Planning Dinner for a Crowd

A couple of months ago my husband and I were selected to help with a fundraising gala out our church. Between the two of us, we have quite a bit of experience planning dinner for a crowd, including for groups of over 200 people. 

Not everyone gets to build experience in food service and dinner planning on a large scale, so we decided to share some of our most helpful tips – just in case Thanksgiving is at your house this year!

1. Set a budget.

Whenever I am working on a project, especially for work or other people, I want to know what the budget is. This helps me keep my imagination in check and know that I won’t encounter any fainting when I turn in receipts for reimbursement.

2. Get your theme (and level of class)              straight.

For the fundraising gala we helped with, they were going for a very upscale feel (as much as you can get in an old school gymnasium). We kept that constantly in mind and even ended up purchasing new serving dishes instead of using the mismatched bowls from the school kitchen.

Being that it was fall, the theme was autumn harvest, which, along with the level of class, heavily influenced our menu.

Having a theme and level of class in mind help to keep everything cohesive. If you were having a Paris themed party and the level of class was more casual, like for a child’s birthday party, you probably wouldn’t be considering a ice sculpture of the Eiffel Tower by the punch bowl. Likewise, if it was a large hospital board dinner, you wouldn’t have pink glittery replicas of the Eiffel Tower at each place setting.

3. Settle the menu.

This one should be obvious – choose your menu. While you are in the process of making the menu, give yourself a deadline after which you will.not.change. Changing your mind is one of the most agonizing things you can do during this process, so make a date after which all decisions are final. This also helps you settle down and focus, rather than waffling around about it until it’s time to do the final grocery shopping.

Try to choose menu items you are already familiar with. New recipes can stress you out, and time spent doing multiple test runs will only wear you out and confuse you about menu decisions.

4. Draft helpers.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, right? There is no way we could have pulled everything off at the gala without all the helpers. Draft help early on, especially people with specific skills. These core helpers will aid you in determining what other kind of help you need. We ended up with people who helped plan the meal, prepare it, assemble it in the kitchen the day of, serve it (that was quite the feat), and of course clean up. Everyone has valuable ideas, use their skills, and remember that delegation is your friend. Work with people’s unique talents and aptitudes.

5. “Outsource” when you can.

This kind of falls in line with draft helpers. For the fall gala, we ended up dividing the decorators from the food people. Unfortunately is was due in part to strong disagreements about some things, but I would highly advise taking this route from the get-go.

If you can have someone in charge of locking down your location, another person on decoration duty, and another to promote your event, you can focus on your part – the food! (or whatever part you chose).

6. Work ahead.

This is an absolute lifesaver, whether your dinner is for 15 people or 500. Anything you can do ahead will alleviate stress, because you won’t have to worry how it turned out. I made all the desserts for the gala in advance, because then I wouldn’t have to worry at the last minute that we wouldn’t have enough because a cake had fallen, etc.

7. Determine your service style.

Buffet lines may be acceptable for slightly casual dinners, and practical for very large ones. For the gala we actually had teams of servers that took care of a section of tables – much like a restaurant. This is very labor- intensive, so you really have to rely on the help you drafted earlier.

Sometimes the service style ends up altering the menu, so do consider what kind of set up you will have early on.

8. RSVP (maybe).

Are you planning to have people RSVP? I would advise it, if at all possible. If you don’t have at least a pretty solid idea of how many people to plan for, it is easy to inflate your shopping list “just in case.” This results in money and food wasted, and time spent preparing food for people that aren’t there.

9. Be OK with Opposition.

I was somewhat surprised at the drama we ran into with the fall gala. There is at least some peace in knowing that you can’t make everyone happy, and that some people show their worst side during stressful events like planning a fundraiser. Be better than that, and remember that your opinion is worth something too. Don’t ignore cautions and suggestions of those helping you plan, but don’t get stuck in the trap of trying to make everyone satisfied.

10. Realize “worst case” isn’t all that bad.

This is a concept Kevin and I have come to understand in our years of food service. Sometimes a shipment of food is late, and you have to change the menu. Sometimes you drop a tray of hashbrowns (that took forever to cook) and scatter them across the kitchen floor. Aaand….sometimes you drop a big bucket of ranch dressing and watch it spill over the tile floor and seep into the grout lines.

The more crises you live through, the more you realize that we all live past them. Is the worst case scenario that you run out of green beans? So what? People can eat green beans whenever they want. Is your roast undercooked? serve in courses, and keep it cooking until it’s done. The worst crisis I can think of at an event (or in general) is someone dying, and that’s usually not the dinner planner’s fault (do be careful and upfront about allergens, by the way).

 

Planning large dinners can be fun and rewarding – especially if you aren’t stressed out of your mind. Taking the time to plan ahead can help avoid many stressful situations and make the whole event more fun!

Have you ever been in charge of planning a large event? What’s your life-saving tip from the experience?