NYE party turning into a saga....need advice

K

kathleen

Well-known member
I really appreciate all the helpful advice I received when I posted regarding our family NYE party. A quick summary....I invited a bunch of families on our block with little kids to come over for an early NYE celebration at our home. I promised my husband that it would be very casual and that I would NOT stress or overthink it. So, clearly, I can no longer talk to him about the evening as I am starting to go to the dark side.

Anyway, I was planning on serving Gretchen's pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw and a baked potato bar. However, I have just found out that two more families will be coming and my count is now well over 30 people. There is no way I can sit that many people. The most we have been able to manage for a dinner party is 16. People could eat in shifts but with kids that is hard AND the evening is slightly structured due to all the kids and their need to be home in bed in some reasonable approximation of their normal bedtime (most of the kids are preschool aged). I could just have people sit wherever they can find a place but I made a catastrophic decorating error years ago and I have lots of oatmeal colored furniture and carpets. Not wild about bbq sauce and baked bean there. (I NOW know it was a HUGE mistake but at the time I had no idea that I would be the mom of two 5 year old boys and a 6 year old boy).

So, here are my issues....Should I just forgo a "real meal" and instead do finger food (which I think is harder as you gotta make more stuff) but will allow people to eat standing up and walking around (I could still set up some kids tables)? If so, what should I do? The only thing that immediately comes to mind is a ham and will people be hammed out by 12/31? Should I try to keep to my existing idea but kill the baked potato bar aspect (just seems too crazy to be baking 40 potatoes)? I could substitute mashed potatoes but I am not sure how to make enough for that many people without them getting gummy.

Thanks for any advice anyone can give.

Kathleen

 
What about a hash brown potato casserole?

I know you may be averse to using cream of ==== soups but you can easily triple or quadruple this kind of casserole and come out with something most people will enjoy. You can also sub the canned cream of with a mix of butter, flour and milk sauted. I think with 30 head count and children, you need easy and stress free. I have peeled and sliced 15 lbs. of potatoes and will tell you it wasn't fun! Ham is so much easier and goes over well. And is pretty mess free. Good luck. I'm sure all will be well and tasty! Steph

 
How about sliced turkey or ham with buns, and then finger food

like chopped vegetables you could even ask one or two of the neighbours to bring a large raw vegetable platter. Perhaps try to have food that doesn't require cutlery and then some people could eat standing up.
Some finger foods might include:

stuffed cherry tomatoes
speared shrimp and melon
calebrese lollipops (tomatoes & bocconni)
asparagus roll ups
mini quiches
pepper jelly tarts

I'm sure others on this site would have lots of ideas as well.

Try to get others to help - it will make it more fun for everyone!
Good luck.
Betty

 
We had a mashed potato bar at the Senior Center (should work for kids also). they served the mashed

potato with an ice cream scoop in martini glasses (plastic) and had toppings at other tables all over the room. there were all kinds of things, sour cream, bacon bits, chives, salsas, chopped veggies. They had the mash in those disposable trays with candles or sterno under them.

 
Been there & sure know that furniture. Ours is all white , or rather, it used to be. The adults

are at least as bad with the red wine.

I'd do a sit-down for the kids and have the parents eat from their laps (their own laps). Now that I know what this spiral ham is, doesn't it sound like an easy idea, along with a huge whack of scalloped potatoes? But the pulled pork could be eaten without a knife and a minimum of red sauce.

And if ham is getting old, wouldn't the pulled pork work with scalloped potatoes? It would if I were serving this neighbourhood multitude. And the poatotes would have to be well-cooked so that no knife is needed.

I think I just wouldn't worry too much about how it all works. It's just about having a good time.

And by the way, I find that an easy way to make scalloped potatoes is just to use whipping cream. Forget the flour, butter and milk process.

 
Can you add another dining room?

I don't entertain much, so these ideas may be passe, but still worth a mention.

Choose a centrally located room, move the furniture out for the evening, or to one side, and put up tables and chairs borrowed from your house of worship, neighbors, where ever. Voila! Another room for folks to mingle or sit to eat.

Have you thought about serving something different for the kids? Although some may prefer the pulled pork, kids really dig kid foods. Hot dogs and chips?

Your menu's on, your stress is off, and your husband will let you into his inner circle again.

 
Thanks for all the ideas....my boys would LOVE a meal in which all the food bounces...

...however, it won't be THIS meal. Just got back from the gym and with exercise comes clarity. I think I am going to stick with my original idea of pulled pork if for no other reason, that is what my husband thinks we are having and I don't want him to know I am rethinking everything. I LOVE the idea of a mashed potato bar but it seems, for this crowd, too hard to pull off. So, I think I will make the Corn Pudding from Ina Garten. I have made it a couple times before and it is always a hit and I won't be soloing on something new this night.
In terms of seating, I think I will just swing by Target a couple days before and pick up some huge pillows that I can scatter on the floor near coffee tables and anyone who doesn't get a real chair and can sit on the floor there. I am lucky that this is a very casual group so I don't think anyone will mind. Everyone will be walking here through the snow drifts so it isn't as if people will be wearing party dresses.
Now, I need to switch my focus from 2 weeks away to one week away and finalize my shopping lists for all of our Chrsitmas foods.
Thanks for trying to talk me off the ledge
Kathleen

 
Great idea Stephanie. Rec: Party Potatoes aka Hash Brown Casserole

I had these at a party a couple years ago and they were soooooo good. Would be easy peasy to make up a couple casseroles of these for your size group.

Party Potatoes aka Hash Brown Casserole

1/4 cup butter melted
2 lbs. frozen hash browns (the cubed kind, not grated kind)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted (can use reduced fat)
1 pint sour cream (low fat is fine)
2 cups mild cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all together in a 13x9 pan.

Combine and spread on top of potato mixture:
2 cups crushed corn flakes
2 tbsp butter

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

 
How about oven roasted french fries and sweet potato fries? As long as you'll have bbq sauce spots

a little ketchup won't matter, right?

 
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