I used to work in food service but 60 teens is a lot. I'd stick with finger foods, do large trays of dips, make large sheet cakes or cobblers (those large metal trays are your friend in this situation).

Sandwiches get groody/soggy pretty fast due to the mix of wet and dry ingredients so they aren't my favorite for a large party. It's just hard to find a good temp to keep them at.

Terrible idea. Just reserve a room at Maggianos and enjoy your grad's success.

Did you do this, OP? Can you give us an update?

Not OP, but I just had a self-catered grad party. About 50 kids came from the 60 invited, and I spent about $350 total on ingredients for finger foods (afternoon party with sandwiches, snacks and cookies) and decorations. The music playlist was more important than the food honestly. The biggest surprise was I was told kids won't stay long, but they did, and some stayed for 2 hours after the end time, so I guess that was a good sign. I am glad I did it but also glad it's over.

Anonymous wrote:DD just decided to have a grad party. 60 kids invited and a few neighbors. Would love to see any new ideas.

Food truck for a couple hours.

Anybody doing this in the next few weeks? DD says people won’t eat much, but I’m assuming everyone eats. Trying to decide if we need a dessert only table in addition to everything else.

DD just decided to have a grad party. 60 kids invited and a few neighbors. Would love to see any new ideas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since are grad parties full meals? Typically people are going to multiple grad parties the same days/weekends. I think anything is acceptable. I’ve been to ones that are were all cute desserts.

I think your menu sounds totally fine. You could even do homemade sloppy joes and keep it in crockpot to stay warm. That feeds a lot and teens all like. Have some salads, chips, homemade desserts, and done

10 crockpots?

It’s not an 100 person sit down meal. It’s an open house. It will maybe be 100 people over the course of several hours and most will just take a dessert, drink, or a snack. I think 2 or 3 crockpots worth would be plenty

That logic only works with neighborhood parties where stopping by for a little while is not a big deal. If you are inviting people that live far away, you cannot be stingy with food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since are grad parties full meals? Typically people are going to multiple grad parties the same days/weekends. I think anything is acceptable. I’ve been to ones that are were all cute desserts.

I think your menu sounds totally fine. You could even do homemade sloppy joes and keep it in crockpot to stay warm. That feeds a lot and teens all like. Have some salads, chips, homemade desserts, and done

10 crockpots?

It’s not an 100 person sit down meal. It’s an open house. It will maybe be 100 people over the course of several hours and most will just take a dessert, drink, or a snack. I think 2 or 3 crockpots worth would be plenty