Need ideas for food for open house reception...

[DonaBella]

Hi everyone...

In late May, we plan to host an open house reception in our backyard for our son''s wedding. There will be a reception that follows the wedding, but since the wedding site is so small and quite a distance from friends and family that live closer to home, we thought it would be nice to host an open house. Problem...What do we serve? I really want this event to be low stress. My DH is saying "no" to anything that needs to be heated but I thought maybe we could have those servers that are disposable that keep food warm available...or not. I definitely don''t want to spend oodles of $ but want to have a nice ambience. We have planned a flower arch for the wedding party to stand by and tiki torches will be lit. I have a palapa covered bbq with an island to put food on or whatever.

We are thinking about 100 people might come...any ideas are welcome!!! Thanks in advance...

 

[E B]

Date: 3/6/2006 3:41:23 PM
Author:DeannaBana
Hi everyone...

In late May, we plan to host an open house reception in our backyard for our son's wedding. There will be a reception that follows the wedding, but since the wedding site is so small and quite a distance from friends and family that live closer to home, we thought it would be nice to host an open house. Problem...What do we serve? I really want this event to be low stress. My DH is saying 'no' to anything that needs to be heated but I thought maybe we could have those servers that are disposable that keep food warm available...or not. I definitely don't want to spend oodles of $ but want to have a nice ambience. We have planned a flower arch for the wedding party to stand by and tiki torches will be lit. I have a palapa covered bbq with an island to put food on or whatever.

We are thinking about 100 people might come...any ideas are welcome!!! Thanks in advance...

Deanne,

Have you thought about having the party catered? Talk about low stress...I'm pretty sure many places will do most everything for you. My fiance's parents had a 25th anniversary party at their house and had a mexican food restaurant cater. It was delicious and the parents didn't stress a bit. Everything was taken care of.

 

[Mara]

Yep I would definitely cater it and they have all the tools and warming trays and all that as well and it doesn''t have to be hugely expensive. You could even just do tons of passed appetizers for a few hours to cut costs and then serve cake and the champagne etc.

 

[ndnyhagen]

What are some of your son''s and new daughter in law''s favorite foods? That might be a good place to start.

 

[flopkins]

what time were you thinking of having the open house? I think afternoon you could get away w/cold platters and sandwiches, but if it''s in the evening I would probably try to serve some hot food...

When I imagine a flower arch and tiki torches, I think sort of island food, like bbq, heavy finger foods, lots of fruit, ?? I know it''s difficult to do the hot food thing but I agree w/the others, catering is probably the easiest way to go... Serving for 100 is a lot of work, and if you''re looking for low stress I would definitely have a local restauarnt take care of it... we''ve had catered events at my house (around 60-80 folks) by local places, once we did a taqueria, and it was about 15 pp I think... totally reasonable, IMO.

I''ve hosted larger parties maybe 30-80 w/BBQ, so it''s doable but it means someone has to be at the grill all afternoon, ideally two grills! which is kinda sucky. I''ve also done maybe 30-40 ppl w/take out gourmet pizza (the deep dish stuff) half baked, and baked them up when ppl arrived - that is hard if you don''t have many ovens! But you could totally just order a lot of cold finger food, like sandwiches and small cakes/cookies/etc... maybe even order foods from your son''s favorite places in town... that might be fun.


Sorry this post is kind of rambling but I hope it makes some sort of sense!

 

[monarch64]

Deanna, I have to vote for catering on this one...100 people are too many for you to keep happy if you do it yourself, and I worry that you wouldn''t enjoy being able to mix with your company. The first party we hosted at our house was for about 40-50 people and we didn''t have it catered...I spent the whole time running around like a madwoman, and my husband was tending the grill most of the time. We barely got to see each other, let alone mingle with our guests! We haven''t had a large party since, but have sworn that next time we will pay for catering. I''m not talking about anything too extravagant, but I think if you could find someone to do the set-up and take-down of a buffet or hors'' d''heuvres, you would enjoy the day more. I remember taking the next day off work (our party was a Sunday afternoon) for clean-up! I had no idea how much work it would be to serve 40 people sandwiches, sides, and potato chips!

Another thought: do any of your children have friends or acquaintances who might be willing to make a few quick bucks by helping you with serving, running drinks, etc? Even if you could order party trays, etc. from Sam''s or Costco to be economical, I think you''d still be better off enlisting some sort of help...

 

[flopkins]

Just to chime in again, after reading your post again I agree w/monarch. If you don''t regularly host parties, esp larger ones, it will not be a fun time if you try to do it alone... so it''s best to either cater or find many willing hands to help... I find when I am hosting I always get in the ''setup/cleanup'' mode, and just constantly clear dishes and check for food that''s running low, etc... and FI always has to tell me to relax, just enjoy the event, etc...

 

[DonaBella]

I love everyone''s ideas about having the event catered. I need to check into that and see what the cost is. I honestly think that is the way to go. DH may think differently, but quite frankly, I will be overruling him on this because I want to enjoy the evening, too. Yes, it will be a late day event, I am thinking from 6:30 or 7pm until 9:30 or 10pm time frame.

My son and his FI like most anything, which makes things easy. Our son even said he didn''t want to pressure us to have this event or not, but of course we want to host it. If some of his friends cannot take on the responsibilities of keeping food trays attended to, then having outsiders is the only way.

Mexican food is usually inexpensive and there are plenty of resources on that here. What kind of dessert do I serve? I know that another cake to have cut is out of the question unless it is one from like Costco or like the one that I had made for my hubby''s birthday at New year''s...That one only cost me $60 and it was great. Hmmm...???

In all honestly, I would be surprised if more than a 100 people show up, but they could, so do I only plan for 100 or should I plan for more? We have narrowed the date of this open house to June 3rd, which I believe is a Saturday.

Sorry I haven''t been around to respond till now, but I have had a sick child to attend to...

Keep the ideas coming...I appreciate it!

 

[eks6426]

Congratulations on your son''s marriage.

I agree on the catering. The mexican food sounds like a fun idea although could be hard to eat while mingling.
What about a gourmet salad buffet? Lots of unusual salads with maybe some really great bakery breads?

For dessert, you could rent a chocolate fountain and have lots of fruit for dipping OR how about gourmet icecream bars (Ben & Jerry''s, Hagan Daas etc.) kept in ice chests so guest could help themselves. I''ve also been to parties where people rented the old fashioned looking ice chests on wheels.

I definitely agree with finding neighborhood teens to help out with serving & clean-up. It will make the event much more enjoyable for you.

 

[flopkins]

Mmmmm mexican food. I love mexican. One of my best friends had a mexican place cater her wedding and it was so yummy... I''m getting hungry just thinking about it!

I don''t know where you are but we have tons of good places in SF Bay Area, and I''ve had Rubio''s cater for work lunches before, it''s pretty decent and quite cheap, probably <$10pp but that was take-out, they didn''t serve the food for us.

 

[E B]

Date: 3/7/2006 1:33:17 PM
Author: DeannaBana
I love everyone''s ideas about having the event catered. I need to check into that and see what the cost is. I honestly think that is the way to go. DH may think differently, but quite frankly, I will be overruling him on this because I want to enjoy the evening, too. Yes, it will be a late day event, I am thinking from 6:30 or 7pm until 9:30 or 10pm time frame.

My son and his FI like most anything, which makes things easy. Our son even said he didn''t want to pressure us to have this event or not, but of course we want to host it. If some of his friends cannot take on the responsibilities of keeping food trays attended to, then having outsiders is the only way.

Mexican food is usually inexpensive and there are plenty of resources on that here. What kind of dessert do I serve? I know that another cake to have cut is out of the question unless it is one from like Costco or like the one that I had made for my hubby''s birthday at New year''s...That one only cost me $60 and it was great. Hmmm...???

In all honestly, I would be surprised if more than a 100 people show up, but they could, so do I only plan for 100 or should I plan for more? We have narrowed the date of this open house to June 3rd, which I believe is a Saturday.

Sorry I haven''t been around to respond till now, but I have had a sick child to attend to...

Keep the ideas coming...I appreciate it!

We''re having mexican food at our wedding and we couldn''t be happier with the decision. For desert, you could serve something fun (in keeping with the theme) like sopapillas or have a fun cake....something like chocolate covered with chocolate chips or perhaps a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

Great, I made myself hungry.

 

[DonaBella]

Again, you fellow PSers have great ideas! I love the idea of a chocolate fountain and fruit and to have some sort of cake that ties in with everything. Fruit for those not keen on sugary desserts and cake for those who want to indulge...yummy!

I went to get my hair trimmed and colored and my hair stylist told me of a wonderful source for the mexican food, complete with serving utensils and they clean up---all for $5 to $7 per person so I am checking on that. Also, my son just told me of a friend who had his grad party catered with the best food he has ever had, though I am not sure if it is mexican or asian or what. I plan on calling both and checking things out to get this secured and one less thing to worry about...

The next big thing is finding a good hair stylist or salon in the Laguna Beach or Irvine area. My son''s wedding is down there and my hair stylist wasn''t sure who to recommend me to. We plan on being there in that area the night before for the rehearsal dinner so I need to find someone to see their work and have a consultaion with for both myself and at least one of my daughters, if not both. With a wedding, we want our hair and makeup to be perfect...if anyone out there has ANY ideas or referrals, please, PLEASE help me out...

BTW, I live in Riverside, which is about 60 miles east of LA...

You all are so great...thanks for all the ideas and your positive energy!

 

[monarch64]

Hey Deanna, I thought of something else you can do with fruits and veggies. I''ve done this before for parties and hostess gifts, and I''m doing one for our potluck at work on Friday. I''ve attached a picture below. You cut up fruits like pineapple, melon, etc. along with grapes and berries and stick them on bamboo skewers, then you push the skewer into either green floral foam or a head of iceberg lettuce placed in the bottom of a 10-12 inch basket. It''s a really fun centerpiece. You can do the same with fresh veggies.

 

[DonaBella]

Date: 3/7/2006 7:09:02 PM
Author: monarch64
Hey Deanna, I thought of something else you can do with fruits and veggies. I''ve done this before for parties and hostess gifts, and I''m doing one for our potluck at work on Friday. I''ve attached a picture below. You cut up fruits like pineapple, melon, etc. along with grapes and berries and stick them on bamboo skewers, then you push the skewer into either green floral foam or a head of iceberg lettuce placed in the bottom of a 10-12 inch basket. It''s a really fun centerpiece. You can do the same with fresh veggies.

This is a fabulous and festive idea...I love it...I have seen centerpieces made out of watermelons where its carved up to resemble a basket or something else and filled with little balls of melon, cantaloups, pineapple etc...

I made one phone call to the source from my son and will be calling the lady back tonight to see what kind of menu she is offering exactly. I found out she does phillipino and continental foods, but I really want to find out more. If we go mexican---which is my personal preferred choice---we can be sure to be sensitive to those with food issues like no cheese, just veggie, or no deep fried foods. With the other choice--so far--I know there is alot of deep fried foods, but I want to know how extensive her menu choices are.

I know once I have this nailed down, I can focus on the decor which will be pretty simple really---just working tiki torches, manicured lawn, flower arches--one at the entrance where people come in, if possible, and one where the bridal party will stand to greet guests.