Does this sound like a good spread??

[Hopefull]

My DD is graduating highschool!! Around here that means most kids have an open house type party to celebrate. I do like to put on parties but am very anxious. I am sure people will show up. But I am afraid that things wont be clean enough. It looks good now but I am sure I will find a few things.(note to self: dont forget to clean the blades on the ceiling fan!! ) GRRRR Yes I am a bit of a perfectionist.

Well DD will let me know round about how many will be coming. The party is from 3pm to 6pm. They will come and go. Please let me know what you think about this spread we have planned.


Hamburgers/HotDogs (These will be kept warm)
potato salad/coleslaw
Fruit tray
veggie tray
Salad (with 3 different dressings)
Italian meatballs (with buns)
chips
Pork egg rolls (my version of Lumpia from the Philippines)
cupcakes
candy buffet (with 5 or 6 different candies)

There will not be anyone with any religious objection's to specific foods. Allergies I have no clue. Vegetarians again no clue. But I will have some veggie dogs and burgers on hand just in case.

I am guessing about 60% will be highschool age kids and the rest adults and a few young kids.

Anything else you think would go good with this kind of gathering?

[NyaChan]

Me!!    

I think that sounds like a great spread and you seem to have all your bases covered with multiple mains, fresh foods, and sweets.  Do you have sauce for your egg rolls?  (I forgot at my graduation because I eat mine plain, but then I realized the first few people through the line were dipping them in the hot sauce for the pad thai which apparently looked like ketchup and burning their mouths).

[QueenofAllThings]

Beverages?

[Roe]

As far as food goes, sounds great! 

Beverages? 

[cicero]

looks great!

I wouldn't cook all the hot dogs/burgers in adavance and keep warm - they cook pretty fast so make up a batch and keep warm, and then replenish with freshly cooked as needed. nothing wrong with doing it your way but fresh is better and this way you won't have too many leftovers.

with teens - i find that there are *always* vegetarians so you might want to add something with veg protein (hummus? three bean salad? very easy to make ahead of time).

[Hopefull]

Oh dear forgot the drinks    haha. I guess a few varieties of soda and bottled water. Thanks for the tips. Will add some hummus and some bean salad.

[Hopefull]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Daughter just informed me that about 70 will be coming!! My gosh. Now I am freaked out. But I am sure that this should be ok. I do have the local food store that is really close so in the event of an emergency I can send Dad out for more stuff.


Wish me luck!!!

[MrsCrazyPete]

I don't think you should try to feed 70 people. Like you said, it's an open house. Not everyone is going to stay for a long time. I remember when my brother graduated and lots of his friends were hanging out for a bit and then moving on to another graduation party.

Of course, teenagers DO tend to eat a lot 

POD to cooking the burgers and dogs as you go. The uncooked ones will freeze nicely and you won't have to worry about as many possible leftovers. Your menu sounds delicious!

[NyaChan]

I agree with MrsCrazyPete - at my Open House my parents had a TON of food to feed everyone.  They planned as if it were a buffet style dinner party and in general tend to be generous with portions.  We ended up donating the unopened trays of Pad Thai to a local women's shelter and my friends and I ate the leftovers of spinach & artichoke dip, egg rolls, and that remaining tray of noodles for two months!

[POF]

Another good alternative is BBQ beef , chicken or pork to serve on slider rolls. Some people migth want a small sandwich - and this can be made in advance, frozen and reheated in a crockpot.

[MacadamiaNut]

Sounds like a wonderful variety of food!  The only thing I can advise is to make sure you take inventory and have on hand all the required condiments for the burgers, dogs and the various dips and sauces you may need for some of the other things.

Good luck and have fun!

[kudeebee]

Remember that your open house probably won't be the only open house that people are going to that day.  So, you do not have to provide a full meal for everyone. 

I would suggest having dips with your fruits and veggies and of course, the chips.

Don't overbuy the potato salad and cole slaw--people (especially teens) never eat as much of this as you think--and there is only so much left over cole slaw/potato salad you can eat. If you run out of these items, just remove them from the table, you will have chips and the fruit/veggie trays to fill in.

I also agree to not make all the hamburgers/hotdogs ahead of time--after they sit for awhile, they can get hard and disgusting! If you don't want to take the time to be grilling, then I would go with sloppy joes/bbq beef.  These can be ready ahead of time and easily kept warm.

[jpcher]

Another good alternative is BBQ beef , chicken or pork to serve on slider rolls. Some people migth want a small sandwich - and this can be made in advance, frozen and reheated in a crockpot.

I think this is a good idea -- with 70 people, you'll probably have a few non-beef eaters. I was going to say pulled-pork, but you already have the pork egg rolls. Shredded chicken in a crock pot is easy to do.



Unless you have a "griller designee friend" I think cooking everything in advance would be fine. If I were hosting, I wouldn't want to man the grill the entire time of the party. I'd be too busy making sure everything else is set, along with the meeting/greeting/socializing.

Even if there are leftovers, cooked burgers/dogs freeze just as well as raw. Easy nuking for quick dinners/lunches.



kudeebee posted while I was typing. Dogs and burgers can be kept warm in one of those sterno tray chafers with water added (just water in the hot-dog tray and maybe some beef broth in the burger tray for added flavor) . . . something like this: http://www.partycity.com/category/entertaining+serving/chafing+dishes.do


OP -- how were you planning on keeping the meats warm?

[Mikayla]

I planned one of these about 5 years ago, and here's what I did.  I wanted to keep it simple because I knew I didn't want to be the hostess stuck in the kitchen, obsessing about what could be going wrong.  Enter the crockpot!

OP, if you don't like the slider idea, I suggest you have make-your-own tacos as your entree.  Just get some ground beef and shredded chicken (I can tell you the easiest way to do this if you want), stick it in 2 crockpots, season with taco seasoning, and set out the bowls for the lettuce, tomato, shredded cheese, salsa.  Kids of all ages love making their own.  And veggies can just make meatless tacos.

If you do this, all you need to provide is some salads and dips.  I'd forego coleslaw and potato salad completely (unless you want to make the potato salad from scratch).  Maybe put together a tossed salad, some 3 bean salad, and something funky like carrot and raisin.  Everything else could be dips or fruit/veggie platters. 

And I also agree with PPs that you're not serving dinner to 70 people, so don't panic over quantities.

[Amara]

I like that make-your-own-taco idea. The only thing I would add is a bowl of the Mexican-flavored Smart Ground "meat" for vegetarians ( http://www.lightlife.com/Vegan-Food-Vegetarian-Diet/Smart-Ground-Mexican ). I love their products and though I am not a vegetarian I almost always use this for tacos rather than meat.