We did a hot dog cookout at Open House(before school started) so we had no chance of getting RSVPs. Talk about a guessing game! We had food leftover. The store took some of it back and the rest(chips, packaged cookies, plates, etc.) are sitting in the PTO room to be used in other programs. We controlled portions by using a cook wagon that our Pepsi distributor loaned us and having people inside just prepare the plates and hand them to the people. The grocery store we bought our stuff from even provided the people to staff the wagon!! All we needed volunteers for was clean up and the t-shirt table. Talk about an easy night!
I'm picturing a buffet style table. Food and drinks are divided into "stations" and have a volunteer at each station to oversee to make sure everyone is taking only their share. (We are lucky we only have one mom that stands at the food table and eats like she hasn't ate in months!)
Do you have enough seating? Maybe have a hostess to seat everyone.
Are students/children attending? Have some word searches or some pencil activities for them to do while everyone is eating where they aren't running around.
OK. We've ordered the BBQ beef, the buns, the hot dogs for kids who won't eat the beef, we've ordered the beans, we've set our date and time...
So why am I freaking out? How does one keep order at this type of event? From distributing drinks to making sure everyone gets his/her fair share, how do we insure a smooth, trouble free event?
My biggest fear? That we'll run out of food... I've ordered BBQ beef for 800, hot dogs for 200... I'm sending out flyers tomorrow asking about how many families plan to attend and asked about how much they figure to eat... (it sounds much nicer on the flyer... lol).
