Saturday, September 24, 2016

Hostess with the Mostess

Clean, clean, cook, cook. I'm on a quick twenty minute break to let some ibuprofen kick in before I keep on with my house cleaning and party preparation. Alas, despite my best efforts, there will be doors that we will just shut. As successfully as my purging has been, it is slow going, and items that we should have thrown, still are lingering and the clutter will need to behind shut doors. 

I thought I would share my menu for the confirmation dinner, and my costs. Keep in mind, I know I am serving a minimum of 23 people, but because my family often doesn't RSVP and treats things a s open houses (a pet peeve of mine and my sisters on both sides of me in age), I over shoot by 30%, so planned food for at least 30. Leftovers will be dinner Monday and Tuesday, as well as used for lunches. 


Appetizers (easy to put out snacks while I get dinner pulled together):
 Bacon wrapped little smokes, veggies and dill dip, strawberries, assorted  cheese cubes, hummus, and pretzel chips.

Entree:
Ham, cheesy hash brown potatoes, green been hot dish, coleslaw, dinner rolls, pickles, and olives. 

Desert:
Vanilla cheese cake, Turtle cheese cake, brownies

Beverages:
Beer, white and red wine, assorted pop, juice, water, and coffee. 

Grand total spent:  $223.87. This does not include the wine, as I used my own stash, but let's throw in $40 for the four bottles I set aside. Revised grand total: $263.87. At 30, that comes to $8.79 a person. More than likely I bought twice as much beer, pop, and bottled water than needed, so the left overs will be used to keep future costs down for weekend football watching. If I was more organized, I am sure I could have shopped better  and cut the cost down, but for three courses, plus "open bar",  I think I am entertaining on the cheap, but all should be tasty and no one should leave hungry. 

That's my timer.  Next room, my entry, and then to tackle the bathrooms. I'll put the food together either later tonight, or even in the morning since church isn't until 2:00.   I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Confirmations are very special to me in general, and seeing my youngest who was such a gift to us, affirming her own faith and the promises we made at her baptism, will no doubt make me a bit teary eyed. I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I'll give you an update on mine tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. Your party food sounds delicious but what's a turtle cheesecake? We don't do confirmations or christenings but any other family party is fair game especially the Caribbean side of the family lol

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    1. Both DH and I grew up heavily in the Lutheran church and both christenings and confirmations are big deals.Twenty one kids today were confirmed and the church was packed for the 2:00 service. Turtle cheese cake, or Turtle anything has caramel, choclate, and pecans and is delicious.

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  2. That is a lot of people to cook for. Having parties are so much work. And I think you did good at keeping the costs down. And I'm really proud of you for dejunking. It's not an easy monster to slay.

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    1. It ended up being a smaller group of 19, so lots of leftovers. One large family went to church, but had a conflict and couldn't come to the house for dinner, and three no shows who said they were coming (remember I said my family can be like that.) Needless to say, leftovers abound, so I froze two additional meals of ham, one with potatoes that I froze for reheating later. I froze 3 dozen buns, but have plenty for sandwiches this week, and lunches ready to go? What's not to like about that. Oh the purging-more is still needed, but we did really well cleaning up right after everyone left, and hopefully each weeks we will continue to remove items.

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