Several years ago, my mother and I came up with this great idea to throw a large party for my then 2 year old son and my step father. She and my step-father had recently purchased about 11 acres of land in the middle of a small island on the West coast. The excitement of owning the land on this unbelievable place was more than she could bare and she really wanted to share it with all of her friends and family. At first thought it didn’t sound too difficult, however what we failed to think through was our kitchen constraints, the party site’s limitations and the mass of people that we would eventually end up inviting. To complicate things she had just recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease and was adamant that all the food would be gluten-free. This was more of a test for her and I to see if we could prepare a huge feast, completely gluten-free, and have none be the wiser! Needless to say we learned a lot along the way. If you are planning a party this summer where you will be entertaining a crowd I invite you to read on…perhaps we can help prevent some mishaps and ensure that your party goes off without a hitch.

Step 1: What’s your party mission statement?

Now I know this sounds like the beginnings of a business plan…however if you answer some relevant questions about your party during the planning process and your goals, needs, limitations and overall theme your life will be much less stressed during the party preparations and the actual party itself. Consider these questions as you start to plan your party:

• What is the occasion? This was pretty easy on the surface for us since we chose a date in between my son’s birthday and my step-fathers birthday. Ultimately it became more of an adult party as the night wore on, however as I look back my son really had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed the cake, the music and the surroundings.
• What’s your budget? We had clearly identified the budget early on, however, as the party day grew closer we got carried away with trying so hard to make it perfect that we eventually ended up exceeding our budget. My advice — develop your budget early on and stick to it. Your guests won’t notice those things that aren’t top notch nearly as much as you will.
• What’s your time frame? Your time frame will dictate some of what you will be able to accomplish. If you want a band, for instance, (which we did), you have to consider if they are available for the dates of your party. Do you have enough time to send out formal invitations and receive RSVP’s? Consider all these things as you start to plan your party.
• What’s your guest list look like? Develop your guest list. Be careful when you are counting up the total number of people attending…make sure you count for spouses or guests. There would be nothing worse than having half the amount of food available for the number of guests at your party.
• Where and when will the event take place? Indoors or out? In our case, our party was going to be held on my mother’s new property. The challenges we faced was that there was no electricity, no toilets, no running water…remember this was raw land. The event was scheduled to start from 5 to midnight so we had to plan on purchasing torches to situate all over the party area. Port-a-potties were rented and everything else requiring water either had to be purchased or prepared off-site. Another consideration was transportation. Our party was situated on an island located in the San Juan Island chain in Washington state. Most of our guests were coming from either Seattle or Eastern Washington which required them to take a ferry. The ferries only run on a certain schedule so we had to consider timing the party to coincide with the arrival and departing times of the ferry. If your party is in a remote location such as ours was you also need to consider lodging options for your guests.
• How formal? Is your party going to be formal or casual? In our case we were extremely casual — by designating it as such will give you help with things like table centerpieces, linens, dress and so forth.
• What is your theme? What type of meal will you be serving? Our theme was the Pacific Northwest since that is were we resided and we had a wealth of free seafood caught that day right off the island. Take advantage of any inexpensive or free resources you may have at your disposal (do you live near water for fish? do you have a garden? etc.).

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can create a sort of mission statement for your party which will guide you on smaller decisions to come. For example, once you create a theme, know how formal the occasion will be, who will be attending and where the party will be held, you can set a tone for your party that will help in everything from creating the menu to setting the tables.

Step 2: Lists, lists, and more lists

At the very beginning of our party planning process we began to make lists upon lists — this wasn’t so tough since both she and I are master list-makers…it was keeping them organized that became the tough part. I find that using a 3-ring binder is the easiest way to keep lists organized for a large event.

• Grocery lists. Once you firm up the menu (more on that in step 3), list every ingredient you’ll need. For large grocery lists I like to organize my list by dividing it into categories. For instance, group all produce items together, meat/seafood items together, dairy items together and so forth. This not only makes it easier to shop but speeds up the grocery shopping process.
• Supply lists. Create supply lists such as grill equipment list, bar lists, linen lists, service utensil lists, supplies such as paper towels, aprons, plastic wrap, zip lock bags, soap, etc..
• Entertainment list. Create a list of what you will need for entertainment. Do you need to supply CD’s or alternate music in between band sets (if having a band)? Does the band need anything set up?
• To Do lists. I like to create several "To Do" lists starting with 2-3 weeks ahead, followed by 1 week ahead, 3 days ahead, 2 days ahead and a complete breakdown of the actual day of the party. The key to a big party is to do as much as you can ahead of time. This includes shopping, scheduling, set up and prepping. Be realistic about how much you can get done in a block of time. Don’t overlook time-consuming chores like washing dishes, packing food for transport and so forth. Add a little extra time here and there to compensate for miscalculations and to allow for either late breaking crises or in the best situation, a little time to de-stress and relax. I also suggest, making sure that you plan on 1-2 hours of time prior to the party time to clean up, freshen your make-up, change your clothes, etc. This may sound silly, however I can’t tell you how many times I have been caught last minute attending to the hors d’oeuvres or putting the finishing touches on the dessert and realizing that I have 10 minutes to get ready….trust me this is not how you want to head into the party you have worked so hard to prepare.

Step 3: Compose an exciting menu — heavy on the do-ahead!

• Buffet or seated dinner? For a large party it is pretty much essential to serve a buffet (that is unless you have hired a staff of servers!). We chose dishes that could either be made well in advance or could be prepped and grilled at the party site. Choose recipes that are not too fancy but remain consistently good. And it’s always a good idea not to prepare something for the very first time (you may laugh — but it’s been known to happen!).
• Choose dishes with different temperatures, textures, flavors & colors. Choosing a menu with only hot dishes will not only overwhelm your oven but will be tremendously difficult to keep warm during transport and set up and will ultimately be rather boring to your guests. Alternatively, the same thing holds true with all cold dishes…this will only result in a maxed out refrigerator and again, lack of variety for your guests.
• Consider how people will pick up food. Before choosing an entrée that will require a knife and fork, determine whether there will be tables and chairs for people to sit down. If people will be standing while eating, choose finger food. If people will be balancing plates on their laps, make sure the food is fork friendly and doesn’t require a knife. At our party we served a variety of salads, chips and a variety of salsa’s, beef and chicken skewers, crack and peel shrimp, and grilled salmon — all easily eaten with either fingers or a fork.
• Consider food safety and temperature issues. Choose dishes that can be eaten at room temperature without spoiling or tasting bad. Mayonnaise dishes such as potato salad and many pasta salads are at risk in warm hot temperatures. Be aware of these food risks. Also be aware that much of your food will sit for a bit without being eaten…unlike a sit down dinner where everyone eats at the same time. Are the dishes you are choosing going to still taste good if they are not eaten directly out of the oven?
• Evaluate your kitchen resources. How much can your stove produce? How much can you refrigerate? With our party we failed to realize our constraint in our kitchen. At the time my mom was renting a small studio apartment. (This is where it gets amusing!) The kitchen was equipped with a small half-fridge and a sink….yep — no stove! We managed to serve a group of 100 with a 2 burner hot plate and a half-size refrigerator (all this in about a space of less than 300 square feet)! Not only did we quickly max out our itsy bitsy refrigerator but we maxed out the refrigerators of several nearby yachts! We honestly had to log where each dish was on several boats located in a nearby harbor! Clearly I would suggest avoiding this situation at all costs — not to say that it is impossible, since we pulled it off, but it was extremely hectic and rather confusing!
• How much food to make? It’s impossible to give an exact equation or answer to this question. It will ultimately depend on what kind of food you’re making, the time of the party, and where and how people will eat. Keep in mind that when people serve themselves they tend to eat more. But at the same time in a buffet situation where people serve themselves they tend to eat smaller portions of each dish. First check your recipe yields. Go through each recipe and extrapolate the appropriate quantities based on the number of servings. Many of my recipes I have used for parties are originally only made to serve 4-6. Multiplying these quantities out for a group of 50 or 100 can be a little more difficult that you may at first think — it may surprise you of how much you will actually need. As a guide, each person will generally eat about a pound of food or about 20 "bites" per person for a dinnertime event or 14 "bites" per person for a lunchtime affair. So if you are making 5 appetizers, make enough so everyone can have 4 of each type.
• Prepare a whole item rather than individual servings. It’s easy to underestimate how much time it will take to prepare individual servings. You don’t want to be making 100 individual mousses or boning and stuffing 100 chicken thighs the night before the party. It’s much easier to prepare a roast or throw several whole fish on the grill or in the case of dessert prepare 2 large sheet cakes.

Step 4: Scope out the party site.

Even if the party is going to be at your own house, early on ask yourself the following questions:

• What equipment and tools are available? Don’t be caught short without adequate refrigeration or cooking equipment. If you do happen to be disadvantaged in the kitchen, as we were, come up with plans to work around your situation…ie., other people’s boat refrigerators, coolers, portable gas burners or electric cook top hotplates. If you are planning on baking — make sure that baking pans will fit in the oven you are using. Think through what needs to be baked and when so you can come up with a baking schedule.

• Where will everything go? Figure out areas for food storage, preparation, stashing dirty plates, platters, and trash. You’d be surprised how fast trash and dirty dishes pile up and how much it can cramp your work area. Planning all of this in advance minimizes chaos on party day.
• Evaluate the serving area. Do you have enough buffet tables? If it is an outdoor event do you have some sort of tent to provide shade for the food and guests? We have even gone so far as to sketch out the tables diagramming which dish will go where and on what platter. Plan your serving vessels and think about your refilling strategy. Will the replenishing occur at the buffet table or will there be a composed backup platter ready to go? Thinking through this process of serving will eliminate having to shoot from the hip when you don’t have enough platters or food runs out at the table.

Step 5: Hiring wait staff and help.

Depending on the size of your party and the amount of effort you want to put into it, you may want to consider hiring someone or even asking a neighbor or friend to help you with the prep and especially with the dishes. Even if you decide to do everything on your own you will need help serving at the actual event. For a simple buffet you will need about 1 waitperson for every 15 guests. Here are some helpful tips to help you with your wait staff:

• Hire responsible people who can take direction. Look for professionalism, flexibility, and eagerness. Can they cook? You may need some last minute cooking and it might be nice to have someone attend to this while you deal with other issues. Give them a copy of the menu in advance so they know what to expect. If attire is important, tell them what to where.
• Give explicit, precise instructions. Provide them with a timeline for the day, with the order of service and specific tasks to accomplish. No detail is too minor to mention.

Step 6: Cooking, Serving & Garnishing.

• When to start cooking? Our strategy has always been to start cooking the food as early in the week as possible, but not so early that it compromises the flavor, texture or appearance of the food.
• Deconstruct recipes into small, do-ahead steps. Break each recipe down into small, easy, do-ahead steps and schedule each step as early as you can. For instance if you are making beef skewers for a party on Saturday, prepare the marinade on Thursday, marinate on Friday and all that is left is to season with salt and pepper and grill on Saturday. Label all prepped food with masking tape so you know what goes with what. I also like to check off all that I have prepped on the printed out recipe so I make sure that I don’t forget anything.
• Consider using high-quality prepared food. It’s okay to buy jarred roasted red bell peppers or even chopped garlic when cooking for a large crowd or instead of buying several heads of lettuce and washing them yourself, try using bagged mixed greens that are cleaned and ready to serve.
• Look for overlapping elements in recipes. If you see three recipes that call for chopped onions or garlic, do all the chopping at once. Divide them up into the appropriate measurements, label and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble.
• Slightly undercook food that will get another re-heating. If the previously blanched asparagus will be reheated with butter or in broth, for example, it helps to undercook it a bit the first time around.
• Presentation makes a difference. The color of the serving plate should contrast with the food. Light platters go with dark food, dark platters with light food, etc. For a stunning buffet table create height. Place serving dishes at varying heights using ordinary household items as supports: flowerpots, cardboard boxes, baking pans, etc.. Drape the linen over the supports, making sure everything is very stable and put a card over each place reminding you where each dish goes.
• Lay the buffet table out in advance. To make sure you don’t miss anything, mentally walk down the table and ask yourself, "How do you pick this up?", "Is there a spoon for this?", "Does this need garnish?".
• Assemble & Garnish. Assemble and garnish as late as possible so the food looks and tastes freshly made. Toss salads with dressings at the last minute to avoid wilted leaves. Decorate with an herb or an ingredient from the recipe to clue people in to the flavor.

Step 7: Learn from experience.

A few days after the party take some time to write down what worked and what didn’t. File that in your party folder and review before your next party.

I know this is a lot of information but hopefully it will help you consider all the details if you plan on throwing a large party this summer.

One final note...at the beginning of this article I mentioned that we planned our party for 100 people with a completely gluten-free menu. We were able to pull it off quite easily with fantastic results primarily due to the fact that nearly all of the food we prepared was naturally gluten-free. Here is the menu we served to our party of 100 on the beautiful San Juan Island:

Cantelope and Roma Tomato Salsa
Pico de Gallo
Tortilla chips

Wild Rice Salad with Sausage
Black Bean & Tomato Salad

Grilled Chicken & Mushroom Quesadillas

Korean Barbecue (skewers)
Grilled Chicken with Peanut Sauce (we made these into skewers)

Crack & Peel Shrimp
Salmon w/Blackberry Sauce
Fresh Steamed Crab

Large basket of gf Cookies
Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

- Glutenfreeda