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What's the largest crowd you've cooked for & what did you make? (long)
I'm in the very beginning stages of planning a 50th anniversary party for my ILs for next February. I don't think they ever really had a "wedding" (she was 16 & pg and he was 18 - I think they just did the JP and maybe a very small reception)....looking into that soon.
I like good food and would really like to keep it to family and a few friends but their church family is very important to them and I know they'd really like to have them there as well. There's about 150 people that go to their church - I have no idea how close they are with all of them or how many would actually come so we could have up to 200 people. We do plan to have the party on a Sunday afternoon right after church.
The church is in a pretty rural area and I haven't found much around that way. We are also only sharing the cost with DH's brother & SIL (his two sisters won't be able to contribute at all so I don't want to go crazy as I know DH's brother & SIL probably don't want to spend more than about $500). I am waiting to hear back from the firehall I called on how much rental would be to talk money.
Anyway - I love to cook and the party is going to be pretty low key. It's on a Sunday afternoon, ILs have pretty simple food tastes, there won't be alcohol or anything. I was thinking that I could at least partially do all the food and I know SIL enjoys cooking as well. I haven't found any caterers down in that area that look reasonable or decent.
I only have two ideas for food and wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas. Obviously - pasta, meatballs, hot sausage, salad & bread with a few appetizers would be really easy. I also think soup and sandwich would be really easy and tasty with a few appetizers. SIL makes an awesome Chicken Corn Soup and I have a Shrimp Bisque and Poblano Shrimp Corn Chowder Soup that I make that are really good (and both freeze really well) with mini sandwiches or a deli platter.
Re: What's the largest crowd you've cooked for & what did you make? (long)
I cooked for about 70 people at our house for our housewarming party a few years ago. I made BBQ pulled pork, sliced roast beef, zucchini gratin, a green salad, and hot dogs for the kids. My MIL made potato salad. For apps, I did some basic easy stuff - chips/salsa/guac, hummus/veggies, and other simple things (that I can't remember). Other family members offered to bring some apps/desserts and a fruit salad. I would have just bought that stuff at BJs/Costco otherwise.
It was actually very managable. I did the pulled pork in 2 crock pots the day before, shredded it and just reheated it the next day with some extra BBQ sauce. I ordered the roast beef and gravy from my local butcher shop - the package I got came with rolls and I just ordered extra so we had enough for pork sandwiches too. I just needed to heat the gravy. I got some chafing dishes and they kept everything perfectly hot.
I think it's totally doable as long as you have time (and fridge/oven space) to prep everything in advance and just heat it up that day. Make simple dishes that can be doubled or tripled without much trouble - what you've mentioned sounds great. You might not even need to worry about actual apps - any party I've been to at a hall just had potato chips and pretzels on each table. Good luck!