Looking for party food- alternatives to 6ft. hero...

[brigmaman]

Not sure if this is regional or not, but common party food in this area is a long deli hero. We've been to quite a few parties this summer where this has been the main type of food served. While we love it, we're ready to try something new for Brig's 2nd birthday party in a few weeks. We've done wraps 3 times in the past few years, so that's out. We'll probably have around 50 people to serve.
What are some other options for serving so many people?

[amp]

Are you opposed to the 6 ft long sandwich, or sandwiches in general? We did Jake's bday party with Quiznos. We only had about 10-15 people, but they did 3 different sandwich trays for us, and a salad. They were capable of doing much larger amounts of food though. Lots of sandwich places will do sandwich trays or bagged lunches for lots of people (Mr. Goodcents, Quiznos, Panera Bread i think, etc.) Or, you could order a bunch of pizzas. I'm all for not cooking if you can help it. Also, our local Back Yard Burger has a deal where they come to your party and cook up burgers & hot dogs right on site for you. Probably not cheap, but yummy!

[August Mom]

My SIL did Quiznos for her DS's 1st birthday and people seemed to like it. We used a local chain and served a tray of grinders. I was going to suggest wraps, but that's out. Others I know have grilled out (hamburgers/hot dogs, etc.) and ordered pizza. There was a thread about this several months ago and I remember one of the suggestions was shredded beef sandwiches. This mommy cooked beef in the crockpot with beer and some other things, shredded it and put it on buns. She said everyone thinks it's great. Along these lines, I think you could also do pork or beef BBQ. I remember reading someone doing a crockpot of chili as well and then offering different bottoms and toppings (e.g. hotdogs, baked potatoes, macaroni, cheese, onions), but that might not be great for a summer birthday. A few other things that I can think of off the top of my head are a salad bar, Mexican (maybe make your own tacos or burritos) or kabobs (but this may be too labor-intensive for 50 people. (You could do kabobs as sides - think fruit - or as a main dish, like yakatori).

[Jen in Chicago]

For 50 or so people I have done the following:
Grilled Chicken and Burgers (Grandpa manned the grill)- Mac and Cheese for the kids

BBQ Pork and Italian Chicken Sandwiches (both made in Crockpots and a crockpot of baked beans) --- Super Easy!

Other ideas I considered:
Pizza & Salad
Lasagna (may it yourself, or order it in) & Salad
Fried Chicken (KFC?)
Spaghetti- always loved by the kids!

I do better for 30-50 people than I do for 2!

[votre_ami03]

Sloppy Joe's
Spaghetti
Pizza (build your own pizza's?)
Barbeque chicken/pork/beef
Chili
Baked potato bar
Chicken nuggets (or dino nuggets)
Hot dog bar
Barbeque (dogs & burgers)
Lasagne
Taco bar


In the past, I have ordered a platter of Chic-Fil-A chicken - that went over really big, barbeque beef/chicken sandwhiches (shredded meat).


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[candybomiller]

Any chance you can make it a potluck? Then you don't have to do nearly as much work! :)

Honestly, during the summer we just do the long deli sandwiches. They're easy, no cooking in the heat. Sorry I'm not more help.

[jec2]

Wow, 50 people. I see why the long hero is a common option.

Our family seems to alway pull out a grilled salmon for summer gatherings. It is so easy, and so delicious. You can even buy salmon for a great price at Costco. LMK if you want a great and easy marinade should you choose this option.

[kransden]

I collect fiesta dishes so I love to do mexican theme parties. So I usually do a taco bar. It is so easy because you do everything in advance and pull it out of the fridge to heat. Three crockpots of beef, chicken and rotel cheese dip, chips, beans and all the cold condiments. I also make a couple of batches of cheese enchiladas. Nothing says love like cheese :)

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[dowlinal]

I'm a big fan of shishkabobs. You can make up all different kinds the day before and then grill them as needed. I usually throw together chicken w/ potatos, peppers, and onions and beef w/ cherry tomatoes, peppers and onions. Sometimes I'll also make up shrimp or lamb ones too. I serve them with pita bread, a greek sauce made with garlic, cucmber, and yogurt, and rice.

I've also done ribs. YOu can buy the packs of babyback ribs and pre-boil them they day before. THen cut them into sections and marinate overnight in bbq sauce. Then grilling themis a snap because they're already cooked so your just heating them.

[jbowman]

I think you've gotten a lot of great suggestions. I just wanted to make another one--and I am not trying to create more work for you! Since you are going to have 50 people to serve, I would suggest having a vegetarian or chicken/turkey option since you are likely to have several people at the party who don't eat beef or pork. Just a thought!

**Can you tell that I don't eat beef or pork?**

[papal]

Great suggestion Jill! I too don't eat beef (religion) or pork (love) and sometimes i only get to nibble on chips and such because there is no other option. :(

[tippy]

We didn't have 50 but we had a lot and lots of kids! We did Pizza cut into kiddie slices. (we ordered plain, sausage, pepperoni and vegetarian and mostly the plain and pepperoni went).

Chicken strips for the kids, a huge creu de te platter (horribly spelled sorry)
cheese and crackers, a huge fruit platter and chips with guacomole and salsa, and a tray of cold cuts with rolls on the side (ham, american and swiss cheese and turkey).

[jbowman]

I hear you, Rashmi! This happens to me all of the time, especially now that we live in Texas, where it's all beef all of the time (blech!). I went to a 4th of July party a couple of weeks ago--and just about the only thing I could eat was corn!

[kijip]

We have a huge party tomorrow for a late party for Toby (I miscarried right before his birthday and we did not have it in us to host a party with a lot of babies so we stalled) and we are having:

Salads of every kind-chicken, antipasto, tomato/basil/cheese, and several others
Fresh Bread (my husband bakes BUT you can buy great breads) and store bought spreads- hummus, cheese, garlic.
Juice mixed with club soda
Ice cream cake from a local ice cream shop.

[bunnisa]

On a few occasions I've made a big batch of chicken salad and served it alongside croissants from Costco. I also put out lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, sliced peppers, cucumbers, cheese, etc, and several side dishes so the vegetarians can make veggie sandwiches.

I was a vegetarian for many years, and I ate a lot of veggie sandwiches out of necessity -- with the right veggies and cheese, they're really tasty (IMO).


Bethany
It's a Boy!
William Eric
6/03

[brigmaman]

Katie, I'm so sorry to hear about your miscarriage. Sending hugs to your family...

Hope all goes well tomorrow!

[papal]

Hey Katie.. so sorry about the miscarriage.. that must have been really tough to deal with... hugs!

[Elilly]

Jen,
What kind of meat do you use for your pork BBQ? I've been wanting to try this at home and freeze it but I don't know what to start with - boston butt roast, tenderloin?

[August Mom]

I'm not Jen, but when I make pork BBQ in the crockpot
I use some cut of pork shoulder, either picnic or Boston butt. Both work equally well. I trim the largest pieces of fat off the pork, rub it with salt, pepper and sometimes ground cumin, put it in the crockpot with a can of chicken broth and cook it on low for around 8 hours. Then, I shred the pork and mix it with BBQ sauce. I've tried cooking it with BBQ sauce but did not like this as well because the meat juices and fat made the BBQ sauce runny and diluted the taste. HTH

[urquie]

that sounds yummy, i'd love to have one right now!

[Elilly]

Thanks so much. I think I'll give it a try the next time pork is on sale. Do you ever freeze it?

[Melanie]

6 ft burrito?

[brigmaman]

Lol! This sounds interesting!

[Melanie]

You just need a long counter/table. Cover it with wax paper/foil/something. Layout the tortillas covering eachother and fill with stuff. Then wrap.

[heidi_timms]

We did a BBQ for Kailey's 1st birthday. We did tri-tip and chicken. We had it at a park with tiny BBQ's so DH BBQ'd it at home the night before and reheated it at the party on the tiny BBQ in those tin trays from Costco and it turned out wonderful! My stepmom and I made various salads and appetizers to accompany the meat. We made broccoli salad, fruit salad, green salad, hi-roller (those roll-up thingys), a veggie platter, etc.


~Heidi
Mom to Kailey
4/03

[brigmaman]

What's tri-tip?

[August Mom]

I do freeze leftovers. I think that if I were you, I would go ahead and shred the pork and freeze it, but not add the BBQ sauce until I was ready to heat the pork up to eat. This way, if there is any moisture build-up from freezing, you can drain that off without affecting the BBQ sauce.

[Elilly]

Thanks for the advice!

[heidi_timms]

tri-tip steaks. They sell them pre-marinaded at Costco and you just serve them in small slices. They are great for crowds.
~Heidi
Mom to Kailey
4/03