40th birthday catering

[couri]

I am planning a surprise 40th birthday party for my husband in the summer. I have been looking at the cost of hiring a pizza catering van and it’s coming to £720-£770 all in. We will have between 30 and 40 guests.
my questions are; is it okay to ask people to contribute towards the pizza somethings like £15 per adult and free for kids? And ask to bring their own drinks.

The party theme will be country cowboy as hubby is obsessed with country music. Any other ideas for catering comes to mind please?

Thanks a bunch!

I think unless you're just starting out in adult life, or it's REALLY informal, it's a bit tight to have a party, ask people to pay AND bring their drinks. If you can't afford your idea, you cant afford it and thats fine. Just do something else.

I would say bring your own bottle is totally acceptable but don't think you can ask people to contribute cash. What about doing a potluck/bring a dish sort of thing? I would also check around local restaurants and takeaways and getting some prices, my sister had a good local takeaway do trays of pakoras, samosas, biryani and pizzas for the kids for around that number of guests and it cost her around £400 I believe.

Those pizzas from vans at festivals and things usually cost around a tenner each...I don't think it's very good value at nearly £800 for 30-40 pizzas...youd be better off ordering domino's/local pizza place

Maybe order from a local pizza place. You could always check out a local food market and see if they have a pizza van they are likely to do one cheaper. I don't think you can really ask people to bring drink and food

What has pizza got to do with the theme ? I’d say BBQ or Chilli

Nope really bad form to ask people to pay, if you can't afford it then don't do it.

Could you just get lots of nibbles / sandwich platters? Would be much cheaper.

Where is the party-at home?

It would be terribly rude to charge guests! If money is tight you'll have to tighten your belt to match rather than overstretching yourself and expecting others to chip in. Why not make large dishes of chilli and provide that with rice and salads? Drink wise stock up on all the post Christmas soft drinks on offer and maybe make it a bring a bottle event?

Thanks everyone, yes I agree I felt like it wasn’t the right thing to do hence asking.

Local pizza restaurants can arrange bulk deliveries at half the cost. Asking people to pay to attend a 40th and supply their own alcohol is actually mortifying!!! If you cant afford to host that amount of people reduce the size.

I think one or the other - so bring drinks or contribute food, not both!

Really love @Commonsenseisnotsocommon idea and it fits well with your theme too. Maybe borrow a couple of slow cookers from friends, you can pre-make chillis in advance and then do a load of tortilla chips/dips/salads which are easy to just put out without needing constant supervision.

Pizza doesn’t work with a cowboy theme in any way, so I’d rethink that for starters. And no, you can’t really ask guests to pay for food.

Agree that chilli or some sort of stew would be much more apt, and will work out cheaper than you’ve been quoted. Chilli with rice, nachos, guac, sour cream and grated cheese is such a simple way to feed a lot of people!

I always say this on here, but... sausage sandwich party! Honestly!
And pay a youngster to help you.

• Load of French sticks, rolls (do a deal with a Baker or pre prder from asda).
• load of ketchup/mustard /sweet chilli /hot chilli
• load of sausages. Ovened in foil trays. Porky bangers and veggie ones.
• maybe coleslaw or similar

Minimal prep. Minimal cleanup. No plates needed. Or cutlery.
Can fancy it up with onions (but take ages), and nibbles or whatever if you feel the need.

But cowboys aren't fancy.

I wouldn't expect guests to pay. I think that's really rude. I would look around for cheaper options. Where are you holding the party?

I have catered American themed parties and charge around £15 per head for a full menu of burgers, chicken, pulled pork, sausages and all the sides. If you're in the south west pm me

Will you have cooking facilities? Or at least be able to transport and keep food warm? I'd go for loads of baked potatoes with chilli/cowboy beans and various toppings. Definitely don't charge guests for the catering.

The sausage roll idea sounds great

it would be lovely to do the bring a dish thing either - I would totally be happy with that (but not to ask for money)

What’s your budget for catering?

At my party we had about 90 people. Asked my close friends to cook a curry each if they wanted to. About 8 if them did. I made 3 other curries loads of rice and Naan. Bought in a few crates of beers and wine. But everyone also brought a bottle. I made a couple of cakes. Was a fabulous night. Cost me about £200 and most people the price of a bottle of wine.

For £700 you could buy your own pizza oven for the garden and hire someone for the evening to make the pizzas.

I really don't think you can do that.

I would hope that if you really sent invites expecting people to not only pay for their own meal but also bring their own drinks, that you also made it very clear that NO gifts were expected??? Why a pizza van? There are far more economical options!

You need to cut the numbers or find a better value way of feeding people without them having to pay! Costco online card and buy in bulk trays of platters, M&S platters, home-made sandwich and wrap platters, BBQ etc. None of which are cowboy themed though!

Pizza oven for less than £100 here if you wanted to use Ferro's idea of paying someone to make up pizzas for the night.

Ingredients are really cheap, pay a teen a tenner an hour to make pizzas to order and you could do it for less than £200 yourself and still have a pizza oven after.

The problem with pizza is that you end up with big queues as they each need making to order. I'd say the cowboy theme lends itself to either chilli or a sort of sausage and bean stew, both of which would be really cheap and easy to cater for large numbers. Asking people to bring a bottle is fine.