High school open house

[pegkerr]

Oh Livejournal/Dreamwidth, hive mind repository of all human knowledge, please pass along your best suggestions/tips for a successful, affordable high school graduation open house in one's own home. Any menu suggestions?

Fiona's going to be a high school graduate!* Can you believe it?

*Well, with an asterisk by her name. Technically, she doesn't graduate until she finishes online gym, over the summer.

Comments

[elements]

Ok, I used to be an event planner for variously-budgeted nonprofit orgs and projects. So let's see if I can be useful.

What time of day is it? Is it during a mealtime where people may expect to be able to eat a light meal's worth of snacks, or is it at a time when probably people have already had lunch and aren't yet expecting dinner, for example? And how many people? I could probably help you get a sense of quantities if you're not sure, so you have enough but not too much leftovers.

I think the cheapest route is probably to go with some mix of picnic type snacks, heavy on the finger foods, and baked goods (these are ideas; you wouldn't need to use *all* of them to have a good mix):

* Inexpensive vegetables for crudites & dip (celery and baby or stick-sliced carrots and cucumber in wedges or round slices are good, broccoli & cauliflower, black olives from a can; cherry or grape tomatoes will be a bit pricier).
* Speaking of grapelike things, grapes are good finger food themselves.
* Cheese & crackers. No need for it to be fancy cheeses at all. Small slices of brick cheddar and swiss and plain ordinary crackers of a couple varieties do just fine. Not saltines cos they crumble. Have the cheddar be orange so it contrasts visually with the swiss.
* Bowls of snack stuff like tortilla chips with salsa, potato chips with dip nearby, pretzel nibs or whatever other mini pretzel type thing you like, popcorn, whatever. You could also have a bean dip or a cheese dip. And you can go generic on all of the chip type stuff so they usually are pretty cheap.
* Small bowls of nuts (they can get pricey even in bulk, but basics like peanuts or mixes with cashews are less so).
* Baked goods are relatively cheap especially if you make them yourself and they fill people up. Slices of stuff like banana bread, chocolate zucchini bread, etc. But also cookies, and maybe even fun cheap novelty treats (like rice krispy treats, or rice krispy plus froot loops which is colorful). You can have these even if you are also having a cake.
* If you need to provide hot food, or something that will feel more meal-like, combinations of carbs plus cheese tend to be least expensive and most filling. Pizza or a big casserole of mac & cheese or a nicely shaped but cheap pasta with a simple sauce & parmesan cheese, for example. You can also do a casserole sized bean dip. On the pasta I have done a giant bowl with 2 boxes of $1 cellentani shape pasta (corkscrews) and one $5 thing of pesto and put on some parmesan or shredded mozzarella and had it feel quite fancy, but you don't even need to go as snazzy as pesto.
* Another meal option, which I have no real sense of the price on, is cold cut trays and rolls for sandwiches. I never had an event where it made sense to do these but I saw them at a friend's event, and she is also pretty cash-strapped. I think it's a matter of making sure you get good values on your rolls and cold cuts.
* Deviled eggs can be relatively cheap to make. They tend to go fast, but they also do the job of filling people up and are a "special / party" type food people don't usually have otherwise.
* Have soda to drink, but if you want to also have something that feels fancy, and if you have or can borrow a punch bowl and punch ladle, a fruit punch mixed with ginger ale or some other appropriate fizzy can add a sense of festivity. You can get punch pretty cheap, even make all or part of it from a mix, and it's summer so you can put ice in too. If you're doing a cake then having punch put out at the same time as the cake (especially if the fizzy is just added right beforehand) can make that feel special.
* I am not as sure how the pricing is on things like cole slaw or potato salad cos I've never made them myself and I expect the store deli price would be prohibitive in quantity. But if you know how I bet it's not expensive. Pasta salad, or bean salad, also not pricey. My mom makes a slaw that's shredded carrot with raisins and a little of I think sour cream (I'd have to ask her, there is something creamy in there) that I know is relatively easy.

Basically I think foodwise if you think summer fun / picnic as your theme, then you end up with food that's in an inexpensive range and that can still be quite festive.

Presentation is what makes things feel like a "special occasion" and you can do that without spending much money, if you have any nice serving trays or plates or the like for putting things out on. But totally go with paper plates and napkins and utensils and plastic cups for people to use. If you want to do decorations, the kind of tissue paper streamers that come in a roll that is like 20 feet long are under $1.

[aome]

Just letting you know your invitation came on Friday. I wish I could be there! Will keep you all in my heart that day. Is graduation on Sun or the Sat?

[pegkerr]

It's on Friday night.