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Baby Showers
wittyschaffy
member
Shower for 30-40
wittyschaffy
member
in Baby Showers
Hi all - I am throwing a shower for my sister in February but I'm a planner so I'm already starting to think about how I'm going to make food for 30-40 people (family and family friends only). There are 3 girls in my fam so my other sister and I are doing the party hosting and our budget is not large. We were thinking of sandwiches and salads (and dessert of course). As much as I would love to cook and do a plated meal, it is going to be virtually impossible to do with the guest list that large. We have a full kitchen to use plus access to an extra oven but I can't see how to make food for that many on the spot.
We were thinking of doing up a bunch of sandwich fixings but do "real" meat since deli meat is a pregnancy "no no". We were going to smoke a turkey breast, get a nice ham, maybe do a brisket or pulled chicken, set out some great cheese, sliced vegetables and some yummy spreads. We have a bunch of George Foreman grills and we could do paninis for people who wanted them (we figured between all our family grills we could press 8 sandwiches at a time and it would go pretty quick) and that leaves options for people who can't or won't do meat.
I want to avoid having it feel like a church basement lady luncheon but that is really the kind of budget we've got to work with. Mom to be loves panini sandwiches which is what made us think of it in the first place. What do you think? Cool? Lame? Not worth the trouble?
Any ideas for making food for that many if you're not digging the sandwich idea?
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Re: Shower for 30-40
I don't really think it matters if you do the same as the bridal shower. The sandwiches sound like a lot of work (prep to make the fresh meats for that many people plus babysitting the foreman grills). If you really don't want to do exactly the same, you could always do stuffed shells, baked ziti, or manacotti with the same ease...
I don't really think it matters if you do the same as the bridal shower. The sandwiches sound like a lot of work (prep to make the fresh meats for that many people plus babysitting the foreman grills). If you really don't want to do exactly the same, you could always do stuffed shells, baked ziti, or manacotti with the same ease...
You could totally do it again and as someone said you could switch up the pasta or the sauce. I love the red and white sauced mixed. So yummy.
I like this idea!
At one of my showers, which had a similar crowd size, we had a big Salad, with a variety of toppings, Chicken, and the best part (aside from desserts), a mashed potato martini bar!! There were tasty homemade mashed potatoes served in adorable martini glasses, with a bunch of toppings to choose from (chili, ranch dressing, shredded cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, butter, etc..) The mashed potato bar was a total hit with the guests, and satisfied one of my huge cravings!
I really like the sandwich idea. I threw a shower a few years ago and did something similiar. We got most of the ingredients in bulk at Sam's (the buns, meats, and I made their frozen pin wheels and quiches). In my opinion, if it's not at lunch time, guests shouldn't expect a full meal.
I had the shower at my house, but had the food set-up on the kitchen island. I used the majority of my fine china (which I have never used again) to look nice and borrowed a large glass punch bowl. Instead of a cake, she wanted cupcakes. I also had a lot of snack-type foods like chex mix and nuts on the tables. I also made little "pacifiers" out of a lifesaver candy with a jellybeen attached with icing for fun.
Hope this helps, good luck.
I have hosted several larger parties and events and find that the easiest, most cost-effective and well-recieved meals are buffet-style Mexican or Italian meals. I love plated meals, but they are much more time and effort, require more people, and can get confusing for large groups. I have a few professional chafing dishes and other nice serving dishes, so I can set up a pretty buffet.
If I do Italian, I do two kinds of pasta, usually thin spaghetti and fetuccini, with two sauces- marinara and alfredo, with meatballs in the marinara and chicken in the alfredo. I put a lot of sauce in proportion to the meat, that way anyone who wants it meatless can easily get just sauce. I also order the large party salads from Olive Garden; they each feed several, come with a bottle of dressing, as well as a dozen OG breadsticks. You can get the breadsticks cooked or frozen- the frozen ones you pop in the oven, then brush with the butter and garlic that comes with them.
If I do Mexican, I put out rice, black beans (less messy than other types), taco beef, enchilada chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and hot sauce. I have hard shells and tortillas, as well as corn chips. I leave the GF grill out so people can press quesadillas and I put salsa and queso on the tables. I did this for a party of 46 last year with such huge success that the pastor adopted the idea for the couples' Valentines party.
I think everyone likes their food just a certain way, and even after being a waitress, I have no desire to take special orders for 20, 30, 50 people's plated dinners.