Expert: Teri Davis Newman - 6/17/2009

Question
Hi, I am preparing for a graduation open house for my son, and have invited around 325 people, that is my first question as to how many people approximately  do you think might come generally?  Second I am serving 30 pounds of chicken cordon bleu, 35 pounds of swiss steaks, 10 pounds of rolled ham slices, then 2 or 3 vegetables vegie tray, cheese tray, big fruit bowl, big container of noodles, with broccoli pieces, and tomatoes, served either warm or cold , not sure, what do you think? And dinner rolls, along with 1 full sheet cake of grad cake, along with some other 1/4 sheet cakes of dessert.  Could you tell me if it sounds like I have enough meats, and how to cut the chicken cordon bleu to how many slices is appropriate?  Thank you for your time.                Sincerely, Nancy

Answer
Nancy, sweetheart, you have lost your mind LOL and you have NO idea how much work you are talking about.  First, I have no way of knowing how many people will actually come to this as I haven't seen the RSVP list. Second, How in God's green earth are you going to have PARKING for 350 people AT YOUR HOME??  THERE'S NO POSSIBLE WAY!! You cannot have a party of this size at a private home unless you happen to live in a 20,000 SF mansion. Third, you haven't got enough food planned for 150 people let alone for 350 people!!  Fourth, the food for this size of a gathering at the very very very conservative price of $6 per person is more than TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS which doesn't take into consideration that you will need paper goods, drinks, toilet paper, garbage bags and probably porta-potties for a crowd this size, so your actual cost is going to be closer to $10 per person PLUS you are going to have to hire some help because you can't reheat and hold this much food by yourself, so you are looking at a party cost of AT LEAST FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. You need to rethink this in a big way--and you are going to have to have this at a venue of some sort--there's now way you can do this at home.  Virtually 100% of all venues make you use their catering service because they are liable if someone gets sick and if you don't know how much food you are going to need, that tells me you aren't up to speed on food prep safety standards.
1 full sheet cake serves FIFTY-SIXTY PEOPLE so you will need SEVEN of them at $35 each--can you see where this is going?  Don't do this!