Add fruit, maybe just cut up and undressed as a fruit salad, or in larger chunks. Pineapple, watermelon, other melons, grapes, berries.

And what about another salad? Potato salad? Green salad?

You are a brave woman to host this!

Good luck!

Remember pregnant women aren't supposed to have cold cuts because of the (very low) risk of listeria...but I think that is more of a "don't eat at 7-11" warning than cold cuts at a private home. Still, she might be worried. But there should be plenty of other things for her there!

Congrats on your happy event! If you start feeling overwhelmed, you can also have some stuff catered in or bought from the restaurant in trays so you aren't doing it all yourself.

Thanks I need all the luck I can get!!!

Great ideas!! I think a water melon and a green salad would be simple and easy to do. I'm a bit limited by what the local grocery store carries. Didn't have any grapes the other day and I can never find a pineapple there. Thankfully my mom and step dad will be staying with us so I can put them to work and help with some of the prep.

fori - I know about the cold cuts - just came off that diet myself ;) You can eat it if you nuke in the mw before eating it. I checked though and she likes chicken salad hence that addition to the tuna salad (not too good either when pregnant due to mercury, although small amounts are ok), but needed for the vegetarian.

Hmmm I'd love to do catered, but not much to choose from around here for a Sunday.

I am overwhelmed just thinking about it, but I'm sure it will come together one way or another. Event isn't about the food so ...

How far ahead can I make the tuna and chicken salad? I know 1 day is ok, but can I make it earlier?

You can get big tubs of potato salad, and tuna and chicken salad just about anywhere. It's passable. Also baked beans, which also can be doctored. I don't know where you live, but it may be possible to get a watermelon at this point, at least one trucked in from somewhere. Still kinda early though. Guys like roast beef and/or salami or bologna I have found, on the sandwich board. (I hate both items, but I know some guys really like them.) If you've got room in the freezer, maybe a big ol' tub of ice cream and get one of the older kids to help serve it.

For variety, get chips and dip, nachos and salsa, crackers with store bought spinach dip. If you can't get store bought spinach dip, skip that part. Or maybe crackers and a cheese ball. Or pretzels and mustard, (I dunno about that last one, I don't much care for it, but some do). I've been to a lot of parties like this, they are great fun. Put everything in some bright cheapie plastic dishes like you can buy in the five and dime, and it will be cool. Oh yeah, and maybe splurge on some fancy pickles and mayo. I'd also serve Sangria, which I make with a liter of 7-Up, some peach brandy and dry white wine, with some cutesy fruit floated in the top. Can use red wine with floating oranges if you like that better. But if you're tea-totalers then forget that!

I just did something similar this weekend for 14 people. I used a honey baked spiral ham and honey baked turkey, super easy. We had deviled eggs and potato salad and I added some crackers for the cheese. I bought tons of rolls and bread but everyone ate the ham with a fork instead of a sandwich. The only thing I cooked was the italian pasta salad and brownies and pineapple upside down cake and that was made the day before. Cold spreads are the least stressful.

If you don't want to prepare the food yourself, there are usually ladies' groups at churches who can use the church kitchen. If you bought the supplies and offered a donation to the church, they might be able to prepare everything and bring it to your home on Saturday, or if the baptism/reception is late enough on Sunday, they might bring it that day.
Your menu sounds great, and surely there is something there to please everyone.

I agree, add some fruit and you're good to go. If you really want to add another dish, I'd got for a bean dip with some tortilla chips, or maybe a corn and bean salad with chips, lots of kids will eat chips and bean dip and the vegetarians should be happy with that too, plus it's cheap, keeps well and has lots of protein, no mercury etc.

Good luck, and congratulations. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

Annie

I think you need to make sure that the MIL that talked you into it is there bright and early for the days ahead, during, and after to help cook, serve, and clean up. Sheesh. I would try to find a restaurant. If you are dreading it, you will not enjoy yourself at all. Cooking is fun if you WANT to do it, but not so much if you don't.
You are a BRAVE woman.

The ideas are great and thanks for the encouragement. What is a good recipe for something beans (I avoid them generally so forget others like 'em). DH likes beans for sure.

I appreciate the suggestions for other options too, but at this time they are not options for us either due to time or availability.

I know it sounds like MIL pushed me into it, but she did have a point and I asked if she could make the chicken salad and tuna salad for us with the comment that hers tastes so much better. I got a maybe as it depends on how she feels, which I understand, but hoping she'll be able to do one of them at least. If not I'll deal with it as it isn't that hard, just takes some time and I've yet to have store bought that I like.

Our friend Ruthanna started a post not too long ago about doctoring up store bought baked beans, so I linked to it below.

As for the salads, I suggest dropping the chicken salad, since you're already serving sliced turkey. I had a sandwich buffet for my class once, mostly guys, and I only bought a little bit of fancy bologna and salami, and it was all used up, with lots of turkey and ham left over. So no one will miss the chicken salad. Either that or skip the tuna. As for tuna or chicken salad, KEEP IT SIMPLE. I make the kind with pickle relish and mayo (or miracle whip, depending on your taste). I have made fancier kinds, but that kind is just fine. Honestly, if you get a bunch of friends and family together, have plenty of basic, fun to eat stuff, no one will notice if it is "store bought" or not gourmet. Make one or two nice things, (like your cupcakes and the pasta salad) and the rest will take care of itself. I would also suggest hiring a neighbor college or high school kid to help you with the cleaning and prep. I work at a college and students are having a hard time finding jobs this summer, you should be able to find someone who would welcome a little extra money. Even a grownup, so many people are out of work or marginally employed. It won't be that much money, and you are "saving" by not going to a restaurant.

Here is a link that might be useful: What's in your beans?

Congratulations! Do you have a nice park near by rather than having everyone at your house? Could your mom and step-dad do some of the shopping and bring it with them? If they live in a bigger city fruit would be on offer at the market. I just did DS/DDIL's rehearsal dinner and served much the same as your menu. We also had roasted red pepper humus. Along with the sliced cheese, the kids might enjoy cheese sticks (we had pepper-jack and colby-jack).

Judy

How "thoughtful" of your MIL! I'd suggest you let her do most, if not all, of the cooking, since it's her idea.

Baked beans are always good, and that link has a lot of good recipes.

For another direction, either a mexican style bean dip or hummus would be good with chips for dipping. My hummus-in-a-hurry is just chickpeas, a spoonful of tahini, a drizzle of olive oil and some garlic, I don't even put the lemon juice in and I like it better without. I'll toss in a canned roasted red pepper and I like that even better. Everything gets a whirl in the food processor and it's done.

My black bean dip is equally simple, just a can of black beans, a tablespoon of chili powder and 1/2 tsp or so of cumin. Blend it up and serve with tortilla chips.

These can both be made ahead and served cold or at room temperature too, that's always a plus for me.

Annie

I made this recipe from Taste of Home this past weekend for a cottage party we went to. It easily served 18-20 people. My only changes would be to leave out the water chestnuts (tasted odd in the salad) and you don't need to use all of the dressing (made too much).

Anyhow, everyone liked it. They even ate the leftovers the next day.

Macaroni Coleslaw
My friend Peggy brought this coleslaw to one of our picnics, and everyone liked it so much, we all had to have the recipe. Sandra Matteson - Westhope, ND

SERVINGS: 16

CATEGORY: Lower Fat

METHOD:

TIME: Prep: 25 min. + chilling

Igredients:
1 package (7 ounces) ditalini
1 package (16 ounces) coleslaw mix
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 medium cucumber, finely chopped
1 medium green pepper, finely chopped
1 can (8 ounces) whole water chestnuts, drained and chopped
DRESSING:
1-1/2 cups reduced-fat salad dressing
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. Transfer to a large bowl; add the coleslaw mix, onions, celery, cucumber, green pepper and water chestnuts.
In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Pour over salad; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Yield: 16 servings.

I might add (with anger) that Dole has now reduced their colesaw mix to 14 oz (for the same price of course!).

For gathering like this I scream potluck! Just have them to bring something that they WILL/CAN eat in case they can't find anything that pleases their taste buds, on your table. It's not fair that you have to do all the work (You are a much bigger person than me LOL) so it's not too much to ask them to bring a dessert or a salad or two. You have a veggie tray with dips; set up a BBQ station for the meat eaters (make sure you "invite" your MIL to take charge of this station), a fruit plate for the vegans and some ice cream for the sweet tooth. Plus whatever people are going to bring, you've got yourself a great party. Best of luck!

While reading these posts I'm thinking POTLUCK! I completely agree that your guests should pitch in on an event like this, especially if everyone's "picky". Just make sure you or MIL assign categories, or you'll get stuff like water for the lemonade or bags of chips. :-)

Thanks for the suggestions and recipes. Sounds like it will all work out. I'm sure it will. Just nervous as in the past we've had large parties with potlucks and bbqs.

I can't really ask people to bring stuff as at least half are traveling far to get here (as in planes). I also don't think it would be right to have people bring stuff for this occasion.

I wish we could be outside, but even though a cold front is expected on Sunday it will still be in the mid 90's. 100's now.

lpinkmountain - the chicken salad and tuna salad are to cover vegetarian and pregnant woman one can have one and not the other type thing. Since the ingredients are the same except the "meat" part I figured this was the easiest to cover both for me. Not much extra work this way.

I just noticed in this thread that sandwhich meat must be a regional thing as to what is popular. Never thought about that before.

lyfia, I agree that you probably couldn't ask peopel to bring a dish to pass for your daughter's baptismal party, it seems much like asking guests to bring a dish to your wedding reception or your child's birthday party. If you are the hostess, I think you are pretty much stuck feeding them.

Since your MIL talked you into this, though, I think she should be pitching in. A lot.

As for the sandwich meat, here it seems to always be turkey and ham, because that's what's easily available and not too expensive. Sometimes it's just ham.

Annie

Thanks Annie - well I solved my problem. After my FIL called to say my MIL couldn't help out. The thing is I understand if she can't, but just tell me that and don't have somebody else call. I called a restaurant and got a reservation and they'll let me bring a cake so we're good. DH is glad too as he doesn't have to worry about cleaning up the yard on his day off.

I also don't need to spend the next two days prepping in between taking care of the baby and will have a chance to visit with family and friends that are coming in. Like my parents coming from Europe or friends traveling from NY state to be sponsors.

I really appreciate all ya'lls help even though I won't be doing it now.

lyfia, I nearly always like to cook myself but in your situation, I'm glad to hear that you found a restaurant.

This is a celebration you (and your husband) should be able to enjoy without worrying about cooking, serving, cleaning, pleasing anyone else.

enjoy the party and visiting with family and friends and congratulations on that baby.

Annie

I think having a party at a restaurant is totally the way to go. That way you can focus on your friends and family, not shopping, prep., serving and clean up. Even if you were doing it at your house it could have been catered. You'll not save any money by doing it yourselves--it's too big of a job. Sure, if you had a ton of friends and family pitching in, then OK, but you don't. I've had two birthday parties for my aging parents, one at a restaurant and one we paid my cousins to cater. Both were lovely and I got to focus on spending time with the guests, like your situation, many had traveled far to attend. And I've done the math on these things, in the end you'll find the costs are comparable unless you pick some place that is extremely high end. The only way you save is if you have a LOT of free help, and even that is debatable because someone has to cajole and supervise the free help. This I know because I used to run a camp and we often had events where we cooked and served 100 kids. Finally the organization put in a professional kitchen and hired staff to feed the kids. So then we could focus on teaching, supervising and caring for them!! Gone were the days where me and three little kids made quiches for 120, but I was YOUNG then, lol!

Whew!! Although I had no input, I've been following the thread. I'm so glad to hear that you are going to a restaurant! That is SO much the way to go.

I hope you have a wonderful visit with all the family from out of town and a wonderful baptism. All the best!

May

Good for you! Glad to hear that you're going to a restaurant. Can't believe your MIL was banking on you doing all the work for her idea! Hope all will go well and do have a wonderful gathering. Al

Thanks Everybody!!! My MIL was very short with me after I decided to do this, but DH was fully on board. She didn't even warm up to me until we were at the restaurant and things were going well. She did send DH an e-mail Saturday saying we should stop by her house afterwards so they could play with the baby (during what would need to be her naptime, but she endured and I finally got her caught up on sleep yesterday) We ended up having our own room and a good time. Bill was way under what we had figured. Everybody got to eat what they wanted and below is a pic of the mini princess tortes me, mom, and stepdad slaved over. Took a while to get them right with our recipe and translating it to American Ingredients and temperatures etc.

{{gwi:1535140}}

That is GORGEOUS!! and I'm so glad that you had a good time :-)

Your MIL will get over it, lol! Thanks for posting, I was definately thinking of you and hoping all went well. That torte is gorgeous!

That torte is lovely and I'm glad you got time to enjoy the party yourself.

As L mentioned, your MIL will get over it. Hugs to that baby, who missed her nap to play with Grandma. I used to keep Makayla up all the time, LOL, because we were too busy to take a nap. Not Bud, he got too cranky!

Amanda's rule was always that if I interrupted naptime and the kids were crabby, I had to take them and deal with it!

Annie