Feeding 35+ people for a housewarming party?

Question

Hi all! I was hoping some of you out there had some good ideas on good foods to serve 35+ people for a housewarming party. I will be preparing it on my own and I can't afford a caterer. I was going to do the usually cold cut and cheese choices, fruit plates, etc., but what other ideas do you have? It's sort of an open house for 4 hours, so it should be food that can still be good after a couple of hours too. Thanks for your ideas!

Answer 1

Little smokies in a crock pot covered in BBQ sauce.

Sweet and sour meatballs. When I make this I make my own meatballs with a combo of ground beef and sausage and fry them in a skillet, but it certainly would be easier to use pre-made meatballs

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 1/4 cups grape jelly
1 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a large roasting pan with foil.
Shape ground beef into golf sized balls. Arrange them on the large roasting pan.
Bake the meatballs for 20 to 25 minutes.
While the meatballs are baking, combine the jelly, chili sauce and lemon juice in a Dutch oven. When the meatballs finish cooking add them to the Dutch oven.
Cover the oven and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Serve the meatballs hot.

Answer 2

Crudite (which is french for raw veggies, carrots, celery, radishes, green red & yellow peppers, etc, with a ranch dip) is good for a summer party. Chips and pretzels, of course. Depending on the crowd, pickled herring (Scandanavian folk love the stuff). The other stuff sounds great too. Pretty much things that don't have to stay too warm or too cold, that can be eaten with fingers or toothpics. Anything that will ease your prep and clean up tasks is good.

You didn't mention if you were working with hot or cold tables, so I'm assuming you are not. If you are willing, Italian beef in a crock pot makes good DIY sandwiches, but in response to another answer, unless you have a good cold table, or unless you only use imitation crab, sushi is not a good idea. Raw fish sitting for hours at room temp is guaranteed to make your guests remember your party -- the party that sent everyone to the ER with food poisoning.

Answer 3

I just had a party like the one you are talking about and the cold cuts and cheese did go over well. Also i had meatballs which went very well. You can also have a desert table with cookies and different desserts. That way people can munch on things throughout the entire part. Also fruit would be an easy fix for people to eat.

Answer 4

I always make sushi when I'm having a lot of people over. It can sit out for hours and still be quite edible and tastey, and it's a great delight to make.

However, it's also rather time-consuming to make, so if you don't have a few hours available (or haven't made sushi before) I'd recommend buying some.

Stores like Central Market and Whole Foods Market often have sushi counters, both with pre-made sushi and made-while-you-wait. If you pick up a large tray, you should have some great finger food for a lot of people.

Answer 5

I recently had to feed around 25 people for lunch and found that our local Sub sandwich shop was the best way to go for sandwiches. I was suprised to find that it was cheaper than buying all the makings for sandwiches.

Then I rounded it out with a veg and fruit tray and made a pasta salad and a potato salad. Since they are best if made ahead and allowed to sit overnight, everything was easy to put together at the last minute.

Answer 6

Just attended a party recently where they served sloppy joes. She made the meat mixture ahead of time and then just kept it warm in a large crock-pot. Besides the buns for each person to make their own, she also had a relish tray, several types of chips and dip, a big bowl of cut up fruit pieces and two large bowls of tossed salad with several bottles of dressing to choose from.
Don't forget the paper plates, paper napkins and plastic cutlery if you want to make it simple.
Good Luck!

Answer 7

I would go to the deli at the market. At Albertsons or Ralphs you can get tons of chicken cheap and it's good. Stick to finger foods and chips and dips or salsa. Vegetable platter can be made pretty cheaply with carrot and celery sticks, broccoli florets, radishes and some bleu cheese or ranch dip. Small finger sandwiches using dinner rolls may be good too. It's not only tastier, but you can make nice small sandwiches.

Answer 8

We did chili, Swedish meatballs, a huge meat and cheese platter garnished with fruits, and veggie platter with a dip, hummus with tortilla chips, and a bread bowl spinach dip with bread cubes. There might have been salsa. That was for about 25 people who stayed about 2-3 hours. And I had leftovers, which wasn't bad at all. :) It was more about drinks, socializing, and taking photos.

Answer 9

You could go with something like salads, crusty baked bread.

Salads could be more filling like Taco Salad, Chicken salad, Shrimp salad, Pasta salad.

You can also do casseroles- Mexican Chicken Casserole, Enchilada Casserole, Taco Casserole, 7 layer bean dip, then have warm tortillas, guacamole, and salsa on the side.

You can crockpot it all- weiners with bbq, bbq beef to put onto buns- stew-chili with cornbread.

You can go all cold sandwich makings with fruit and veggies with dips.

You can go with all desserts too.

Answer 10

I would go with some BBQ and wings also. You can keep them on the grill to keep warm. Also I like the crock pot full of Jack Daniels BBQ sauce and little wienies. Another Crock pot with a cheese dip and chips. A real good filler and a hit with every one is again crock pot with sloppy Joe's or chilly dogs.

Good luck!!