Anyway, since I had no idea how many people were coming, I bought way too much food and candy just in case. The party cost us maybe $120, and we have about 15 lbs of chicken, tons of drinks and lots of snacks left over. Luckily, since we are used to throwing parties where no one shows up, we did it smart, so all of our leftovers can be used later. If you are going to throw a party where you are unsure about the turnout, I have a few tips.
First, only make things that you personally will eat later. I love deviled eggs, and they are always a hit at parties. They were the first thing I decided to make- partially because it's Easter and partially because I knew I wouldn't have a bunch of leftovers to throw away. After I cut the eggs in half, I put them in water with a few drops of food coloring for a minute to make them more festive. I used yellow, pink, blue, and green, and left about a third of the eggs white. The yellow didn't show up very well, and the green and blue look about the same, so I think next time I will only do pink and blue. I deviled 18 eggs (36 pieces) and only had 2 pieces left over.
I made a vegetable tray because vegetables are cheap and they are something I will eat as a snack in the evenings (and should eat more often instead of cookies and ice cream). I also made chocolate covered strawberries with white chocolate dyed orange so that they looked like carrots. They were kind of cute, but white chocolate isn't as well-liked as regular chocolate, so ended up with more leftovers than I expected, but again, they are something I will have no problem finishing off by myself. Also, nobody is really used to orange chocolate, so most people asked what they were before trying them and a lot of the kids didn't like them. Next time I will just do regular chocolate and they won't be as cute. If you decide to make these -especially for a large party- I suggest making some kind of label for them.
Lastly, I made cupcakes, because what event is complete without some sort of cake? I used a chocolate buttercream recipe that I found on the internet, and I thought it was a little bitter. I will have to try another recipe next time. I used the frosting to make birds nests for my jelly bean "eggs" and as a base for my marshmallow flowers (cut a marshmallow into 4 slices with scissors and dip the cut end in colored sugar for the petals). I also frosted some and put pre-made frosting flowers or carrots on them. If you've read my blog before, these are the frosting flowers and carrots I had leftover from the panoramic sugar eggs I made last week. At the end of the party, we had 11 cupcakes left. I'm not sure if I will eat all of those before they go bad (My husband won't help- he hates chocolate), but if a few of them go bad, at least cupcakes are cheap.
We bought canned soda because we rarely drink soda, so this way we wouldn't have a bunch of partial 2-liters going to waste. Cans are more expensive, but will store for a long time and we can drink them slowly or use them for my sons birthday party in two months.
We grilled chicken for lunch. I bought about 20 lbs of chicken just in case we did have a big turnout. I checked around and found chicken quarters for $1.49/lb and drumsticks for $1.00/lb. We waited until after everyone had arrived to start up the grill so that more of the appetizers would get eaten. Then my husband grilled enough food to feed everyone times three. After the party, I cut up all of the cooked chicken and put it in Ziploc bags in approximately 1 lb portions. Then I froze it for future use in chicken alfredo, chicken salad, and other dishes calling for cooked chicken pieces. The uncooked chicken was also split into single serving bags and frozen for later use. I like buying my meat in bulk, but unless I portion it up before I freeze it, it never gets used. After all, if you are cooking for a family of three, what do you do with a frozen block of 20 drumsticks or 4 chicken quarters, or a 5 lb roast?
Anyway, I had a party planned for at least 50 people. Even though only 13 came, I will be throwing out no more than a few cupcakes, I have plenty of meat stored for future meals, and everyone had a good time. To me, that is a success.
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