Non-wedding party planning

wandajune6

We're having a "meet the family" barbecue at our place in a few weeks that I'm now planning. We spend a lot of time with both families and everyone is curious about the others. FI's the oldest of 4 and, with his mom and everyone's families, there are about 19 people. My side has 5. TIn total we'll have 4 kids under the age of 10. Due to space considerations and sophisticated financial reasons (i.e. this is much more expensive than I thought!) we're keeping it to just immediate family. We found exactly 1 date that worked for everyone between vacation schedules, major moves, the start of wedding season, and weather decent enough to have everyone outside.

We told everyone that grilling starts at 5 but we'll have the pool open so we expect that people will show up early. We also plan to start the food once we have a decent mass of people (this is a crowd that will graze over the course of the day).

I'm now pulling together tables and seating for 25, organizing the menu, pulling together a birthday cake/presents for FI (his birthday is the day before), getting all of the random necessities etc.

Our menu is a take on FI's family's standard cookout menu:

-cecina and aranchera (yummy marinated and grilled skirt steaks)
-grilled cebollitas (little onions that are amazing)
-tortillas
-Mexican rice
-guacamole and pico de gallo
-tortilla chips
-hot dogs and hamburgers (mainly for the kids)
-homemade cole slaw and potato salad (thanks to my mom)
-elotes (roasted corn with mayo and crumbly cheese)
-birthday cake and sliced watermelon for dessert
-ridiculous amounts of soda, bottled water, and Corona (and possibly a few bottles of rum in the freezer!)

My family eats everything and while FI's family is much pickier, they love this menu. Everyone drinks though there are no big drinkers. That's easy.

I'm struggling with how much to buy. I don't mind over-buying on the disposable plates/forks/etc. but I'm clueless on food. We assume 35 ears of corn (elotes are amazing), pounds of coleslaw and potato salad, case upon case of soda, etc. We're unsure of how much meat/what types of meat per person, if people will bother with the hotdogs/burgers, etc. Also, are there any major holes in our menu that you can see?

Has anyone thrown a bit outdoor party like this? Any recommendations? Ideas around amounts of food?

Thanks!

AprilH81

That sounds like an amazing party!  

It is a lot of food though...  Can you cut back on the number of options?  Maybe just have hot dogs for the kids and eliminate the cole slaw and potato salad (I would not eat these if I was eating Mexican style food).

I've never cooked for that many people so I don't know serving sizes.  Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

beethery

Elotes sound amaaaaazing, but are 19 people going to eat that many ears of corn?

NM I am dumb as hell, I got caught up on 19 and then saw you're planning for 25!

Also whatever elotes they don't eat, send them to me. I need to try that.

phira

Sounds awesome! I agree that you might not need that many options. I actually come from a family that always has a million options (and at least as many dessert options), but there's always way way way too much food leftover, so I've been trying to cut back when I host stuff.

wandajune6

His family always does coleslaw and potato salad. I haven't figured out why. Plus, my mom wanted to bring something and didn't know what else to contribute. You make an excellent point though!

We'll cut out the hot dogs or hamburgers (I'll ask FI) and that should definitely help!

JCbride2015

Wow, this sounds like an amazing party!  And your family numbers break down exactly the way ours do, that's so funny.  Fi is the oldest of 4 in a huge Italian family, and my family is only 5 people total: parents, sister, and my SM makes 5.  Anyway.  I know melding families so different from each other is not always easy.

As for food amounts: 

I would probably slice the cecina and aranchera up really thin so people can take small amounts to taste each, and buy in total enough for each adult to have 1/3 lb, maybe 1/2 lb to be safe.  Fi's brothers would probably eat that or more, me and my sister would eat less.

How big are the tortillas?  If they're like burrito-sized, I would buy two per adult.  Smaller, maybe three.  Unless you guys do the little double corn tortillas, like make your own tacos?  Then 4-6 each.

I've never heard of cebollitas so I'm not really sure how much people will eat, sorry. :-/  When I'm making a vegetable side, I usually figure each person will eat about a fist-size serving and work back from there.

I'd just make masses of spanish rice.  You can always freeze it if you have leftovers, and both the kids and adults will probably eat it.

Hot dogs and burgers: I agree with PPs you probably only need to do one of these.  I'd assume each kid will eat one, and then maybe have another 6-8 in case adults want them.  But this really depends on which adults you know will want the skirt steak and not bother with the burgers.  If your family is unfamiliar with the Mexican (I'm assuming) food, and you think they will want the burgers, then buy more.

And finally, you can NEVER have enough guacamole.  For 25 people, I'd probably use 20 avocados.  But my crowd is crazy for guac.

wandajune6

Thanks, @JCBride

My family is less familiar with this type of casual Mexican food but they'll all love it. The hot dogs and hamburgers were mostly intended for the kids on his side. For some reason, everyone always grills them for the kids and ends up with tons of leftovers.

The meats come pre-sliced pretty thin so that part is easy. We put them into tacos so we'll grab the smaller tortillas. The onions are a personal preference but since I know my family will adore them, I'll buy lots. I just had no idea how much meat to buy- I'm guessing that the kids won't eat much of the arancera and cecina but the adults will eat closer to .5 lb each. I'll buy with that plan.

I'm not actually making the rice or guacamole myself. FI's SIL offered to do the rice and his mom offered the guacamole so I'm letting them do it. They know the numbers and are thrilled that my family wants to try more traditional cooking. Plus, I've learned the hard way not to try to cook Mexican food for Mexicans. It ends badly!

This is great advice. Thanks so much!!