Alfredo sauce is one of the easiest sauces to make, but it is a last minute thing. My recipe serves 4:

1/4 lb. butter
1/2 pint whipping cream
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter and add cream. Stir and keep warm. Add cheese and stir.

It's that easy (this recipe is from a very good local restaurant). I add a generous grind of black pepper after the fettuccine Alfredo is plated. I would add grilled chicken breast to this, but I live in FL and can grill year around. You may not have that opportunity.

Good luck with this dinner!

Oh another thing! The restaurant always serves an antipasto tray that includes marinated veggies. That's easy to do too!

1lb vegetables (carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, or celery)
4 small cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife handle and peeled
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 cup good quality olive oil
Peel and cut vegetables into similar sized shapes. I steam the veggies-- 2 min for celery, yellow squash; 3 min for carrots, cauliflower and zucchini. When done steaming, dump into large bowl filled with water and ice. Drain the vegetables and place in a deep serving dish (I use glad bowls with a tight lid). Bury the garlic in the vegetables, add salt and pepper to taste, oregano, vinegar and olive oil. Stir well. Refrigerate and allow to marinate at least overnight. Stir occasionally (or shake the covered bowl) removing the garlic after 24 hours. Just make sure all veggies are at least temporarily covered with herbs and oil. I try not to drown the veggies in olive oil. Drain and serve at room temperature.

This can be made 2-3 days in advance.

Agree with Beachlily, alfredo is a last minute thing, at least for me.

When I was in high school my date's parents put on a spaghetti feed at their home before our junior prom. They decorated their garage to look like an Italian restaurant. They, along with a couple other sets of parents, were our servers and all had white aprons and white napkins over one arm. The tables had red and white checked table clothes, jarred candles, fancy china and fancy wine glasses for our water or sodas. They had also set up a beverage bar, with a 'bartender'.

And it was probably the best spaghetti I've ever had. They used angel hair pasta instead of the regular spaghetti pasta, several types of salads, plain and garlic bread, as well as dinner rolls. Shaved parmesan cheese if we wanted, as well as two of the dads did the fresh ground pepper grinding. I vaguely remember some other food items but honestly can't remember what they were (shoot, that was in '66) It really was terrific and saved all the kids (and their parents money). I'm guessing that there was anywhere from 25-30 teens there.

When it was time to leave for the dance, they opened the garage door and a stretch limo was sitting in front, much to all our surprise. It was the very first time I had even seen a stretch limo. Most of the kids left their cars (if they had come in one) at that house and went in the limo. Which was the whole idea as all the parents preferred that someone else do the driving that night.

The following year the same parents rented a room at a really nice restaurant so that all the kids could have a special dinner before going to their special senior ball. Very elegant and from what I remember, the food was top notch. Instead of the teens having to pay a lot of $$$ the couples only paid $20, if I remember correctly, to help defray the costs.

So maybe spaghetti, meatballs, etc? Or if the alfredo isn't a go, maybe a stroganoff over either rice or noodles? Or maybe both as not all kids will like what's being served.

Jenna

If he wants Chicken Alfredo, why not do it as a casserole? You could make all the components early in the day, assemble when it's time to pop it in the oven.

You could use those yummy Costco rotisserie chickens instead of doing your own...$4.99 each - you can't beat it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken Alfredo Casserole

I agree, Alfredo is best as a last minute sauce, so if you don't have time for that with that many kids then the casserole would be a good idea. Here chicken Alfredo is nearly always something that contains broccoli, I don't know why, but if you want something green in it, that would work as a vegetable.

I think grilled chicken would be delicious in the dish, but as beachlily pointed out, not everyone can grill all the time, nor do they even want to sometimes, LOL. Like me, I refuse to grill, hate the process, won't do it. The rotisserie chickens would work for me!

When Ashley was in high school we had a couple of Homecoming dinners here with friends. Hers were usually only about a dozen, though, and for some reason spaghetti must be universal because I remember making that for one dinner. Green salad, garlic bread and we had dessert. Darned if I remember for sure, but I'm betting it was tiramisu.

Annie

That's adorable. I believe Alfredo was my 'adult' favorite at that age. Mature mac-n-cheese.
Butter, cream and parm should re-heat fine if it has a bit of stock in it? Re-heat very slow.
I always see it in the Italian markets on their fresh sauce fridge shelf.
Restaurants often have pasta done ahead al-dente, then do a quick drop in boiling water. Pastas with a longer 10-12min cooking time would be easier to control a re-heat.
Grilled chicken breast is an easy do-ahead also. Packed into a roasting pan with a bit of stock drizzled with olive oil should keep it moist. Re-heat in the oven along with garlic bread wrapped in foil?
It's a catering choice around here for weddings and such so it must be an easy prep ahead meal. I would think the sauce could be done ahead and heated in a crock pot for easy serving. One version uses cream cheese. Maybe that keeps it fluid.
I would do a trial run for the family prepped ahead and see if it passes inspection, ; )
What veggies do teens like? I would probably do asparagus from Costco. Very adult.
(at least it freezes nice if they don't eat much of it)

Little parm meatballs go well with Alfredo also. I prefer to bake them in the oven, less mess.

Here is a link that might be useful: tiny meatballs

Here it is. This one holds up in the fridge a few days and even freezes well. (never tried that as it is so easy to make day of) but for a crowd i would want something besides the traditional butter/cream that might separate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alfredo Sauce

Another idea would be chicken tetrazzini casserole that can be frozen ahead. A big salad, maybe green beans as a vegetable, rolls or French bread slices and dessert would make a nice dinner.

I know everyone likes spaghetti with sauce and/or meatballs, but these young people are going to be in their party clothes, right? No matter how much you try to be neat, tomato sauce can still splatter your clothing.

Here is a link that might be useful: my favorite recipe for chicken tetrazzini

Teresa I had the same thought about the red sauce!

Is grilling an option? If so, one idea for a protein to go with the Alfredo would be shrimp. Pre-skewered and seasoned, you could easily turn out 28 portions in under ten minutes. Even at that age I think most kids would like shrimp. But I would ask, offering chicken to those who don't do seafood. Not the cheapest option (probably about nine pounds of larger shrimp) but dead easy and it would make the meal slightly upscale to match the event.

I think pasta, antipasto, a good bread and something for dessert (ice cream or sherbet) would be a good menu. Perhaps a choice of two pastas, one with meat and one vegetarian (fettucine alfredo) would be good.

Alfredo is pretty simple but I suggest a practice run if you haven't made it before. You don't want be dealing with any unexpected outcomes after the guests have arrived.

I have no solution for the drip problem Teresa raises if you have a red sauce. Just let them take their chances I guess, and have some club soda on hand for clean-ups.

Jim

Thank you all so much for your replies and ideas! Unfortunately, I ended up getting sick at the beginning of the week and thought it was best to cancel while they still had time to make other plans--thank goodness I did as I would have never been able to pull it off with feeling so yucky all week!

I have printed off all of your replies as he will have 2 more dances this year and I have a feeling we will be having kids here for at least one of them.

Thank you again--I so appreciate the time you all take to reply! :)

We did something like this when our daughter asked. We bought sparkling apple juice and put out our champagne glasses and formal dinnerware for the 8 kids who dined on lasagna, salad and some kind of kid approved dessert. They had a nice start to their evening.