Cooking for 100 people?@!!????

[TimeforMe]

Well, we're having a big graduation party for my dd at the end of June. There'll be dinner, a dj, etc. Yesterday DH and I finally sat down to go over the menu and expenses. Yowza What the heck was I thinking? Anyway, after the initial shock wore off, we've opted to do the cooking ourselves. We might have around 100 people with most of them being teens. There might be as little as 80 depending on how many don't come. Here's the menu we were considering: (keep in mind the party starts at 6:00 and "officially" ends at 10:00 (we're renting a location on the beach in our town) appetizers such as cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, buffalo wings. Main Course: penne pasta, meatballs, bbq chicken, kielbasa and sauerkraut, tossed salad and either a spiral ham or eggplant rollatini. For dessert: cake and a chocolate fountain with fruit for dipping. My question is: is this a good variety? how many trays of each should I make? Help!!! All suggestions welcome!

 

[LBAK]

My 19 yo Dd just read this post with me and she said if it were me she would tell me to lose the kielbasa for the kids and replace it with sausage and peppers. No eggplant rolotini, yes to spiral ham and make some homemade mac and cheese. Now me as an adult, I love kielbasa and eggplant rolotini. Go figure She also suggested pigs in the blanket for an appetizer. Not sure if that helped or not. good luck!

 

[golfgal]

WOW, you go all out. Most grad parties around here have some kind of a sandwich, a couple salads and cake. No one hires DJ's and they usually just have the party at their home.

I like you menu but I would also get rid of the eggplant unless you know everyone or most everyone likes it. Around here it would all go to waste. If you want to save money, skip the ham, you have enough other meats that would serve mostly teens. Also, how many other parties will be going on that night? Around here there could be 20 parties in a day and most people don't eat that much at any one party so if you are expecting 100 people, cooking for 80 would be about right because people don't eat much.

 

[TimeforMe]

My 19 yo Dd just read this post with me and she said if it were me she would tell me to lose the kielbasa for the kids and replace it with sausage and peppers.

I LOL at this as we initially had sausage and peppers and DH suggested the kielbasa!

I'm leaning towards the spiral ham myself -- alot easier for me. Ya know, I never thought of mac and cheese but you're right! And it would go along with the ham, too. Any suggestions as to portions?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would skip the eggplant, and keilbasa & kraut. I would say too many main courses. Also you will spend a fortune and it will go to waste.

The BBQ chicken & Penne pasta w/ meatballs & ham is plenty for a main course. Add a side dish.

I would have more appetizers instead, 3 appetizers is a little short for that big of a crowd plus having a DJ.

The salad & dessert sounds great!

 

[Snow Brite]

Cooking for that many, timing is a fine art. Tossed salad as you have listed is perfect! Cheese and crackers, hard to do and not have the cheese going hard. Rotini also hard to get right for a large group, but lasagne is much easier. At a place at the beach are you going to have an oven and a fridge?

What about doing a bbq? Rent a big grill and grill chicken, hot dogs, brats, etc. This is easy to do as people are ready to eat, and is little prep on your part. You could serve fruit salad, pasta salad, potato salad, etc. Appetizers could be little frozen things from Costco that are heated and then transported quickly to the party.

 

[TimeforMe]

Forgot to mention....yes it's a full banquet facility; kitchen with stoves, fridge, ovens, etc. I think grilling would be too much of a pain for DH trying to feed that many people.

Also, the party is going to be at night so I do have to have "dinner" type of foods as opposed to sandwiches, etc. (which is what DH wanted to do). The party will be the week after graduation on a Wednesday night so I don't think there'll be a ton of other parties that night--hope not anyway. I've never given DD a big party such as sweet 16, etc. so this will be a big one for her. Many others around here do this as well. I just want her to have all *her* friends in one place because she's the kind of kid that's always doing for others.

OK--the eggplant is out. In addition to those 3 appetizers, I'll also have chips and dip, tortillas and salsa. Maybe something else?

 

[vald1977]

First congrats to your dd !

I would probably simplify things a bit. I like the idea of the spiral ham. To go with I would do the salad, sweet and sour meatballs (can be done in crockpot), baked beans (also crockpot), pasta and sauce (yup, also in the crockpot) and maybe another type of salad like a pasta salad. I would also do rolls. Your desserts and app.'s sound great. The kids will spend more time dancing than eating I'm guessing .

ETA: I thought you were saying bbq meatballs but it's actually bbq chicken. I would keep that also.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

OK--the eggplant is out. In addition to those 3 appetizers, I'll also have chips and dip, tortillas and salsa. Maybe something else?

That sounds good. Just get some Fritos, Doritos, pretzels, a few different dips.
You could add Queso (cheese sauce) to make Nachos.
Toss it into a crock pot. Kids love this.

OK now I am HUNGRY....

 

[Nancy]

I like to keep it simple for parties. Hot dishes: barbecue chicken or hamburgers, sliced roast beef in gravy is good too. Salads, 1 or 2 hot sides; baked beans, baked ziti or penne. Munchies: taco dip and chips, veggies/dip, fruit/dip and my favorite rye bread with dill dip. Desserts: cake, brownies, fresh fruit.

As for the chocolate fountain...any idea how much chocolate you need for it? No one can ever tell me how much one uses.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

my favorite rye bread with dill dip.

Oh yeah..gotta have the rye round.

 

[TimeforMe]

As for the chocolate fountain...any idea how much chocolate you need for it? No one can ever tell me how much one uses.

The company that we're renting it from supplies the chocolate as well as an attendant so I'm not sure how much chocolate. Sorry.

Thanks for all your replies. I'm actually feeling better about this. I think I can actually pull it off!

 

[barkley]

my rule of thumb when cooking for BIG groups is to plan the menu both around their tastes and what i can freeze if it does'nt get eaten (nothing worse than haveing over have the food go to waste). for that reason i steer away from anything that contains mayo or milk products. any cured meats (some hams freeze o.k. others don't and salami def. does'nt). i'de ditch the cheese and crackers (not many people eat them) and replace them with dips and veggies or spinach dip with french bread. i'de also go with only 2 vegatarian main dishes and 2 meat (penne with a mariana, meatballs on the side, and a second dish, then the bbq wings and maybe the ham or sausage)-you can also do the wings bbq style, hot wing style and terriaki style for variety. a big salad and dessert to top it off.

i steer away from bbq's because it's perpetual on going cooking, plus you have to figure in the cost of the different types of rolls and condiments.

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

Allrecipes (I can't seem to post the URL, sorry) has some great recipes along with a serving converter for each recipe (ie: you can change an 8-serving recipe into an 80-serving recipe) Would that help? Sounds like a really yummy menu you've planned! Good luck!