I think it depends on how many guests. Since you are nervous though, why not invest in a soup tureen? It would make things less chaotic.

If you buy it, make it a point to use it.

As I recall you are serving more than one kind of soup. I would serve the soup from the stove. Tureens will not keep the soup hot for very long at all.

If you have the money to buy the tureen and space to store it, why not get it?

The Le Creuset is a really nice looking tureen.

That said, I'd just as soon take my LC dutch oven from the stove to the table, or fill bowls in the kitchen.

You can't go wrong if the soup's delicious!

Is it for the holiday? You might check out QVC for inexpensive temptation pieces. I have 2 a chicken and a pig. The smaller pieces or bowls I keep candy pieces out for my great nephew as he loves little pieces of candy. He will lift the lid and look inside and then at me and Of course I shake my head yes. Yes I spoil the little ones. They all know that aunt mary has candy. The bowls work well for soup.

I was in a thrift store Saturday and saw a very beautiful tureen. It was flawless and appeared to be brand new, marked $5. You might want to check those types of places.

How about those small 1.5 qt slow cookers? WalMart has them on sale for around $10 .

You could do what I always did for large parties. Use a hot plate. Put your soup tureen on the heated hot plate along with the soup bowls and dish it up from there. Not only is your delicious soup served hot...what remains in the tureen will stay hot if some want a second serving. I don't know if hot plates are still an "item". I've never parted with mine and it's been a Godsend on more than one occasion....especially during holiday dinners. I've always had a sideboard or similar shelf area in my dining rooms so it's been easy to set up and use the hot plate almost at the table itself.

I like it when my serving pieces go with the tablesettings, but when I serve mobs I use whatever I have. I have a beautiful big tureen that's too big for less than ten and too small for the whole mob. When I have soup for a couple of dozen at sit down, a couple of people help get it out, carrying the bowls several on a tray from the kitchen. There are occasional log jams, like when some guy decides it's the perfect time to stand in the middle of the path pouring himself a glass of milk, but it works quite well. I don't put the soup plates out, however, but have them stacked on the counter ready to go out.

Another way to handle it is family style--if you have ladles. Put a pot or bowl of soup, enough for about five people for each group of people along the table and let them help themselves. This works fine if you have the right sized ladles--the kinds with the hook ends are best so they don't fall in. Any bigger is a no go because it's too heavy to pass.

They still sell hot trays for serving. They're not fashionable, but they're very functional.

Thank you, plllog. It's been a while since I shopped for entertainment pieces. It's nice to know it's still a serviceable item. :-)

LOL! Anne, there you go! Keep up the sense of humor and everything will be all right. The most important thing is to try not to rush. Make a menu in big letters that you can look at, and include the little things like lemon wedges for the tea, or whatever little things you expect to serve. Then you won't need to think while people are asking you questions about totally different things.

I also write down a timetable of when each thing has to go in the oven, or fridge (to chill but no room before something else comes out), or stove or on the table. Another list has the names and phone numbers of all the guests so it's easy to tell if someone is missing and even check to see if they need help or are stuck in bad traffic or whatever.

Do as much as you can ahead of time. If you have room take out your serving pieces, including utensils, and match them with what's going in them well ahead of time. If people will be helping you dish up, put labels on them. Organization and lists are great crutches to keep you going. :)

And keep a smile and a ready pun and all will be well.

I vote for the slow cookers.

Whether dinner is being served buffet-style or sit-down style, if soup is being served as a first course, there's no need for a means to keep it hot for an extended period. The individual portions are all taken at one time, it's hot as its served (as it comes out of the pot into a serving piece or not). Unless you're serving a huge crowd and it takes a long time until the last person gets their portion.

As far as tureen or no tureen, people are more likely to keep a memory of how delicious the soup was or wasn't and less likely to remember what it was served in. Just my opinion. If you do use a tureen, pre-warm it (as with a teapot) with hot water so that the hot soup doesn't cool when poured into it.

(PS - what kind of soup are you making?)

I would use a tray and carry in 4 bowls of soup at a time. That way. The rest of the soup stays hot whether your using slow cookers or not. As suggested above, have all of your serving pieces set out , ready to use. I always had as much as possible done beforehand . Coffee maker was ready to go, just had to be turned on , having a list of things to do each day and the day of, was very helpful to me so a detail was not overlooked.

I'm a sucker for presentation; I can't help it.....it's just me and I like me, lol. I have three tureens, each with an entirely different personality from the others.

I like to bring the tureen to the center of the table and serve from there. White can be dressed up for holidays, any holiday, so think about that.

Of course, serving a large crowd requires different accomodations. A side table or counter is a good place to plug in slow cookers or hot plate thingies.

I am serving four.

When I serve soup, I leave it in the crock pot...if you are able to leave it plugged in, the soup will stay hot better....relax and enjoy your guests.

Crock pots, beg, borrow or steal from your friends! You've given me a great idea for what to serve at my next card party here. Last 2 times I did salads and did breakfast (everyone was so surprised),

Oh, Anne, four is easy! I thought you were serving at least a dozen. Do you have any kind of stoneware or china serving bowl that's taller than it is flat? You can use that instead of a tureen if you want a pretty vessel on your table. Remember to put the vessel or tureen in a warming drawer/oven, or fill it with hot water and let it sit for a couple of minutes, to warm it up so your soup doesn't get cold on the way to the table. For four people, however, carrying the filled soup plates in from the kitchen is also no biggie.

Thanks! I didn't know about fill it up with hot water and warming it. Yes. Just four. But I've never done this before so I am nervous.