What food to serve!

[inappropriateraspberry]

My parents are having a diamond wedding party - 60 years!
We are struggling to come up with the right food to serve. My mum wants to do charcuterie boards on each table, but we are concerned that everyone will sit down to eat and then not mingle and talk to each other!
I think they are picturing a more formal sit down, but I wonder if it will be like a wedding where no one leaves their designated table once they're settled!
Any other suggestion for food/catering? No outside space so can't be bbq, hog roast, pizza ovens etc. I have suggested hot dogs with lots of different toppings, but I don't think they're keen!

How many guests?

Approx 50, still waiting for some rsvps. It's in a village hall with a small, basic kitchen.

Surely a lot of your parents friends would rather sit with their friends than mingle ( walk around and talk to people they don't know so well )

And it is their party after all
I know not everyone will be ancient but a lot will be older and a seated event may be much more fun for them

Can you get a local butcher to do a hog roast?

No space for it unfortunately.

I'm not saying no one can sit down! Just once you've settled to eat like that you're unlikely to move.
It's mostly friends and family that do know each other quite well, but I think a buffet style would encourage a bit more mingling.

I'm having a party and planning to do a high tea - so cheese, hams, breads, cakes, scones etc, which sounds similar to what your mum was thinking?

Why not do what she's suggesting but put the food out as a couple of buffets so people get up to get more food/a drink and that will encourage circulation?

No one will be want to be standing up all the time at a diamond wedding celebration as most people will presumably be at least 76!!

A compromise would be to put charcuterie boards in each table as your Mum would like, then put all desserts or cakes on a long table so they get up to get dessert and can mingle then?

Good idea.

I would also consider an afternoon tea vibe. Lovely sandwiches, quality sausage rolls, scones with cream/jam and cakes.

I like this. Would get people up and mixing.
Cream teas, pasties, sausage rolls are old hat here in Cornwall, and aren't really anything special! Done to death and very much usually done at wakes locally! 😬

I would suggest a large grazing table, so people have to get up to get it buffet style but a lot fancier. Then people have to move around the room but it's a semi formal fancy food.

Start with drinks and mingling. Sit where you want. The food is buffet style with poached salmon, several salads, charcuterie boards, quiche. Bowls of sliced fruit and cheese plates at the end.

Unless you do canapes, most people will want to sit down to eat regardless of what it is. I mean if you do a buffet, people will still probably load up their plate then sit down to eat it. Although bonus of a buffet is that people kind of get up and down and mingle in between.

Or you could separate the actual eating time so people mingle before or after.

Presumably if it's a 60th some of the guests might be less mobile and might find a buffet tricky? Remember to take that into consideration....

Thanks but the party was in July! We had bread, cheese, quiche etc. if I recall correctly