Friday, January 29, 2010

How to Cater a Party

By Gail Johnson

It can seem overwhelming to plan how to cater a party. It's really quite simple if you just take it one element at a time. Here are some steps to follow.

The biggest stumbling block for many is how much food to buy for the number of guests that will be attending. Importantly, 90% of the time, not everyone is going to show up! Of course, you don't want to run out of food either, because that is just a bad situation! If you are going to serve a main meal, just plan on many people not eating too much. More likely, you'll have appetizers and snacks and a lot of people just end up picking at that type of food for the whole party. Planning for a small meal for each, estimating on the low side, is not a bad approach.

Appetizers for the party can easily be found at these types of stores. Everyone likes cheese and crackers. Get some, or one, large cut cheese assortment package and some different types of crackers in bulk. How about getting some individual other cheeses such as goat cheese spreads and fresh mozzarella.

The approach to serving alcoholic beverages is obviously dependent on the crowd that will be attending. If you are going to get a boxed wine, make sure it's a boxed wine that people will say, "I didn't know boxed wine could be so good!" You can get many cheap bottles that are lesser known and still of good quality. Keep in mind that liquor stores will give discounts for buying 12 bottles. As for beer, make sure to accommodate for the sophisticated beer drinkers with some micro brews along with the cheaper domestic brands.

Tables, plastic wear and other essentials to consider: Get yourself a good folding banquet table. These can come in many different styles, sizes, and prices so maybe do a search online. Plastic utensils, platters and plates are easily calculable and found at Costco or another big store. Do you have hot food? You may want to get disposable chaffing dishes, heating sternos, and aluminum dishes to fit in the chaffing racks. Tip- Put two aluminum dishes in the chaffing racks with a little water in between them to keep the food from burning on the underside.

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