Hoping for ideas (having people over version...) - update and thanks in first post

[Percycat]

If I were hosting something like this and I didn't have a realistic clue on how many people were going to come, I'd keep drinks super simple -- lemonade, tea, and water. You can dress up the lemonade by floating fruit if you want it 'nicer'. I'd have several gallons prepared, but have others on standby that I could prepare as needed or keep for a future date.

The bags of chips are great because you already have a plan if you buy too many.

I would buy several watermelon --- because they taste fantastic right now, are refreshing if it is hot, are hand held, and you can cut them to accommodate large and small groups.

Hot dogs and brats are something that are easy to prepare, keep ready, and eat as leftovers.
The pizza is a great idea too.

It is very generous of you to offer time for everyone to gather at your home after camp. Is this normal for your camp experience? When we pick our kids up for camp, we are ready to spend time as a family and my kids are ready to get home. I'd help the kids stay connected through social media and perhaps get together -- I can't imagine going to someone's house, let alone hosting. I hope you have a great time meeting your daughter's friends and their parents.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I guess none of you have ever had pizza issues like I have! One place can take 90 minutes to deliver...or 30. If you order ahead with a set time for delivery it’s ok but it can’t be spur of the moment. Maybe if you order from somewhere like Domino’s it’s more consistent on timing but I prefer our local shops. Costco (as pp mentioned) can be hit or miss depending on how busy it is. Jealous of people that can make casual pizza plans


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[erosenst]

It is very generous of you to offer time for everyone to gather at your home after camp. Is this normal for your camp experience? When we pick our kids up for camp, we are ready to spend time as a family and my kids are ready to get home. I'd help the kids stay connected through social media and perhaps get together -- I can't imagine going to someone's house, let alone hosting. I hope you have a great time meeting your daughter's friends and their parents.

It's not typical - but this is an unusual year/program/camp. The kids are all 17, and many have been at camp since they were eight. A number have parents who attended the camp, and participated in this program, where the kids spend the summer plunging toilets, cleaning showers, helping run the climbing tower, as kitchen crew etc (four rotational crews) along with a lot of free time and some structured programming. If history holds many will be friends for life and there will be a marriage or two from this group. We have met several of the parents, and many of the kids, over the years as our daughter hosts or attends weekends with a few friends. In a normal (non-COVID) year we (parents of this group) would have been invited for a parents weekend and most would have attended, mostly to see the kids but also to spend time with the other parents. The parents we are hosting Sat night live five hours from here and we now consider them to be friends; one of my closest friends in town and I met when we spoke at a staff training event when the kids were little.

And as long as we are this far - Jewish geography is clearly at play here. I mentioned a tailgate above. We host with one of DH's oldest friend and his wife, M. We found out a couple years ago that M had a huge high school crush on one of the dads we're hosting Saturday night. (Long story how we figured it out but didn't take long at the time!) This year's version happened Saturday night. One of my two first cousins that I keep in touch with texted - she was having dinner with old friends. They passed around a pic of their son with his "adorable camp girlfriend" - yup - our DD. Small world.

Anyway - back to food . I checked pricing/what's avail for deli trays quickly last night and was leaning back towards pizza. Glad to see all the responses agreeing with that! The local place here will be more expensive than Costco BUT is 10 minutes away at most, and also delivers. If I order ahead and ask for 12:30 delivery it SHOULD be here no later than 1 (and likely pretty close to 12:30 based on history) so I'm ok with that. Since I'm not cooking anything else and we have double ovens, I can keep a bunch warm for people who want to eat before they leave rather than when they arrive.

Grapes are a great idea - while the do have some fruit at camp there's not a ton of variety - pretty sure mostly apples/oranges/bananas. So grapes and melons would be nice variety for the kids at least. Keep the ideas coming please!!

[candaceb]

With a kid at the same camp, I think pizza is a great idea as far as menu - I don't know what that age group has been able to do outside of the regular dining hall but my kid has already written that the first thing he wants is pizza. The food there is good overall but nothing beats real pizza. Plus you can always put in an order for more if you get more people than expected. Most pizza places aren't very busy on Sunday at noon. Add salad and a tray of brownies and you're good to go. Maybe a couple of watermelons?
And yes about the Jewish geography. I found out last week that one of the rabbis (usually there in non-covid years, I'm not sure if she's been there this year) is married to a guy my friend dated in high school in Massachusetts.

erosenst - I hope my son has the same experience over time as your daughter has. He is in his second year there and I hope he also makes it to the end of the program.

[candaceb]

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[erosenst]

With a kid at the same camp, I think pizza is a great idea as far as menu - I don't know what that age group has been able to do outside of the regular dining hall but my kid has already written that the first thing he wants is pizza. The food there is good overall but nothing beats real pizza. Plus you can always put in an order for more if you get more people than expected. Most pizza places aren't very busy on Sunday at noon. Add salad and a tray of brownies and you're good to go. Maybe a couple of watermelons?
And yes about the Jewish geography. I found out last week that one of the rabbis (usually there in non-covid years, I'm not sure if she's been there this year) is married to a guy my friend dated in high school in Massachusetts.

erosenst - I hope my son has the same experience over time as your daughter has. He is in his second year there and I hope he also makes it to the end of the program.

I think that there a lot of the 'my friend xxx' stories there There's one pic of one of DD's friends reading Torah, with a rabbi at the lectern. His mother had the rabbi as a camper 36 years ago and still has a pic of that which she posted side by side.

And while I get that your son is craving pizza, DD and her program gets to order in, especially this year when they can't leave camp. While I've heard more about Thai, guessing there's been some pizza too but not sure teens can ever have too much! Again - very funny that we are so close that they are ordering from the places we order from. And we hear MUCH more as DD can have a phone this year.

And if he loves it now guessing he will continue to do so. It's a truly special place - part of why they get kids from all over the country to a relatively small camp. If you see the avodahnik with long curly hair packing your car at pickup please wave! (Oh right - that's many/most of them )

Feel free to PM if you have questions about future years!