How do you get an invite?

"I would not be surprised if guests stay beyond 11 PM, which means they may continue to graze."

I would not be serving food at that hour. And be careful about serving more alcohol that late, too. But it sounds very nice!

For my parties like that, it doesn't sound like enough food for 50 people -- although I don't usually go heavy with desserts. I think you may be sorry if you make fewer of anything than you have guests (i.e., 50 people and 24 of either kind of potato stack), and I've never seen pasta dishes as hors' d'oeuvre so I don't know how I'd figure the amount of that needed, but one recipe doubled is only 24oz pasta. The 20 lbs of wings seems to make up the bulk of the food -- but then again, it's for 50 people. Are they big eaters?

What age are your guests? That will help to determine the amount that they might eat.

Here are my thoughts: Go heavy on the charcuterie board. Dried fruit, not berries, little dishes of caponata (store bought), olives, salami, prosciutto, parma, etc. Dips for the veggies? You can always add a Honey Baked ham or a protein that will serve a lot of folks. We host a big New Year's day open house and usually have at least 1/2 of a ham sliced with some mustards and halved buns or rolls along with other foods.

Trader Joe's makes some excellent appetizers. Their stuffed mushrooms and spanakopita are very good.

I agree that 24 potato stacks isn't enough if you have the appetizers as stated. Folks will nibble! As it's Valentine's Day weekend, in what way are you planning to highlight hearts and or red foods? If you could do your veggie platter or basket in a heart shape, that would be very cute!

I have done more than a few parties like this....you are a hostess with the mostess!

20 LBS of wings? That's 4# each? Over kill...10 or 12 pounds will be more than enough.
I hate to have a food item that isn't enough for every one.....think I might ditch the potato stacks....unless you are depending on them for people who will call your party dinner.
I think I would do the wings....and your lovely charcuterie board....and the crudites with maybe 2 or 3 dips....and perhaps include some home made bread sticks on that platter.
I don't see any things to put in a bowl for just munching....like snack mix, spiced nuts, edamami.
Love all the cheese cakes!!
I would not pickle the veggies but definitly blanch things like green beans and broccoli. I would make the cheese cakes tomorrow and freeze....they freeze well and will take a little of the last minute pressure off. And I would make the chicken wings on Friday in that time slot.
Those late staying guests, in my experience, mostly are looking to kick back and talk with old friends. Unless they were late arriving, they won't likely want food but to clean up the last of the stuff in the dishes. But again, in my experience, they are thirsty! I always have some tea made to pour over ice and lots of club soda and lime>
Sounds like a lovely party!! Please tell me you will be using real plates and glasses!

You know the eating habits of your guests best, but it looks a little light to me, too, on the quantities for the hot bits. There are two methods which I've found to work: A few things for all, or tons of stuff, get it while you can. That is, two or three different protein hors d'oeurve per person (exclusive of the charcuterie) and one or two others, or enough of any one dish to serve a few dozen, constantly being replaced through the evening. The latter is more work, but less figuring. If you really think that your crowd will graze more and not go for the hots that much, it might work as you've stated, but I'd have a few things that go freezer to oven and are ready in less than 15 minutes, just in case. If you freeze in foil pans, that makes it that much quicker.

Recommendation: That basket of crudités looks beautiful, but it also looks hard to deal with, like once the top few bits are gone people are going to have to dig through. If they're naturally uninhibited or well lubricated, it's not such a big problem. OTOH, you could do a similar casual and beautiful arrangement on a tray (which you'd mentioned as an alternative)and make it much easier to serve. Tongs are also very useful. Much better than pickle forks or spoons. If you don't have pretty ones, the clear plastic ones work really well and are inconspicuous.

You might think about having some specific things for late night snacks. Nothing heavy if people are driving, or high sugar or high fat, which can make people sleepy. Crunchy is good. Suggestions: These honey spiced almonds are really good. Coffee and biscotti. Parmesan crisps. Popcorn. Lady apples. That kind of thing. A bit of a pick-me-up, but not another meal.

Re the plan, do yourself a favor and shop for the alcohol, cheese and dried fruit on the weekend before--or this week if you have time! You may want to buy some or all of the produce on the weekend, too. Get the heavy stuff out of the way, and if things need ripening you have time. Get someone else to bring the ice--it's a perfect sibling/best friend kind of job.

Since they're going to be reheated, and you're planning on chilling the cooked wings anyway, I'd make them Friday, and prep as much as possible, even if it's just mise en place, for the potato stacks and spinach balls Saturday morning.

Also, unless you have a real conflict, you can do any furniture arranging and bar setup (other than chilled things/ice) way ahead of time, like Wednesday or Thursday, and put the tableware on a tray or box on the buffet (with a towel over if needed). Why should you do more than remove the tray and make pretty on the day of?

The more you do ahead of time, especially if it's fiddly, the less frazzled you could potentially get by the time the guests arrive. Remember to plan on time for answering a bunch of phone calls from guests on Friday and Saturday. It takes a lot of time you need to put in your prep schedule.

Lists and organization are key. You have that down pat. I'm sure it'll be a lovely party!

Maybe heavy hors' d'oeurve isn't the right classification.

So, more potato stacks, increase size of pasta dishes, and yes, do the cheese and charcuterie. We have some excellent stores for cheeses and charcuterie and all that one would like to go with that in our area.

Guests ages will range from 30's to late 50's mainly, with a handful of kids.

Maybe I should plan something to bring out for the late crowd. Not sure what that would be.

I'll check out Trader Joe's. Thanks for the idea.

A ham would help, although my BF doesn't eat ham. There are plenty of things he can eat besides ham. And yes, dips for the veggies.

I've thought about making a variety of cookies and chocolate dipped strawberries to add to the sweets. I could also make cupcakes. I had them on my list at one point. If I do this I want a good (and easy) recipe for frosting that I can pipe onto them. Does anyone have a recipe like that?

Thanks so much for your input and ideas!

Linda and plllog, we were paying at the same time. Thanks for the feedback and ideas. Mulling things over. :)

Cookies and cupcakes are great on a buffet because they're so easy to pick up and nibble. Do you need more sweets? You know your crowd. I'd think you had plenty, because my people would only take a tasting sliver of each cake. If your guests are more the kind who want a full serving of each and think of cookies as garnish, that's a different story. Re the frosting, start a new thread just on that question, and search past threads. There have been many good ones posted over the years.

There's plenty else for your BF if you want the ham. That would certainly bump up the protein ratio. An alternative is a smoked turkey, if you have someplace good to buy one, though someone has to carve. But if it fits your budget, you could also just boost the charcuterie content (buy more meat and replenish regularly), or add some ham into that.

If you're counting portions, kids 10 and under usually count as half of an adult, though I have a cousin who at age 7 could eat a trucker under the table.

I agree, I'd add some thinly sliced ham and rolls, or go heavy on the charcuterie. I also agree that you need enough of everything for everyone to have one. Are you thinking that the pasta eaters would pass up potatoes and vice versa? I'm not sure I'd eat white potatoes and pasta at the same meal, but I wouldn't hesitate to convince myself that sweet potatoes are different. (grin)

I'm one of those people who never want to run out of anything, I always want there to be enough and a bit more, so I'd keep the 20 pounds of wings too. There just isn't a whole lot of meat on wings, lots of bones and skin. And I also think you should do those on Friday, and give yourself extra time on Saturday, as well as shop in advance for non-perishable things or things like cheese that won't spoil.

Frosting for the cupcakes? I'm assuming you want a buttercream type? One "trick" I just learned is to use flavored coffee creamer in buttercream in place of some of the milk/cream. The favorite so far has been "sugar cookie" flavor, but the chocolate raspberry was good too. It doesn't crust as well, but it's easy to work with and gives a different flavor than the extracts. Mine is just butter, powdered sugar, cream and flavoring. A cup of fat to 4 cups of powdered sugar, the flavoring and enough cream to get the consistency you want. You can use shortening in place of half the butter if you want that consistency, my family actually likes it better than the "all butter" version. Heretics.....

Anyway, the menu sounds lovely, as does the party. Have fun!

Annie

Cheryl, I think that Pillog, Annie and LindaC have given you some great input. You're certainly on the right track and smart to ask if you're on target. These women are experts in serving large groups!

I thought of another easy dip that you might want to add. I made a hot artichoke and parmesan cheese dip that was a hit at two holiday parties this year. I didn't quite follow a recipe, but winged it. Basically, it was chopped canned artichoke hearts, a package of frozen chopped spinach (drained and squeezed dry), mayonnaise, garlic, lemon juice and parmesan cheese mixed together and baked in an shallow dish until warm and crusty. Serve it with garlic pita crisps. Simple and easy to prepare earlier in the day.

I agree wholeheartedly with adding cookies to the desserts and snacky things like spiced nuts, popcorn or edamame. Add a bowl of grapes to your charcuterie board. I think you'll find that the late guests will definitely nibble at the grapes, cookies and nuts. Will you have a pot of coffee going?

Here, I'd have something like bite sized sausage rolls/mini hot dogs / pigs in blankets/devils on horseback waiting in the fridge that I could shove in the oven if people

1 looked very hungry

2 the food was running out

3 people arrived late/stayed late

I could then freeze what didn't get eaten for later.

It sounds wonderful.

It sounds wonderful, what time should I show up?

I second the ham, and the cheese and fruit charcuterie - make sure some of the fruit is fresh (grapes?), as some folk may find dried fruit to be cloying and unpleasantly textured.

Maybe instead of potato and sweet potato stacks, make then all one or the other -that way, there'll be enough. (I'd vote sweet potato, especially as you have a fair amount of pasta.)

I had a big party like this, and luckily my friend who should be a personal life coach, urged me to simplify. I am so glad she did. Why do two pasta dishes? Twice the work. One big one. Why do two potato dishes, same reason. Spinach balls, I would love, but a lot of folks don't like spinach. I know, I don't get it either, but to maximize the number of people I could feed per unit of work involved putting it together, I would not do spinach, but instead make a cold cut tray and some rolls, or some kind of pulled meat and buns. I do crockpot shredded beef and then serve it with wraps and sides and folks can make their own stuff. If you want to do another easy peasy thing, buy some pre-made pie/quiche crusts and you can throw together a couple of different types of quiches by just adding different styles of shredded cheese and different mixes of frozen veggies or ham or shrimp, whatever. Quiche can be made the day before and served at room temp. Cut thin slices.

quiche is a great idea!!!

l pinkmountain, funny you said to simplify, because that's exactly what I've been doing this morning.

I have decided to make one kind of potato stack, using alternating layers of sweet potato and probably a golden or russet. I will make 5-6 pans (60-72) of them. They're rather simple. I can make them ahead of time and reheat. These are so adorable and pleasing to the eye, that I really don't want to drop them from the menu.

I will make all 20 lbs of wings, because when it comes to wings there isn't much substance to them. I'm not concerned with leftovers, because the kids love them and I've had a 10 year old asking me all through our kitchen renovation when I'm going to make them again.

I'm adding Turkey Ham Sandwiches to the mix. These can be assembled the day before, or day-of, and heated before serving. They'll also taste good if they are served at room temperature.

I'm keeping the vegetable tray w/ two kinds of dips, and the cheese and charcuterie board (5 cheeses, 2 sausage types) which will include grapes, raspberries, black berries, blueberries, dried Michigan cherries, apricots, nuts, olives, honey, bruschetta and likely some breadsticks or straws. Water crackers?

Sweets: I think I'm going to stick to the 6 cheesecakes, chocolate covered strawberries, broken dark chocolate bars, and the Black Russian bundt cake. I just don't think I'm up to making cookies with new ovens that I'm unfamiliar with. Do I need more than this? I could make another type of bundt cake.

Should I add some chips and dips?

Yeah, chips and dip are practically another no-brainer. I made a curried dip by mixing sour cream with mango chutney, and served it with sweet potato chips and other colored potato chips, a slightly unique take on an old stand by.

Edited to add that at my party, I had cake, fruit, candy, a cookie tray and a tart. Guests only ate one kind of dessert, and it was the cake.

Your new plan sounds great.

Chips depend on the guests. Some scarf them up. Others won't touch them. They're cheap and easy, however, and if you have guests who insist that they must bring something, they're easy to assign out. :) Be prepared with a couple of big bowls for the chips and places to put them because people bringing bags don't usually think to bring serving pieces.

Unless you have real sweets hounds who would rather eat them than dinner, I wouldn't worry about having more. It does work best to put them out after the guests have had at least one round of the full buffet, and can really wait until you're ready for a dessert and coffee service. If you want to leave the food for later arrivals, rearrange it to make it pretty again while the coffee is brewing, and perhaps remove a few dishes from the buffet by combining if you need to make room. Having a separate table for the coffee and dessert service makes it easier, however. You can set up the coffee cups, dessert plates, napkins, coffee spoons and dessert forks there, ahead of time. Waiting to put out the cakes, etc., keeps them looking nice. If you put them out ahead, even under domes, unless you have exceedingly polite guests who wouldn't dream of touching them before dinner, they can be ravaged looking by the time most of the company gets a chance to see them. People will take smaller servings of sweets if they've already satisfied their basic hunger, and anticipation of lovely desserts entices people to "save room", so it helps a lot with managing quantities.

Since you have an open time....as in 7 to 11...I would certainly put the sweets out at the beginning. Some may come to your party after having dinner some where else.
As for chips and dips? Naah! They are so very 70's and teen age party or Super Bowl special. Everything else is very nice, don't spoil it with chips and dips...or little smokies in grape jelly BBQ sauce!

Okay - so I'm old. I HATE parties like this - tons of food but one is still hungry because the party was at dinnertime and there is not enough "real" food to make a dinner. This will be especially so for the children.

Chicken wings? Do you realize how messy they are? That would be great for an all-outdoor party, but all those greasy, saucy hands in your house? And with children? Your poor furniture!

It would be fine for a 5-7 party, but you need to feed your guests dinner. You need something easy to eat sitting on the floor or on furniture - something that will fit on one place and require nothing more than a fork. Lasagna is always a winner - perhaps do a white one - no tomato sauce on your furniture. A salad and bread to go with it. Then lots of small desserts - finger foods.

Limit your drinks as well unless you are hiring bartenders. Wine, beer, something non-alcoholic.

Heavy hors d'ouvres are never heavy enough to be a substitute for dinner. At the very least, have turkey, beef tenderloin and ham on dollar rolls available, too.

Def a cheese and charcuterie board! I love all the desserts. I would totally skip the pastas...seems too heavy and a buzz kill ;) this dip has been a favorite of our friends and great for those wanting to include clean eating options in between the splurges. I serve with whole wheat scoops chips.

Cowboy Cavier

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (11 ounce) can yellow shoepeg corn, drained
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 small bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion

• 1 (2 ounce) jar chopped pimento peppers
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Combine the black beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, shoepeg corn, celery, cilantro, red and yellow bell peppers, green onion, pimento peppers, jalapeno pepper, and garlic in a large bowl. Set aside.Bring the rice vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt, and black pepper to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. All to cool to room temperature, then pour over the bean mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Drain before serving

Also, I was just at a fairly upscale event at a museum and they served this: i like ina garters roasted tomato soup this time of year. You could have in crockpot to ladle into cups as needed.

Pitchers of prosecco with pomegranate or red currant juice would make a celebratory welcome cocktail and pretty, too!...or Kir royal

1. 
   Have too much fun!

Linda brings up a good point. Your guests do know that you're feeding them, right? My suggestion for putting out the sweets later meant like an hour later, not way late. :)

Congrats on the new kitchen. Looks fantastic especially for parties. (just saw the post on the kitchen forum...getting ideas for an up-coming reno)

Good to combine the potato stacks. I've made them and use both combined. For a larger crowd i usually make them as baked fries but i have some vintage snowcone holders that are cool looking with a parchment fold.

You have lots of counter space so all can be arranges out. Good way to break your kitchen in. Sounds like you have been without for a while.

I do like to do much more ahead of time. And less things that need a plate and fork. I had a small gang last Sunday for the game and did AllBalls. : ) 'global balls' we called it making fun of a restaurant that has on their menu 'Global Cuisine'. I made a basic meatball, lamb sausage balls, porcini risotto balls, spinach ones, and a falafel. All made as meals for us over the past few weeks and froze the extras for the party. Three sauces. Salsa, yogurt/cucumber, and hummus.

I like to set everything out and somewhat planned for placement the night before in case something is missing. (i was low on toothpicks). And we like kitchen clean, dishwasher run and empty by noon the day of. Something always comes up or eliminated....i opted out of making spring rolls and just made veggie platters, the cheeses and charcuterie. Like you, all prepped the night before. Ran out of steam Sat night so had to make hummus Sun morning. (beans were cooked and fridged). Made fresh pickles and DH decided to make focaccia. (big hit but a risk using a new oven). Last minute BagnaCoda for the veggies.

I did have brioche slider rolls and naan but put out some Boston and red leaf lettuce for hand roll wraps for this not wanting so much bread, (me). Since i had all the ingredients for spring rolls anyway.

I did the grilled cheese last early Fall with fresh garden tomato soup. That is a great one and the focaccia make super grilled cheese. Pesto/mozzarella and ham/gruyere...both with a fresh tom slice.

....ideas for another party. You seem set for this one.

I do like the stuffed shells but i would use shells for both. Two fillings, two separate trays but simpler prepping just shells instead of the penne.

Spring rolls i made a couple weeks ago.

quick pickles

Impressed by your dessert making skills. I do make chocolate truffles once or twice a year but lately i just have a chocolate bar tasting. NewYears i must have had a dozen. Broken into bits in bowls with the wrapper under. (the one thing i can't purchase to far in advance)...the fig pistachio one is empty since i ate it. : )

Anglophilia, I think you missed the post where I said I was adding sandwiches.

plllog, I don't think I want to hold back on setting the sweets out. I would need to be aware of timing and it might take some effort to get things arranged like I would like. I'll have greater peace of mind if it's all set up and ready to go.

Yes, guests know that we're feeding them. :)

sleevendog (5a NY), oh wow! So many delicious looking pics! That focaccia looks amazing. I've never made it before. I just did a search for recipes and it looks simple enough, but maybe not something I should attempt for the first time for this party. Those spring rolls are beautiful. Are they hard to make? Those quick pickles, did you post a recipe about them a few weeks back? Link?

The cheesecakes may not end up happening. I'm up against the clock and there are not enough hours in the day this week it seems. If I skip the cheesecakes, then I'll probably do some cakes or cupcakes in their place. I have ordered these cute papers in case I go that route.

I'm not doing the pasta dishes, just the scalloped potato stacks. Although I was tempted to drop the potato stacks for this:

I forgot to mention that I am adding turkey/spinach meatballs. I made them last weekend and froze them, so they are ready to go. These are a family favorite. I wasn't going to make them, but when I mentioned them I got urged to make them, so yeah, meatballs.

ahglophyle...I Loooove the never ending cocktail party!! and if you think there is never enough to eat, either you're not trying or you haven't been to one of my parties!
And when I had kids around, toddlers through teens, they loved it too!
As a matter of fact, when our oldest was about 4 we started doing a "cocktail buffet" for Christmas Eve dinner. The young ones were so hyped they didn't want to sit still for dinner ( we open gifts on Christmas Eve), but they would eat some carrots and dip and cheese fondue and tiny meatballs and hot dog bites dipped into the cheese sauce, and shrimp....and later on when they were older, we grilled a chunk of beef filet and made sliders with the dinner rolls made for dinner on Christmas Day. And a dinner club I used to belong to, loved that sort of party so well we would each invite another couple and make an each make an appetizer in addition to the host's 4 and we would have a lovely feast.
I have had 35 people eat 4 pounds of poached salmon, 3 pounds of meatballs, 3 pounds of shrimp about 3 dozen small ham sliders, 5 pounds of chicken wings and half a bushel of raw vegetables not to mention crackers and such...Oh and there was a crab mousse I remember and another hot hors'douvre....and in the midst of the crazyness I was frying egg rolls!!
If you went away hungry from that ti was your own dumb fault!

What is the budget? Food + drinks + paper plates + napkins + + + + ?

50 x $10 = $500.00

50 x $20 = $1,000

dcarch

So far around $600. I think I've bought most everything we'll need, but there are no doubt some things that have been overlooked.

I was just posting things i've made recently. I've made spring rolls for 20 yrs and usually are my 'take to a party' treat. Best to practice and nail it before trying something new. I did take some pics for that batch but thought i would take some more pics before posting a tutorial but ended up not making them for the Sunday fest.

I was waiting this morning for some laundry to finish so i was killing time so i could shower....big snow storm tomorrow and then off to the market to stock up. Crazy 60 and sunny all day right now!

Good choice on the added family favorite meatballs. I finally figured out a good falafel over the holidays so froze that one.

...that was yesterday

Your salad looks great!

Shoveling snow all morning, turn around and more snow. 145+ accidents reported.

I also like grazing parties. It is a meal in any order you want. Enough variety can please all. Prepped ahead and frozen and cheeses, meats have a long fridge life...in case a storm causes a cancelation.

sleevendog (5a NY), I definitely want to make some of the things you posted in the near future. We're having a bitterly cold day today here in WI, but tomorrow and Saturday are supposed to be quite warm.

I'm waiting for the clock to tick down to the end of the day so I can go home and start cooking and prepping. I can't wait! :)