Buffet ideas for 30 adults and 10 under 2's

[geordieminx]

I was having a wee tea party for ds's first birthday but as our respective families live 150+ miles away it seems to have escalated and the world and his wife appears to be coming.

I havent really (ok ever) done a buffet for this amount so am looking for ideas.

Am a pretty reasonable cook, but my mum is fab and every time she does this sort of thing it always looks and tastes amazing. I really want to make it nice for everyone.

Helllllllllllllllllllp pleeeeeeeeeeease.

Quiches are alwys nice
Chickendrumsticks
Meatballs
I hate doing Sandwiches, so, we usually buy Bloomer or Frenchsticks and put Butter out wiht it and sorted...
Salads like Potatoesalads and Pastasalads
Vegiesticks (Carrots, Peppers,Cucumbers, Celery) and dips
Breadsticks (also to go with teh dips)
Sausagerolls, minisausages, Cheesepuffs
....

Easy stuff

bread and cheese
cook a few chickens
fruit
cous cous
a few salads

or if money no object just book Waitrose entertaining very good ime

oh yeah, cheesecubes on picks with grapes/pineapple....

Waitrose looks fab - unfortunatley nearest brach is 50 miles away and part is on aa sunday, they only do collection on saturdays - the sarnies would be stale wouldnt they?

Fairy cakes (or as I believe they're now called, cupcakes).

Cheese straws (yum)

Asparagus with parma ham wrapped round and a bit of olive oil drizzled on, in the oven for about 10-15mins.

Crisps

Grapes

Oh Geordie it's you .

Hope DS has a lovely birthday. ONE already! Blimey.

rolled up wraps, filled with cream cheese or similar, cut into small slices so that you get a little spiral shape

toddlers like them and all the grown ups coo over them and eat them when they think no-one is looking

If you could go for Waitrose then you could just supplement with bread, don't bother with sandwiches. I think you'd have to choose carefully

God its turning into a nightmare.... why oh why did I ever think this would be a good idea.... should have kept it to me dp and ds, chocolate cake and champers - easy.

We did an afternoon tea style buffet for the dd's Christening and it was fab (imo).
We got all the grandparents to bring a cake (fruit, carrot and sponge). We then made scones (cheese and plain and raisin) and buttered them and some had jam on and thick cream available to spoon on. Had homemade sausage rolls (very easy with frozen puff pastry and garlic salt to make them yummy) and sandwiches so ham, cheese, egg and tuna but with chives and tomatoes in with the cheese, cress and mayo in with the egg, cucumber and mayonnaise with the tuna and tomato or cucumber with the ham. And salt and pepper and real butter made them really yummy. Breadsticks and carrot and cherry toms and cucumber sticks and kettle chips...
Just don't underestimate how long the sandwiches will take.
Get your family to pitch in too. Don't try to be super host with a one year old
With this selection no cutlery was required either.
All 'party' type food too.

That sounds nice VP.

Party starts at 1pm, my parents are staying the night before so time shouldnt be a problem, its just logistics and ideas that I struggle with

shudder at making lots of sandwiches....lol....I have done lots of sandwiches for es first every Party we gave for him...and never ever again....lol

It was the chives in the cheese sandwiches that did it for me . Posh cheese sandwiches.
Do sausage rolls day before and then you do sandwiches and your mum to do scones on the the day.

VP that sounds lovely. I did a buffet for dp's 40th and the things that got devoured quickest were:
ham sarnies; egg sarnies; huge cheeseboard with baguettes and grapes; hot sausage rolls; dips (homemade) and carrot sticks etc for dipping; greek salad; crisps; breadsticks; pudding (I just did 2 huge trifles, meringues with cream and a chocolate cake).

Things that sat around or didn't get finished were:
bowl of green salad
cous cous
pate
crackers for cheese

We had about 30 adults + 10 kids at DS's 1st birthday.
We did a kid's table with massive platter of little triangle sandwiches with lots of different, fairly harmless fillings with a pckets of few crisps sprinkled around the edge; a fruit platter; a huge tray of fairy cakes.
The adults had ovenbaked chicken pieces (drumsticks, boned breasts, thighs), a veggie chickpea dish, rice + various salads (green salad, pasta salad, potato salad).
Some adults ate the kid's stuff and vice versa - was very casual. Went down a treat. Not much left at the end of it.

Keep 'em coming ladies.... I'm starting to relax a little now....

love the idea of a kids table

To give you an idea of drinks qty, at our (day-time) housewarming, 30 of us (adults bar 3 children) got through:-

7 Beers
5 Bottles of white wine
2 Bottles of red wine
1 Bottle of Coca Cola
1 Small bottle of lemonade
1 Box orange juice

Think I over-catered in this respect - we were left with loads (and I think we did go round enough!)

There, I knew I was keeping that list for some reason.

I did home-made canapes, but the most popular thing was bought cocktail sausages (hmph)

Yes we were also left with loads of drinks: I think I over-catered anyway and then people bought stuff too. I bought non-alcoholic lager as there were several drivers but none of them drank it. The things that DID get finished were the Pimms and also the fizzy drinks for the teenagers!

Coronation chicken is my favourite buffet dish - but you need plates and forks, it's not finger food. Closely followed by Delia's taragon chicken salad.

better to be left with drinks that to run out tho? Drinks don't go off in a hurry so they'll keep for anothe time. Tho would expect people to bring a contribution TBH.

God, yes, lilolil. That's my motto, too. But I think we're probably still drinking the leftovers 5 years on (no, not really)

Drinks obv vary depending on how many "drinkers" you have and what the general preference is. I'm a tight sod and won't buy lager since I was once left with a load, which ended up being thrown away. Anyhow, hope it gives you an idea, gm.

Invite me to your next party MmeCellophane. T'will ensure you're not left with a booze mountain!

I think if the Pimms wasn't on offer, more white wine would have been drunk but as soon as the women knew that Pimms was available, they all wanted it! And nobody at all drank any red wine, which surprised me - so I've used it all for cooking as I don't like drinking it!

A whole salmon (served cold with mayonnaise) is always good at a buffet.