Graduation open house food....what to serve?

[Ottakee]

My 2 girls are both graduating from highschool this year. I have a place rented for the afternoon and evening. It is a nice park Lodge that is central to friends and family, has nice indoor seating, room for outdoor seating, a kitchen, and best of all HANDICAPPED FLUSH potties.

 

I am expecting 100-125 people. Now to decide what to serve. It is the first Friday evening in June in Michigan from 5-8 PM. It could be 50 or 80 degrees or somewhere in between. We do have grills available there as well.

 

We need affordable, easy to prepare and serve, something lots of left overs of is OK, and affordable...notice that twice.

 

This will be a very casual thing.

[prairiewindmomma]

What are the regional expectations? Meal? Heavy snacks?

[prairiewindmomma]

My first thought was hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, and sheet cake as far as a bare basics, easy to make for 100+ meal, affordable goes.  I assume you are trying to serve at about $1.50/person?

 

 

[Guest]

Well...that's a really large crowd, so I'm really wondering what "affordable" can even look like, KWIM? There are weddings with fewer guests than that. ;)

 

For our grad party, we ordered fried chicken from a fabulous place nearby. DD made potato salad. We had cole slaw. We made crab dip and had crackers. I think we had a fruit salad. I know we made a bazillion special iced sugar cookies that were VERY cute, but holy moly! That was a lot of effort for a small payoff! I made Tirimisu (DD's favorite dessert.) I think DH made baked beans.

 

Not sure if that helps you. I think we had around forty people. I even got ideas on here, now that I think of it!

[magnificent_baby]

Nacho bar is very affordable, especially if you can get everything in bulk at Sam's or Costco. You can even make your ground beef ahead and freeze it, then use a a few large crock pots or roasters to heat it back up. 

[Ottakee]

I would say given the time of day and our region either heavy snacks or light dinner

 

 

I had thought of grilling hot dogs and having chili, cheese, etc for toppings, chips, veggies and dip, cake, and then maybe rootbeer floats

[AK_Mom4]

We have had excellent luck with make-Your-Own-Burritos.   Beans, Shredded meat, Cheese, Rice, Onions, jalapenos and a big stack of tortilla shells.  Very affordable for a big crowd.  Combine with bags of chips and just about everyone is happy.  Leftovers are all freeezable too.

 

We have better luck with cookies or cupcakes than sheet cake, but cake is usually cheaper.

 

For drinks, I saw a cool trick at a party last summer.  Save up gallon milk jugs (washed out well, of course).  Fill the jugs with 2-3 inches of drink - tea for ice tea or water - and freeze.    Day of party, fill the jugs the rest of the way and set them out.  The frozen liquid in the bottom keeps the drinks cold, so no need to mess around with buckets of ice.  Best part is that as it defrosts, you don't dilute the drink.

[Bambam]

Maybe chicken tetrazzini, salad, garlic bread, and a variety of cookies?

 

Would it be possible to reschedule from 2-5 so you could get by with just snacks? It would be so much cheaper than a real meal.

 

Maybe a variety of soups in crock pots, salad, and crackers? And some dessert? If you did chili, you could add beans to stretch your budget.

 

Baked potato bar?

 

Just a variety of sandwiches, chips, and cookies?

 

150 is a lot of people. 

 

[KatieJ]

I have had 4 graduates, and helped out with many more.  Think about who is going to help serve this meal while you are deciding what to serve.  Do you have someone who can grill those hotdogs?  If you don't have help, you will be behind the grill and serving table and not visiting with your guests.  So I suggest you plan what your daughters enjoy, and what you can prep ahead of time so you can enjoy the party too.

 

We have done breakfast foods, taco bars, and smoke turkey breast sandwiches on croissants. Each of those menus werre filled in with the appropiate sides and Costco Cake.  

 

GFS used to have a great system for helping you plan your meals.  After you figured out what you wanted, you could walk around the store with their "gun" and select your items. They would have it ready in a cart for you on the appointed day.  It was amazingly helpful.  ( We used that system for a wedding and not graduation)

[FaithManor]

At dd's commencement and party we served brioche, tea sandwiches, berry tarts, watermelon bowl with a variety of fruits, fresh baby greens with cranberries, walnuts, mandarin oranges, and a raspberry vinegarette, fresh veggies and dip, cheesecake, eclairs, and cream puffs. Punch, tea, coffee, and water.

 

Ds wanted a Mexican bar so we served roasted/seasoned chicken, beef, pulled pork, and all of the trimmings including homemade guacamole and Spanish rice.

 

The ds graduating this year is a barbecue boy. His dad is going to man the grill and do barbecued chicken and pork as well as burgers, and hot dogs will be available to roast over the bon fire. Potato salad, slaw, taco salad, watermelon and cantaloupe, baked beans, chocolate sheet cake, and raspberry pie with chocolate drizzle round it out with ice tea, lemonade, coffee, and water for beverages.

 

Youngest says he wants a pizza party and donuts. I'm okay with that. Very simple.

 

Around here a lot of people will serve crockpots of three different kinds of meatballs, then some type of pasta or rice to put them on, tossed salads, chips and dip, and desserts. But we have a friend whose daughter loves ham, so they are going to serve ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, steamed broccoli (her favorite veggie), baked beans, cookies, and donuts. (She adores donuts.) It will be in the evening early enough in June that the nights are still cool here so they'll have a bonfire with s'mores, and hot chocolate as well. I think I'm going to end up in charge of the broccoli which I'm not looking forward to because it really shouldn't be cooked very far in advance, and should be steamed throughout the evening and replenished because broccoli that sits out for very long on a hot plate or in a crockpot isn't all that yummy. That's okay though because she'll help me A LOT with P's dinner a week later.

[FaithManor]

It is cheapest when you schedule from 1:30 to 4:00 and do not provide a full meal. Chips and dip, veggies, and desserts will get you by during those ours.

 

Due to traveling relatives, we've always needed to serve a full meal.

Edited March 3, 2016 by FaithManor

[Ottakee]

It is cheapest when you schedule from 1:30 to 4:00 and do not provide a full meal. Chips and dip, veggies, and desserts will get you by during those ours.

 

Due to traveling relatives, we've always needed to serve a full meal.

This is a Friday evening so we can't do 1:30-4 which would be nice food wise.  There are scheduling conflicts for Sat and Sun so Friday evening it is.

 

We will have 2-4 adult helpers with the food so that we don't have to be refilling the buffet, monitoring things, etc.

 

I am ALL about simple but yummy.

[Annie G]

Since it's after Memorial Day, you can stock up on hot dogs, buns, condiments, etc. when they go on sale for Memorial Day. Chips also go on sale then, and all that will last until your party. A large container of lemonade and water will be inexpensive drinks. An inexpensive sheet cake from Sam's or somewhere, or you can make cupcakes.  All of those would be inexpensive. For that many people I'd probably just put the dogs in a crock pot to keep them hot and ready to serve.   Leftovers are easy to save for another time. 

 

Another option is to buy a couple of cheap hams since Easter is coming. You could bake those and slice thin and serve on Hawaiian buns or other bun, and serve potato salad.  Leftover ham saves well but potato salad doesn't keep for many days. 

 

 

 

 

[katilac]

I would say given the time of day and our region either heavy snacks or light dinner

 

 

I had thought of grilling hot dogs and having chili, cheese, etc for toppings, chips, veggies and dip, cake, and then maybe rootbeer floats

 

This sounds good, although I would probably make some sandwiches as well, just for a bit of variety. 

 

I would probably go with varied snacks rather than root beer floats - if you DIY, it will be cheaper, and you can just put them out and not have as much work and cleanup. 

 

The other idea I like is nacho/taco bar. 

[zoobie]

You can grill hot dogs ahead and keep them warm in crock pots. Crocks of vegetarian chili. Toppings and buns. Chips. Costco cake. And root beer floats sound fun!

 

Or do huge pork shoulders in crock pots for bbq.

[Baseball mom]

Pork BBQ, bun, baked beans, slaw and chips

[PeterPan]

I think your menu is fine!  LOVE the root beer floats, yum!!!  The other thing you could do that might not be super expensive but is SUPER yummy is frozen drinks.  Trying to think how you explain this.  We had it at a friend's party.  You know those drinks like orange drink (yes, the stuff you never buy) and lemonade in jugs?  Well you pour 5 gallons of it into a food safe bucket and you pop in the deep freeze.  You stir it every hour.  Takes a long time, but it makes a slushy drink.  Yes, slushies, that's what you would call it!  But seriously, it's super yummy, not diluted by ice, and not too expensive.  Peach tea would also be good.  I make the recipe someone posted here once.

 

[G5052]

My oldest wanted a trip more than a party, so we did that later after he graduated. He graduated with a local group that had a reception afterwards, so it was good.

 

But we've been to a bunch.

 

Locally people seem to do BBQ (chicken/pork), hamburgers/hot dogs, or a Mexican burrito bar.

 

No idea what the next one will want.

[Erica in OR]

Pork BBQ, bun, baked beans, slaw and chips

 

Agree—pulled pork in Nesco roasters so you can put it in and just let it cook instead of standing around grilling tons of hot dogs. If there's a restaurant supply near you, we've been able to get pork to do this for less than $1.25/lb. the last time we bought it.

 

Erica in OR

[JFSinIL]

Are folks expected to come and stay three hours with a scheduled sit-down meal, or is it more of an open house event (more usual for graduations, since that time of year folks may have more than one event to attend)?  Borrow crockpots and have baked beans or chili, plates of cut up veggies and dips, chips, platters of cut-up sub sandwiches or those tortilla/lunchmeat rolled sandwiches, bowls of cut-up melon, grapes, etc.  Hot dogs and fixings, maybe brats.  Coolers of pop, etc.  Huge sheet cake or cakes.  Maybe some hummus and pita chips, or just have hummus next to the veggie plate (hummus makes a nice offering for non-meat folks)

Edited March 4, 2016 by JFSinIL

[Harriet Vane]

When my kids graduated, we served (to a similar sized crowd in our yard):

 

Jambalaya soup with nacho chips and shredded cheese

grilled chicken pieces

pasta salad--just simply pasta with tomatoes, red onion, olives, cucumber, Italian dressing

tossed greens (salad)

fruit salad

 

3 sheet cakes--chocolate with chocolate frosting, vanilla with 7-minute frosting, and strawberry with powdered sugar

 

 

It was a hit. We received many compliments. 

 

[umsami]

If you don't want to go the hot dog route, there's a South Carolina dish kind of like Jambalaya called chicken bog which is super easy to make, cheap, and makes a ton.   It's rice, chicken, sausage.  I would do that, maybe salad, and rootbeer floats and Costco/Sam's cake.    You could easily keep it warm in crockpots...or it may even cook in a crock pot.

 

What about giant subs?  If it's hot, people may want something cold.

 

Maybe a cold pasta salad?

 

Corn is in season here (Florida) around Memorial Day here, so that would be an easy choice...but what is in season where you are?   Can you make a nice fruit salad? Is watermelon cheap and plentiful for Memorial Day?  Etc.   I honestly don't remember as I left Michigan for college and never came back to live.

 

I grew up near Detroit where "Coney Island" dogs were popular.  I also associate Greek salad with the hot dogs.   But I realize that feta and kalamata olives would be expensive.  Still, it would e more of a meal-type salad.

 

 

[StephanieZ]

I did something really yummy recently. 

 

Home-made carne (and pollo) asada soft tacos.

 

Grilled carne asada (about 1 lb for every 6 people)

Grilled pollo asada (or similar)

Huge pot(s) of black beans. (Make from dried, super cheap and awesome.)

Big batches of good "Mexican rice"

Soft tortillas (flour and corn . . . corn are cheaper but flour are soooooo yummy)

guacamole

salsa

sour cream

"roasted" corn (can saute some corn with some salsa for a quick/easy version)

cheese (I use Mexican white crumbly cheese, but cheddar is fine, too)

 

Add a separate green salad, and a couple plates of appetizers, a dessert, and you're good to go.

 

The carne asada is the pricey part. Flank steak is best to use, and seems to be expensive around here. Maybe $6-8/lb. But chicken is a LOT cheaper, so you could do all chicken, or do mostly chicken. Everything else is really cheap. Definitely use dry beans for your black beans when you are making that volume. I made a 2 lb bag last month and I swear it completely filled a 6+ qt pot. SO much cheaper than canned, and JUST as easy as long as you put them to soak the night before. 

 

We're actually making this exact menu in a few weeks for a Robotics dinner . . . It'll be for about 50 people. I'm guessing it'll run about $3-4/head in total expenses. Not bad, and this menu is always a big hit. And I *always* have lots of leftovers for any normal event. The only time we get close to everything being eaten is for robotics, lol. Those teens!! They eat double! We did it for about 25 people over the holidays, and it was awesome. We just did steak for that dinner, but for Robotics, we're doing chicken as well to keep the cost more modest for such a crowd. When we did it all steak, it was maybe $4-5/head total expenses (I didn't count, but I'm guessing). 

 

Everything can be done and ready to serve. If you want to be grilling at the event, you can do that, and that's what we did for our holiday event. But, for robotics, we will do it ALL ahead of time and just have the meat already sliced and ready to serve in warming trays. 

 

If you ARE grilling at the event, the grilling the tortillas makes them extra yummy. We do that when we do this menu at home, but we won't bother with that for robotics. (No grills there, so keeping it simple)

[PeterPan]

When my kids graduated, we served (to a similar sized crowd in our yard):

 

Jambalaya soup with nacho chips and shredded cheese

grilled chicken pieces

pasta salad--just simply pasta with tomatoes, red onion, olives, cucumber, Italian dressing

tossed greens (salad)

fruit salad

 

3 sheet cakes--chocolate with chocolate frosting, vanilla with 7-minute frosting, and strawberry with powdered sugar

 

 

It was a hit. We received many compliments. 

HV, you need to share your jambalaya soup recipe...  Sounds yummy!  :)

[Cinder]

Rootbeer floats sound work intensive. A friend told me the biggest lesson she learned from doing her older dd's grad party was to keep it very simple. I can't remember what they served--it was before we knew them--but she said she and her dh and a friend or two spent most of the party working on keeping the food in order. For her second dd they ordered sandwiches, fruit trays and cake from Costco. It was easy, good and allowed them more time to visit with guests. You already got a lot of good ideas, and I don't have anything new to add to that. Just wanted to throw out the workload factor for you to consider.

[Prairie~Phlox]

We're planning a graduation party and I'm doing pulled pork (no sauce, sauce on the side) Or if I find Easter hams on clearance, I would do ham) rolls, baked beans, romaine salad & a few dressings, veggie tray, olives, pickles, chips & fresh fruit.  We'll have dishes of candy for something like this http://www.mylifeatplaytime.com/home/2015/6/22/graduation-themed-candy-dessert-barWe're just doing, nerds, smarties, rings & gummy worms.  & GF & regular cupcakes. 

[Harriet Vane]

HV, you need to share your jambalaya soup recipe...  Sounds yummy!   :)

 

It's something I do by taste

There is no formal recipe

 

Here's what a throw in:

 

Use one whole chicken to make chicken stock in humongous stock pot. Shred chicken and dump back in.

Onions

Garlic

Green pepper

Canned diced tomatoes

Andouille sausage

corn

cajun seasoning

Jar of salsa

Kidney beans

Celery

Salt 

Pepper

Lemon juice or lime juice

pinch of sugar or some honey

cilantro, fresh if I can get it

 

Serve with rice--more or less depending on how much like soup you want it.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Harriet Vane

[Harriet Vane]

Rootbeer floats sound work intensive. A friend told me the biggest lesson she learned from doing her older dd's grad party was to keep it very simple. I can't remember what they served--it was before we knew them--but she said she and her dh and a friend or two spent most of the party working on keeping the food in order. For her second dd they ordered sandwiches, fruit trays and cake from Costco. It was easy, good and allowed them more time to visit with guests. You already got a lot of good ideas, and I don't have anything new to add to that. Just wanted to throw out the workload factor for you to consider.

 

This is why we didn't grill anything. 

 

All our food was prepped in advance. The only thing I had to do the day of was frost the cakes and put salad dressing on the greens. During the party I simply checked on the food every now and then, adding as appropriate or  turning off the burners under the soup when it was clear folks were done.

 

It was the best decision ever to keep it so low maintenance.

[Happy]

We got chopped brisket at a local BBQ joint along with sauce. Easy to reheat in the oven. A bag of rolls from Costco or Sams. I made coleslaw and baked beans--do-able the day before. Add a plate of pickles and onions. Maybe a fruit tray or veggie tray. A couple of large sheet cakes for one son's party. Ice cream sundae bar for the other son's.

 

For drinks we did a large container of iced tea and one of lemonade.

 

Plates, cups, napkins, plasticware. Don't forget to buy ice.

[Ottakee]

Thanks for the ideas.

 

If we do grill it would.be a family friend doing the grilling. Dh did it for their son and they offered to do the same for us.