E-party advice

lagiocanda

My parents are throwing an engagement party for FI and I over the holidays when we will be in town. They arranged the venue, decorations, sent out invites, etc but my dad recently lost of one his jobs and now they can’t afford the food/drinks. FI and I are happy to arrange the food and drinks as it is a tough time for my family, and my parents are happy with that solution.

The e-party is from 5-8pm with 30 people coming. We were planning on serving wine/beer and hors d’oeuvres. Does anyone have any suggestions on tasty and affordable hors d’oeuvres that you can find in the frozen section at places like Sam’s Club, BJ’s, or Publix? We were planning on having cheese and crudités trays out and then passing the hot appetizers- how many selections of hors d’oeuvres should we have? Thanks in advance for your help!

MairePoppy

Five to eight pm is dinner time, so you will need something hardier than hors d'eouvres. Could you add in a pasta dish (lasagne, mac'n cheese bar), chili, chowder, pizza or cold cut platters and ingredients for guests to make their own  grinders (hero sandwiches)?

waltzingmatilda13

Yup, that's definitely dinner time. If you insist on doing hors d'eouvres you're going to need a lot, at least enough to make up an entire meal. That is probably going to be more expensive than actually serving dinner food. 

I like PPs ideas for cheaper dinner options like pasta and sandwiches. You can buy all that stuff in bulk as well and your money should go pretty far. 

thousandtrees

Is it a dressy party? It may sound silly, but you can't go too far wrong with pizza. Get it out on some fancy-type paper plates and it can be surprisingly classy.

lagiocanda

Thanks for the input. I think we are going to add a roast and pasta sides to make it more substantial.