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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
I cook for the majority of parties and celebrations. Once a year, we have a party where about 40-50 people are in and out through the day, and I make all appetizers.
However, that is not a full meal; the full crowd is not here the entire time. Even that is a ton of work...even with everything made ahead of time.
I think making a full meal for that many people and heating everything up is going to leave you in the kitchen all day. We recently had two parties...one of about 80 people and one of about 100...no way could I have made adequate food and enjoyed myself.
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Posted 1/3/17 9:47 AM  |
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Long Island Weddings
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pnbplus1
Family
Member since 5/09 5751 total posts
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Mommy
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by FirstMate
I have thrown about 7 huge parties like that at my house. Learn from my mistakes. Definitely cater it. Definitely hire a waitress to help you.
Yes to both!! The stress, the shopping and the cooking, so not worth it in my opinion. We had a party with 70 and never considered cooking ourselves, even with help.
And a waitress definitely helps if you want to enjoy the party. Someone needs to heat everything up, set everything up, help serve it, put out plates, utensils, and then clean it all up! If you do it, you won't enjoy the party and having friends or family help isn't fair to them.
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| Posted 1/3/17 10:03 AM |
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NervousNell
Just another chapter in life..
Member since 11/09 54921 total posts
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..being a mommy and being a wife!
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by pnbplus1
Posted by FirstMate
I have thrown about 7 huge parties like that at my house. Learn from my mistakes. Definitely cater it. Definitely hire a waitress to help you.
Yes to both!! The stress, the shopping and the cooking, so not worth it in my opinion. We had a party with 70 and never considered cooking ourselves, even with help.
And a waitress definitely helps if you want to enjoy the party. Someone needs to heat everything up, set everything up, help serve it, put out plates, utensils, and then clean it all up! If you do it, you won't enjoy the party and having friends or family help isn't fair to them.
I agree with this as well. My parents catered Christmas and even with that, they were in the kitchen most of the time trying to coordinate reheating everything, getting it out, set up etc.
And that was only for 8 people
I can't imagine the coordination that would go into that many people- even catered.
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| Posted 1/3/17 10:17 AM |
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Budjeg11
LIF Adult
Member since 4/11 2644 total posts
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by jamnmore
I cook for every party I do at home. Normally we are about 75-90 people. The cooking before hand is the easy part. But hire a waitress for the day of. That will be a lifesaver. A good waiter/ess will be able to keep the kitchen running smoothly for the day and there will be no stress.
When I hire, she will usually arrive about an hour before the party. We go over everything that needs to be done and she goes to work. She has even watched my son so I could get ready. Costs about $20/hour though I guess it would depend.
Also want to say, I average about $500 when I have my parties. That includes the waitress, all the food, decor, drinks, cake, games and entertainment. I am extremely cost conscious and do my absolute best to save wherever I can. I have only catered one party (baptism thrown together in 2 days). For 40 people it cost me that for food.
That is AMAZING! How you can host a party and provide food and alcohol and entertainment for almost 100 people for $500 is incredible. I thought i was good at efficient party planning but You are my idol!
To the OP-- i have never hosted that many people at home.. but I would say that the most cost effective way to do it and still save your sanity is go with making a few trays of the inexpensive stuff yourself-- like the pasta dishses and salads and order the meat trays from catering. Also mixing it up with heros could help or you could make your own heros. Also check groupon for catering deals. We used a groupon to cater DD2's 1st bday it was terrific!!
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| Posted 1/3/17 3:26 PM |
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jlm2008
LIF Adult
Member since 1/10 5092 total posts
Name:
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by Budjeg11
Posted by jamnmore
I cook for every party I do at home. Normally we are about 75-90 people. The cooking before hand is the easy part. But hire a waitress for the day of. That will be a lifesaver. A good waiter/ess will be able to keep the kitchen running smoothly for the day and there will be no stress.
When I hire, she will usually arrive about an hour before the party. We go over everything that needs to be done and she goes to work. She has even watched my son so I could get ready. Costs about $20/hour though I guess it would depend.
Also want to say, I average about $500 when I have my parties. That includes the waitress, all the food, decor, drinks, cake, games and entertainment. I am extremely cost conscious and do my absolute best to save wherever I can. I have only catered one party (baptism thrown together in 2 days). For 40 people it cost me that for food.
That is AMAZING! How you can host a party and provide food and alcohol and entertainment for almost 100 people for $500 is incredible. I thought i was good at efficient party planning but You are my idol!
To the OP-- i have never hosted that many people at home.. but I would say that the most cost effective way to do it and still save your sanity is go with making a few trays of the inexpensive stuff yourself-- like the pasta dishses and salads and order the meat trays from catering. Also mixing it up with heros could help or you could make your own heros. Also check groupon for catering deals. We used a groupon to cater DD2's 1st bday it was terrific!!
I was thinking that too  Just alcohol alone for 100 people...I mean 2 bottles of liquor I would have already spent $100 easy...not too mention you would have more than 2 kinds, and then wine, beer, mixers, cordials for coffee, etc...
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| Posted 1/3/17 4:37 PM |
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by PennyCat
Posted by NervousNell
Never in my wildest dreams would i cook for a party that size.
I'm not a one woman restaurant.
Cater
I had a total of 4 guests at my house on Friday and we catered for the 7 of us. 
I pretty much cater everything too unless its apps or just my parents coming to dinner.
I even cater when my parents come to dinner
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| Posted 1/3/17 4:38 PM |
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NervousNell
Just another chapter in life..
Member since 11/09 54921 total posts
Name:
..being a mommy and being a wife!
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by jlm2008
Posted by Budjeg11
Posted by jamnmore
I cook for every party I do at home. Normally we are about 75-90 people. The cooking before hand is the easy part. But hire a waitress for the day of. That will be a lifesaver. A good waiter/ess will be able to keep the kitchen running smoothly for the day and there will be no stress.
When I hire, she will usually arrive about an hour before the party. We go over everything that needs to be done and she goes to work. She has even watched my son so I could get ready. Costs about $20/hour though I guess it would depend.
Also want to say, I average about $500 when I have my parties. That includes the waitress, all the food, decor, drinks, cake, games and entertainment. I am extremely cost conscious and do my absolute best to save wherever I can. I have only catered one party (baptism thrown together in 2 days). For 40 people it cost me that for food.
That is AMAZING! How you can host a party and provide food and alcohol and entertainment for almost 100 people for $500 is incredible. I thought i was good at efficient party planning but You are my idol!
To the OP-- i have never hosted that many people at home.. but I would say that the most cost effective way to do it and still save your sanity is go with making a few trays of the inexpensive stuff yourself-- like the pasta dishses and salads and order the meat trays from catering. Also mixing it up with heros could help or you could make your own heros. Also check groupon for catering deals. We used a groupon to cater DD2's 1st bday it was terrific!!
I was thinking that too Just alcohol alone for 100 people...I mean 2 bottles of liquor I would have already spent $100 easy...not too mention you would have more than 2 kinds, and then wine, beer, mixers, cordials for coffee, etc...
That was my thought too.
Booze is expensive. Wine and beer too.
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| Posted 1/3/17 4:40 PM |
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WannaBeAMom11
LIF Adult
Member since 1/11 7391 total posts
Name:
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If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Tips on how to only spend $500 would be awesome. Waitress is quoted at $125 for 5 hours.
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| Posted 1/3/17 8:01 PM |
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MST9106
My life:)
Member since 6/06 9589 total posts
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
You'll end up spending a lot more if you don't cater. Save yourself the headache.
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| Posted 1/3/17 8:45 PM |
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gina409
TWINS!
Member since 12/09 27635 total posts
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Cater. Just not worth the added stress
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| Posted 1/3/17 10:16 PM |
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2BadSoSad
LIF Adult
Member since 8/12 6791 total posts
Name:
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
HA, I cater if I have 10 people over. So DEFINITELY for that many, LOL!
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| Posted 1/3/17 11:30 PM |
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jamnmore
LIF Adult
Member since 6/16 989 total posts
Name:
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by jlm2008
Posted by Budjeg11
Posted by jamnmore
I cook for every party I do at home. Normally we are about 75-90 people. The cooking before hand is the easy part. But hire a waitress for the day of. That will be a lifesaver. A good waiter/ess will be able to keep the kitchen running smoothly for the day and there will be no stress.
When I hire, she will usually arrive about an hour before the party. We go over everything that needs to be done and she goes to work. She has even watched my son so I could get ready. Costs about $20/hour though I guess it would depend.
Also want to say, I average about $500 when I have my parties. That includes the waitress, all the food, decor, drinks, cake, games and entertainment. I am extremely cost conscious and do my absolute best to save wherever I can. I have only catered one party (baptism thrown together in 2 days). For 40 people it cost me that for food.
That is AMAZING! How you can host a party and provide food and alcohol and entertainment for almost 100 people for $500 is incredible. I thought i was good at efficient party planning but You are my idol!
To the OP-- i have never hosted that many people at home.. but I would say that the most cost effective way to do it and still save your sanity is go with making a few trays of the inexpensive stuff yourself-- like the pasta dishses and salads and order the meat trays from catering. Also mixing it up with heros could help or you could make your own heros. Also check groupon for catering deals. We used a groupon to cater DD2's 1st bday it was terrific!!
I was thinking that too Just alcohol alone for 100 people...I mean 2 bottles of liquor I would have already spent $100 easy...not too mention you would have more than 2 kinds, and then wine, beer, mixers, cordials for coffee, etc...
That was my thought too.
Booze is expensive. Wine and beer too.
We don't have liquor because no one drinks it. We buy 2 18 packs of beer and that gets us through the whole day. We also do not buy soda because no one drinks it. We buy water and have iced tea and lemonade. I will make an alcoholic punch for parties hosted in the spring and summer. I host 4 parties a year minimum. I know they are coming and can shop and plan around sales. That makes things a lot more affordable. I usually start shopping about a month in advance. I keep it simple. The menu changes from party to party but there are some things that are at every party. I generally start cooking through the week of the party. And then the day off it is mostly reheating. I do not do pasta dishes because experience has taught me that my guests do not eat them. I learn from each party what people eat or don't eat and tailor around that.
Like I said though, these big parties are planned events and I know they are coming every year. So I always have them in the back of my mind.
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| Posted 1/4/17 11:14 AM |
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hope417
LIF Adolescent
Member since 6/12 718 total posts
Name:
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Re: If you are having a large party at your house do you cater?
I would def cater. I have hosted 25 people and cooked everything and am thoroughly exhausted by the end. Plus I can't imagine doing that with 2 LO's running around, especially a newborn.
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| Posted 1/4/17 12:36 PM |
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