Advice re party food please - I want to be very basic

[eenybeeny]

I always over cater. And I throw 2 parties a year a summer one and a christmas one. The summer one is for my DS's bday in August. At Christmas I do a full spread with loads of food and that is what I did for Alex's party last year.

This year I am on a very tight budget and also I want to avoid the self perpetuated stress of agonising over how much to serve etc etc

I have 22 adults and 8 or 10 children. That is including me, DH and DS. I will have a huge cake but need some other foods. Party is at 3:00 pm so in between lunch and dinner. Also I am veggie so wont serve anything with meat in it.

I am thinking crisps - so what kind? How much? cheese & pineapple? little sandwiches? if so what kind? is there anything I havent mentioned I should make sure I have?

(BTW saw the party food snobbery thread! )

roll-out ready made pizza bases with tomato topping from lidl.

my neighbour used these for a party for her little girl recently and just added mushrooms and cheese. They were surprisingly good.

tbh at 3pm you could just do tea and cake if costs are tight

if you really want to just do kettle crisps and dips maybe?

you could have party ring biscuits and hula hoops to keep the kids happy

yes, do afternoon tea - cake, maybe a few sandwiches

I'd say afternoon tea style as well.

Cakes, biscuits, sandwiches, crisps, crackers, cheese board, grapes, some dips with breadsticks, erm can't think of anything else.
Will keep watching though as I have DS2's christening to cater for this summer too.

oh and you can oish it up with nice crockery (try chartity shops), doilies and cutting the crusts off the sarnies

oish?? POSH

selection of bread rolls (DP's aunt made loads of her own in her breadmaker for the last buffet we had, they were delicious), with some proper butter.

Teney sarnies are cheap to make. Work out the bread quota per person and easy to buy correct amount:
my baseline is 1 slice for small toddlers, 2 for medium and 3 slices for older child/adult (obv more for a meal but this is usually enough for snack type catering). I make sarnies into quarters with 2 slices of bread and 8 little triangles for smaller children.

I cheat with desserts, cheap to make and look fab with minimum effort: my standard for kids are 2 items: homemade jelly and cupcakes.

Jelly I buy a bag of jaffa oranges (for 10 kids, only need 5 oranges!). Cut in half and scoop out the middles, juice the middles. Put the juice into a measuring jug and top up with pure orange juice to the pint line. Use a couple of veggie gelatine sachets and mix as the packet says. Pour back into the orange halves and set on a tray in the fridge (no overfilling or your fridge will be covered in sloppy jelly!) Make little cocktail stick sails with a triangle of paper theaded onto the cocktail stick and pushed into the middle of the jelly boat. Can decorate the sails with numbers/names etc - lots of fun and get a big "Oooo' from the impressed adults I put them in a shallow really big lasagne dish, fill it with crushed ice (98p a bag of ice from Coop) and let the boats "sail" on the sea. Keeps them upright and cool on a hot day. Honestly, they are really easy and look fab. No need for bowls as the orange skin is the bowl so cheap too.

If I make the actual birthday cake, I buy the buns. 24 little buns all ready for decor (the fun bit) and so cheap - less than 2 quid. 1 bar of melted choc (shop own brand is fine and so cheap). only need a tsp swirled on the top of each with a smartie pressed on the top. Look colourful and fun.

ooh bagelbird are you experienced then i'm keeping this info!

effeprine i like the idea of oishing it up, don't care if it was a spelling mistake!

DS's 3rd BD on Friday - I am SO making those orange jelly boats!! I've got a bit of a Nigella reputation to upkeep around here.
Thanks bagelbird!

Buy crustless bread for dinky sandwiches - they make life very easy.