Hi everyone. Background: My partner is planning my 30th birthday party this summer. She is keeping it relatively small (around 25-30 people, close friends and family). My aunt is hosting the party at her house with a pool and nice backyard. My partner's plan is to get the party catered by a local catering company, with some appetizers and then stations for dinner. They also offered to throw in a bartender for a small fee. The whole catering package is pretty affordable for the quality of food and service we are getting. Not that it matters, but we budgeted for the caterer and can afford it. We are obviously going to be hosting the entire event, food and drinks, no one will have to pay for anything. We entertain pretty frequently at our home, and always have friends and family over for dinner or cookouts. We generally do all the prep work, serving and making all the food. We figured for this party, we would prefer not to have to cook or BBQ and would prefer to have it catered.
My question: After invitations went out, people have started making comments about how "over the top" it is to have a caterer for a birthday party. It's starting to give me a complex. Are we wrong to have it catered, and we should just make the food ourselves? This party is by no means 'fancy' or formal, it's just a backyard party that starts at 5 with swimming. My friends seem to be reacting like we're trying to plan another wedding and it's making me mad.
Thanks,
Jenni