Christening Help Needed

[heiferjamese]

my DD 2.8 is being baptised at the end of this month and we have invited approx 50 people back to our house afterwards.

I obviously need to feed and water them but am struggling for ideas...

We are on a tight budget (not used to this - so have never entertained on a budget before)...

I was thinking about doing hot food, casseroles, cous cous etc, does anyone have any ideas please.

Also do we decorate the house with ballons etc?? I want the emphasis to be on the baptism at the church, but as DD is 2.8 and knows that people are coming back to ours after, she will be expecting a party.... so should I decorate with ballons etc?

Also cake, will fairy cakes really do??? (I can make them, but not sure about making and decorating a large one, especially to feed 50...

Lastly (honest). booze, how much do we need to 50 people, and would people be upset if we don't provide champagne, as I don't want a toast etc, want to keep it informal.

If I could guarantee good weather (which we obviously can't) I would have done BBQ (that is how informal I would like it)...

Any help most welcome, as am started to panic.....

Don't worry about champagne. Yes, stick a few balloons up, for DD's sake!

Food - I'd stick with cold food that you can prepare in advance rather than lots of hot stuff, you want to come back from teh church and enjoy yourself not be panicking about heating up food! Why not buy a small cake from M&S - they do wedding cakes and I bought their medium one for DD & DS's christening, plain white icing and I just fancied it up a bit! Then do the fairy cakes for people to scoff, save cake for you and your DD!

dd's christening was in november so wanted to do hot food as some people were travelling a fair way. I only catered for about 15 though.

I did fish pie and beef in ale + mash with veg. Was able to cook the beef in advance and just heat up and the fish pies were done in advance and shoved in the oven when we got back from church. Veg in the steamer and the potatoes for the mash were all ready chopped in the water so they just had to be boiled and mashed. I DID make a cake but agree the m&s ones are good and probably better going on my cake making !

We served a few canapes (done in advance whilst the meal was heating up).

I think caterers usually go on half a bottle per person and then those driving/ not drinking will balance those who drink more !

oh and I got people to say if they wanted meat or fish beforehand which helped but might be harder with your numbers.

Oooh a thread I can talk on as I did ds's christening on a budget last week!!

I borrowed a couple of gazebos from friends and some picnic tables, bought some blue balloons from Tescos 29p and put them up outside on the gazebos.

My mum offered to bring a large ham and I roasted 4 chickens (doesnt take any longer than doing one, plus they are cheap in Asda at the moment). I asked close family and friends who asked to bring couscous, pasta salad, green salad, tomato and spring onion salad, big bowl of grated cheese, bean salad (for the vegan coeliac!) so I didnt have to do any salads at all. Then I cooked baked potatoes in the oven while we were all at church, GM4 for 1 1/2 hours, wrapped in foil. Then the potatoes were hot but there was plenty of cold meats and salad that was low-maintenance. I got a cake made at a local bakers, but would quite happily have done fairy cakes, think that would be a great idea!

My dad did provide champagne for a toast, but we didnt have it for dd's christening as we had it in a church hall so no booze and no one minded at all. We found Schloer on a BOGOF offer at Morrisons and had a little toast with that. People really dont need to drink at every social occasion do they? if they do ask them to bring some along (or their own hip flask!).

Have a lovely time, your ds will just enjoy the day because there are a lot of people there who want to spend time with him, oh and a fair few presents to open I expect!

Thanks for the suggestions.. Any more please?

I would go for the cold food option. we did hot food for Ds1's and it was a real rush getting back from church and trying to cook rice and heat up stuff. People don't expect hot food anyway IME.
Also don't think people would expect champagne. If your budget can stretch to sparkling then that night be nice but if you don't want a toast as such then no-one will miss it!

waswondering - we don't have a costco near us (just had to google 'costco' as didn't know what it was....

What cold food did you do?

Am surprised that cold food seems better, would have assumed that hot food was easier as could cook before and just heat up.. but hey you guys have done it, so I will certainly bear that in mind...

Athough I was going to cook casseroles beforehand and then reheat in slow cookers or low in over whilst we were in the church and only serve with cous cous or french bread...

bump for more ideas please..

Have concluded that cold food would be better, don't want to just buy loads of finger foods. so any more idea on what I can make, prefare beforehand...

Cheers......

I bought all mine from M and S party service but concluded that I totally could have done it myself for half the price. We had 4 large bowls of different salads (rice/pasta/normal/italian) a plate of meats, different hams, italian hams etc. a plate of cooked salmon, some hot heaty up things like chicken satays, chinese rolls, vol au vonts filled with hot stuff (from m and s) these all went down really well and I did those first and got friends to take them round on plates whilst people were settling in and I got the table ready. What else? Had some pate and bread, 2 big platters of mixed sandwiches. Afterwards, Had a big plate of cheeses and we made the cakes ourselves. My mum did raspberry meringue type thing and a cheesecake, my MIL did a couple of lemoney type things and I bought the christening cake because I am rubbish at decorating. Nigella lawson has some great cakes in her domestic goddess book though if you need ideas.

sorry forgot to say decoration wise I put up some white and blue balloons, used the cake as the main decoration on the table, had 3 vases of white roses which I bought directly from the shop and displayed myself in hall and 2 living rooms.

Booze -- allow half a bottle of wine (or equivalent) per adult. And make sure you provide soft drinks. No need for champagne/sparkling IMO.

Food I'd forget the hot stuff, myself, and go for cold things salad, pasta salad, cous cous salad, rice salad, cold sausages, cheese, bread, cold meats -- that you can have perpared beforehand and don't need significant effort (not even heating up) when you get back. If you have 50 people then presumably they're not all going to be able to sit down? Casserole sounds a bit sloppy to be easily eaten standing up to me.

Cakes -- Most of the supermarkets do reasonably priced ready-iced cakes. I bought a plain iced rich fruit cake from Tesco for my mother's birthday last month and just added decoration.

Agree a few balloons would be nice. Stick to one or two colours.

A special time for family and friends to help out so you can enjoy the day, its such a special occasion.

When I had my twins christened I was like a zombie so it was brill everyone helped out, so make it a fuddle!

Good luck and enjoy

hope you had a wonderful day ww. was thinking of you. did your ds manage to say his wee piece at the front?

ww - that sounds like a lovely day. Congratulations.

Many thanks for all your help.

Have now decided

Cold meal
Salmon Fillets (cold) - on special at Tescos
Ham (cold) hopefully on special somewhere!
Cous Cous, Greek Salads, Cold Potatoes, Rice Salads, Pasta Salads, plus some homemade stuff (yet to be decided).....
Fruit marinated in pims, drained and smothered in creme frais with brown sugar on top, grilled..
Cake (bought or SiL making.

Ballons, house cleaned!!!

Booze. Lots

Realised that it isn't easy to do on a budget really, but not going over the top....

Had 10 people around last night for a BBQ (well grilled in over and couldn't get any charcoal)...
Spent far too much time in the kitchen cooking the meat, so that has reinformed that fact and definately doing cold food that I can get ready beforehand and not going to heat up anything when we get back from the church.....

Really looking forward to it. Trying to explain everything to DD is hard, as whatever I say about the church service (being baptised etc) she just says, I'm having a party aren't I......

yum! Can I come?

1 more question

any suggestions for things that I can make/bake beforehand..

Want to show all my family and friends who aren't SAHMs what I do all day.....

stuff that would go with the things I have already decided to cook (see below)...

Cheers

after hollys christening i resigned myself to the fact that i would never have any more children, so as to spare me from ever having to do that again! its so hard because in your eyes it is your babys special day. therefore it must be 100% perfect! try not to worry about it, i am sure the food will be lovely and much appreciated. i made the mistake of drinking a little too much to calm my 'hostess nerves' and was put to bed by my horrified mother 2 hours in!

holly1mum, I know what you mean.. I don't normally fret about these things, before having DD (now 2.8yrs) I used to happily organise dinner parties etc, with no worries.

Now it is all about DD and I want to make it good for her.... And for all the guests also.

A think that because 50 people are coming (well not sure all will come yet).. I am trying too hard....

It is not that I have anyone to impress really.. Most people coming have been to our house some time or other (although not the churchy people)... and we don't have any parents alive that can judge (not that our would have anyway)...

Actually I think that is the problem, this will be the 1st big event that my mum won't be at and I want it to be ok, but I know that I will really miss her, especially at the church as she was a sunday school teacher, and I cry most weeks at church anyway (just for a few mins).....

Anyway, thanks all for you help...

I will not stress. I will not stress... I will not stress.........

heifer - it will be great - all your friends are coming because they love you and are delighted you have a beautiful DD that you want christened.
The food all looks fab - it will be lovely -you don't need to do anything else