Party food ideas for 100 people

[Namefornumber3]

Throwing a festival style party for my husbands 40th and trying to think of the most cost effective, yet easy and yummy way to feed the guests. Was thinking of hiring a hog roast company….. what other ideas do you have for me!! Thanks

Our local fish n chip shop does catering...have been to parties where they've rocked up with a choice of fish/chips sausage/chips as well as mushy peas/curry sauce etc. went down well!

How much did you think it would cost op?

Could you do a big ploughman’s en masse?

few big blocks of cheeses (Stilton, cheddar, brie) , couple of cooked hams and then pickles, chutneys, slaw, couple of green salads, Grapes and apples. . Rope a coupe of friends/family members in to help?

some people won’t eat. Some people will eat alot.

you know your crowd.

I

Another on saying try local restaurants. Indian restaurant down road does this, supplies it all.

Pizza van- never been to one that could cope with the volume of people. I imagine maybe 50people would be good. But more than that. Disaster.

Another vote against Pizza. Yes, a van can cook enough pizzas over an evening, but it's a very slow start. If you get 8 slices from one pizza, and each pizza takes 3 minutes, then it will take 38 minutes for everyone to get just one slice. Another 38 minutes for your second slice, etc. One slice of pizza every half an hour at best. This is my experience, you get a tiny bit of food at a time and it takes hours to actually get a meal.
Buffet from a local takeaway sounds fab.

Sorry OP, but I think you are being unrealistic if you think you can provide food on that scale for less than £7 a head (hog roast option.) In fact, I would worry that at that price the portions would be tiny and I would hate my guests to go hungry.

Have you figured out your budget? 100 x 10/20 a head is going to be expensive.

Realistically I would imagine that a tenner a head is the cheapest it will work out. I did my 40th as a festival style event that cost €25 a head. That was nibbles (home made), pizzas delivered from a local independent pizza company which catered for vegan, gluten free etc, cake and pic n mix table.

Btw, in your shoes I would hire a bbq company who will be able to offer a variety of bbq food, including veggie options, and salads and breads etc. Having a bbq set up in the garden will also add the the general festival/garden party vibe. Would probably cost around £15/£20 a head - which I would consider completely reasonable since that includes food, prep, staff, clearing up etc.

Hi! Catering company owner here! If Doing it yourself consider cold storage space and how you’d keep hot food hot.

We use insulated boxes to store our hot food when delivering to a party, they’re wonderful.

If you wanted to do it yourself to keep costs low I’d go hard on sandwiches and wraps, cold chicken, sausage rolls etc..

what about a slow cooker full of hot dogs and a tray of buns? Guests can help themselves.

We cater 100% for vegetarians and 60% meat eaters as everyone hammers the egg mayo & cheese savoury sandwiches & wraps.

Good luck!

A friend did a pizza van for their small wedding. Lovely idea, great fit with the theme and the pizzas were really nice, but even with a limited number of guests everyone eating ended up spread out over 2+ hours as the van could only turn out so many 7" pizzas at a time.

Further to LemonadePockets post, I had a really successful party where I served... sausage sandwiches.

It did fit the sort of rough and ready ethos though, it wasn't a party that was meant to impress, nor where food was the focus. And guests knew what to expect.

It was really easily scalable and flexes to veggie, gf etc.
Keeping it simple is the key: range of sausages, range of breads, onions and spreads and sauces.

Not much fridge space needed, no cutlery, scant crockery an oven and maybe a few air fryers.
But maybe a bit studenty!

^ does also involve a bit of work in the moment, and beforehand.

So you'll need to decide - what if anything are you prepared to do yourself, what is your budget and how 'naice' do you want/need it to be.

What a fabulous idea. Ideal for an outdoor party.

It was a 40th so probably not yours but great choice of cuisine!

Realistically, you're looking at £1000-1200 for 100 hungry people if you're wanting to create a decent bash on a budget.
£700 for a hog roast sounds reasonable, plus I'd put on a buffet of various platters from Costco, and perhaps pot of a homemade chilli, pan of fajita mix and a large pot of curry, plus relevant sides. Then add alcohol and soft drinks.
I'd definitely be putting in the invite that guests are very welcome to bring booze or a dessert.

Not sure why so many people are agsinst grazing platters - mine got eaten up completely. It looked amazing too.

You don’t queue to eat from it either!

Ill still be getting out my board to do it again the next time I have a party!

Maybe some of you are older than me on here

@Quitelikeit - food hygiene is the main issue. Nice but of casual ageism thrown in there too. What does any poster's age have to do with not liking your suggestion?

Food hygiene and cross contamination. Grazing platters are a no for me. They are fine for small groups but not large groups. They look good until people start getting things from them then they look a mess.

Grazing platters are a bit grim because everything is touching. And it will be like a piece of salami rubbing up next to a strawberry next to a cheese puff next to a pile of chocolate covered almonds.

They look lovely but they are a hygiene red flag form me!

Perhaps you should read the many detailed explanations provided by those of us who don't like the idea.

Us old fogeys can't possibly keep up with modern trends, @NigelHarmansNewWife. It's a wonder we manage to use the internet at all.

[wanders off screaming into the void]

NOT a grazing platter. Everyone getting their unwashed hands in! Vile.

All right, so how do veggies / vegans / people with allergies avoid cross contamination on a grazing platter?

Oh us oldies know just what’s wrong with grazing platters, as has been explained several times now.

There is a reason plates and bowls were invented, but obviously the young ‘uns know better than everyone else over the last few centuries.

Instagram has a lot to answer for.