Recipe: 90th Birthday Buffet for 80-100 - Tips and Ideas

Dear Molly,

You have quite a celebration planned! I'm sure this will give your mother, family, and friends some wonderful memories. Here is a little help for you:

Buffet Food Amounts for 100-150 people

Quantity Charts and Estimating Tips

Quantity Cooking/Serves 100 or Serves 50

How much chicken salad to serve 100

Sandwich accompaniments

Tossed Salad or Salad Bar for 48 people

Fresh Fruit Platter / Tray and Fruit Salad Amounts for Large Groups (and Watermelon Boat Instructions)

My first suggestion is to find friends and/or family that you can assign certain tasks or foods so you can enjoy the day too. It would be very helpful if you could put someone else in charge of the beverages. Keeping the punch and coffee flowing while you're hosting and serving the food will be a challenge. Also, with the limited water supply you may want to bring in gallons of water for making coffee - it will take too long to fill the pot from a water fountain or bathroom tap. If you can't get help with serving, I would opt for bottled beverages instead of making punch.

I would consider letting everyone make their own sandwiches instead of you making them ahead of time. You can provide trays of assorted breads, rolls, pitas, and wraps. If you want the dollar rolls used just for the chicken salad, place the bowl of salad in the middle of a large tray and surround it with the dollar rolls on the tray below. Make a separate platter of thinly sliced tomatoes, lettuce leaves, etc. for use in the sandwiches. And offer mustard, mayonnaise, etc. on the side.

If you have a roaster oven or can borrow one or two that will be very handy for holding hot foods you want to serve. A couple of days before, check out the facility so there aren't any surprises on the big day. Take note of where the electric outlets are in case you need to run extension cords or plug strips for coffee pots or other small appliances.

Some extras to bring are garbage bags, paper towels, aprons, rolls of foil and plastic wrap and containers for packaging leftovers.

You can make purchased potato salad and cole slaw more interesting by serving from large bowls. The potato salad can be garnished with chopped red and green bell pepper or chopped fresh parsley. If you have a food processor, you can brighten up the cole slaw by shredding carrots and stirring some into the mixture and use more as a garnish on top. Well drained crushed pineapple and even golden raisins and/or mini marshmallows can be added to the coleslaw for a more interesting flavor.

If you're going to use canned beans to make baked beans, I would add an equal size can of Grandma's baked beans to the Bush's. This will make a denser mixture that won't be so runny on the plate.

A large tray of fresh vegetables and dip is always welcome.

I think it would be very nice to have music but if the acoustics aren't right for it, it may have to annoyingly loud to be heard about the conversations. Of course, if you do, it should only be music your mother enjoys!

You're probably planning on taking pictures during the celebration. If you're too busy that's something else you can assign to someone else. A photo album of the big day will make another nice gift for your Mother.

I hope that's a help. Maybe someone who has put together a similar celebration will share their tips and experiences with us.

Please wish your Mother a very happy birthday for me!

Betsy