of all- don't worry too much!- nobody cares too much, it's just about being together, celebrating and making the best of what you can do! Have a lovely time!

Do you have Costco or similar? I would buy or order loads of food from them ir similar.

I think the only equipment is slow cookers being borrowed from friends. Paper plates, wooden cutlery???
Maybe I am mad 🤷‍♀️🤦

Yes it is doable, but it is a lot of work!

I hope you have a lovely party though

Get the caterers in or a catering van and a DJ you are only 50 once. Also buy in loads more booze.

It’s doable with slow cookers. we did similar and had pulled pork in slow cookers and made up pork baps with bowls of apple sauce and jugs of gravy on the side.

Id use plastic plates rather than paper with chilli though, as I’d worry the sauce could leak through.

Can you BBQ? If so just BBQ high quality chicken breasts, burgers and hotdogs to order.

Then prepare:
Trays of simple mixed salad
Bowls of potato salad and coleslaw
Trays of oven chips

Or be realistic with people that you're doing 'nibbles', so nothing hot. Then do some lovely platters of cheese, charcuterie, fruit, petit fours.

If you're doing something hot then again, keep it really simple, just two dishes, like hotpot/ crusty bread, and a veggie chilli.

50 is doable but I think 70 is difficult.

I say BYO alcohol not ' bring a bottle'. Some people also love to have tea an d coffee at parties like this.

Download Deezer or Spotify and make three or 4 really good playlists... one for people coming in, one for eating, one for partying, one for signalling it's time to wrap it all up?

Could do a pie and peas set up??

Few traybakes for pudding?? Massive cheese board?

Most I've ever done is 40, twice. DS christening, afternoon tea, so sandwiches (made some and bought a couple of platters) scones (bought, sliced and added jam and cream) quiche and sausage rolls (local butchers) and selection of cakes for pudding (family chipped in, I made some and the christening cake. Paper plates and napkins etc. It was doable with no sleep and small kids.

Other time was a ham (cooked and sliced by local butchers), a cheese, few coleslaws (supermarket large catering size) hot boiled new potatoes, green salad, crusty bread. Again family chipped in bringing cakes or desserts

I'm not knocking your chilli plan - I love chilli!! - but it's a certain amount of prepare ahead and keep hot effort. Could you make it easier for yourself? People who are keenish bakers are often happy to bring a pud to help a friend, I know I wouldn't mind

I’d be a bit concerned about keeping things at the right temperature, but I am a bit anxious about food poisoning generally!

If it’s a summer thing, chilli might be a bit hot as well? At the moment unless there’s air con, I’m not sure I’d want to eat chilli etc. at a party.

Is getting catering an option?

All the supermarkets do food to order stuff that is reasonably priced. We used Morrisons for a party last weekend and got platters of sandwiches, savouries, crudités, etc. All freshly made and everyone enjoyed them, and zero hassle! I wouldn't attempt to cater for 70 people myself, that's a huge amount!

Sorry about the underline!

I've done it several times including my own wedding (crazy) but you need a bit of help and suitable equipment.

Chilli is a good call, easy to make in bulk, do a vegan option too.

As for music, depends on the vibe you want

Its totally doable, just need some pre prep. Make one batch of chilli every couple of days and freeze it til you have enough. Then buy or make a tonne of coleslaw, buy and slice a couple of dozen baguettes on the day, choose rice or new potatoes and cook them up and rope in friends and family to help.
napkins/cups etc are easy and I’d ask each family/group to bring a pudding.
when the kids were little we’d often have kids parties and invite siblings and adults and have easily 60 turning up.
Make sure you have nothing to do next day though…you’ll be knackered.

You have given me faith that we can do this 🙏.
I quite like the idea of trays of cruditayes etc from Morrisons to make it easier too.

It's doable, but even though I love cooking and entertaining, I wouldn't. For a start, the prep work would be extensive and I'd be exhausted before the party started. And then after the party, I'd have to clean up after 70 people. And you can have paper plates all you like - it's still going to be a lot. I also think that when you get to these numbers, it probably is cheaper to do it with a caterer - you benefit from the buy-in-bulk option and you don't have to buy all the extras.

Around here, what's quite popular is to hire a food truck that comes to the party and serves food. Paella, pulled pork, pizza, burgers/hot dogs are all ones I've been served. I think it works out to less than £10 per head (probably less, depending on what you hire/serve) and that cost includes plates, napkins, cutlery and all the washing up/tidying up that goes with it.

for drinks - absolutely get large ice buckets. Buy in some basic stock to get things going - eg bottles of Prosecco or large jugs of pimms/lemonade too.

I think catering well and safely for that number of people is difficult if you are just using regular domestic equipment.
What time of day is this party.
I think that if I were catering for that number I'd probably go with a big cheese and charcuterie board with crackers, pickles, chutneys, figs, grapes, nuts, celery.
Or on a similar theme a ploughman's, fresh crusty bread or rolls, a big cooked ham, a few really good cheeses, pickled onions, pickle, celery sticks, scotch eggs, coleslaw, apple wedges.

I'm not a fan of chilli, so I'd be a bit disappointed that there weren't other offerings. Generally I think it's nice to serve at least 2 choices.Don't forget you need to cater for vegetarian/vegan/dairy free/gluten free/ nut allergy/ diabetics etc etc too. Also are there children going? I'd say only one option of spicy food is pretty brave if so.

What are you planning for pudding? Again, you'll need to plan things that cater for all the food preferences.

Personally, if I wanted to do for that many, I'd go for cold buffet mostly bought from Morrisons /Sainsbury's/Waitrose food to order, with a few things home made to add to the mix.

Even if it's "bring a bottle", I think you still need to provide tea, coffee, soft drinks and a few bottles of wine (Tesco have currently have 25% off 6+,so you could pick up 12 red and 12 white bottles of plonk for under £100) and beers to get the party going. In my experience, guests bring a bottle as a contribution, but not ever enough that you can get away without providing some.

Also you'll need crockery, cutlery, tablecloths etc too.

It's possible, but it's going to be very hard work to do it well, and will probably work out more expensive than just buying it in or getting caterers in.

I'm sorry if I sound a bit negative, bit I'm currently planning a smaller party myself, and it's s hell of a lot more complicated than just bunging a chilli in the slow cooker

By the time you'd cost it all up including cutlery / plates etc I'd get a fish and chip / pizza van to come round.

I've done it for a party before, it was fine! You can get quite a lot of portions out of a large slow cooker, especially when you have sides to go with it. Any chance of doing some baked potatoes to go with it? We cooked them at home, wrapped in foil and took them along in a cool bag.

Things that occur:

How are you going to get all the slow cookers / food to the venue? When?

How are you going to keep it warm / cold? How long for?

You need to provide at least tap water - how many jugs do you have?

Who going to serve the food? Will you need to pay them?

Who is going to clean up and pack up? Will you have enough time before the venue closes?

I think you are completely bonkers to even contemplate this. Either do a drinks and crisps only type thing (and tell your guests they won’t be fed) or as others have suggested get a quote from a caterer or speak to your local pizza or fish & chip place for a delivery

I did it for my wedding (it cost £77 in 2015 money). I made a load of food up the night before and had 3 mains, which were all Middle Eastern. I also bulked it out with containers of crisps, plantain chips, plain pitta breads to eat with the mains, and other things that are easy to transport and that require no prep as the wedding was a party in a field with no electric or shelter.

For desserts, I bought 2-3 different traybakes and cut them into normal size squares then cut each square into 4 to make enough tiny nibbles for 2 each and I bought 6 of those 12 packs of supermarket fairy cakes. The main thing I didn't bank on was bringing enough drinks. I accounted (naively) for 2 drinks each. It was not enough.

There was loads of food left over so I clearly overdid it lol. Just make sure you're not transporting the decorations and the food in the same car at the same time unless you have a van.

Oh and my friends are all the sort of people who were totally capable of picking up a serving spoon and dishing out their own food so no staff etc required.

It might be an idea to reduce the hot food. I’ve done a similar party but cold ham, stuffed, rolled chicken and salmon accompanied by lots of different salads and breads. Maybe the vegetarian/vegans wound like a veg curry or chilli.