Virgin Buffet creator - Help!

[anonqrtb]

Hi all,

Long time poster, first time buffet creator.

My DD Birthday party is this Sunday, i have a family wedding on the Saturday (bad timing i know, only time i could arrange!)

What can i prepare on the Friday (if anything)? To save myself time on Sunday morning.

This will be a classic buffet, Sandwhiches, Pizzas, Samosas/spring rolls/ fruit kebabs, sausage rolls, party sausages, sliced veg, houmous, chicken nuggets, then crisps etc.

Any advice would be apprieciated!

Is the buffet for adults and children or just children?

Personally, I'd abandon sandwiches unless you get them in with one of those platters from Costco or M&S. They're fiddling and annoying to make.

Instead, I'd focus on things that are easy to do on the day. My go-to for kids' parties has been hotdogs for years. When they were little and I was doing it in halls etc, I'd do the frankfurter type as you just need a kettle of hot water and you're done. As they got older, we did big piles of sausages on the BBQ or in the oven. Then a range of store-bought stuff like crisps, dips etc. "Proper" sausages also works you have adults who need feeding as well - assuming you have enough space in your oven to do huge trays.

Fruit skewers are the one thing I used to make myself - they looked super cute and were always surprisingly popular with the children! But they do need to be done on the day unfortunately.

How many are you catering for? And is it your DD’s friends or mostly family?

So its catering for adults and children, around the 50 people mark. Small buffet for my first as you can see :)

For 50 people, assuming you have decent oven space, I'd go with things you can buy and just heat up. Then add a good selection of bread and rolls, some cheese/charcuterie, some pates, and on the day make up a couple of good salads.

Buy it in and serve it as it comes for as much of this as possible would be my suggestion.

Buy ready prepped

• Carrot batons
• Sliced peppers
• Cherry Tomatoes
• mini cucumbers
• blueberries
• raspberries
• melon slices/cubes
• pots of dip - humous/sour cream and chive

From the sausage roll/pasty section

• mini cheese and onion rolls
• mini sausage rolls
• cooked breaded chicken strips

-cheese and tomato pinwheels

Then
-crisps
-mini rolls/chocolate fingers/jammy dodgers

• breadsticks/cheese twists

This stuff just needs opening and pouring onto serving platters.

Oh, I thought this was going to be about a new App launched by Richard Branson! 😂

It sounds like it’s mostly shop-bought food, so there’s very little to actually prepare, other than cooking and arranging it on plates. I definitely suggest cutting the veg on Sunday morning because two-day-old carrot and cucumber sticks aren’t appealing. Ditto for sandwiches.
You could save yourself the faff of sandwiches and buy some part-baked baguettes to stick in the oven on Sunday morning. Then simply slice them and put them in a bowl alongside a cheeseboard, a platter of deli meat and a bowl of butter.
save yourself some oven space too by ordering a Dominoes.

Oh, I thought this was going to be about a new App launched by Richard Branson!

Me too. Quite disappointed it's not

Have you got enough fridge space for it? That’s quite a lot to store!

I'd avoid the sandwiches by doing a big cheeseboard with lots of crackers & oatcakes.

Sorry for those dissapointed - after i've created the buffet, I'll get on to making an app 😃

Okay so majority are going to drop the sandwiches and I love the thougt of that. Most of it will be ready made stuff, i have no time to be creative and prepare food myself, and I am awful and cooking at the best of times.

Thank you for your suggestions its really helped!