Wedding Cakes & Food Forum

Speaking of late night snacks...

I'd love to have one, but our caterer will be long gone by then so it would have to be self-catered. We do have access to a full kitchen, but for obvious reasons I'd like to keep it simple. Right now all I can think of is like cheese and sausage trays or something like that, but I'd rather have something more fun.

Oh, and reception is in a VERY small town, so absolutely nohing is open after 10pm except bars. So we can't have anything delivered even. (I'd love to just order pizza, but they don't have a pizza joint.) Ideas? Has anyone else done a DIY late night snack?
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Re: Speaking of late night snacks...

  • Icecream! Can't go wrong with iceacream. Store it in the freezer and have an icecream bar with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, cherries, peanuts, and what ever guests want! lol. My other favorite is making popcorn and then dipping it into chocolate! My aunts does it for christmas and a bridal shower and put servings into the paper cups you use for cupcakes, cause it goes fast! But you wouldn't have to worry about cooking either way. I'm just an icecream aholic. lol. Just saying. :)
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  • I'd do cookies and anything else I could put in a corner out of the caterer's way.

    If my caterer OK'd the fridge space, I might do a fruit tray.

    If you're up to it, you can do take-and-bake pizzas. But for anything involving any prep, I'd think about all the considerations you would if you were self-catering.
    Do you know how to operate the appliances?
    What tools will you need?
    Who will clean up?
    What will you do with left-overs?
    Etc.
  • Thanks for the ideas girls. I had thought of ice cream, but fi can't eat dairy, and I'm not a fan so I ruled it out. It would be easy though, so I'll put it back on the maybe list. We're already doing cookies with the meal, but I was considering serving them later instead. We'll have tons of kids there so I wanted to serve the cookies before they left. Or should I switch it?

    The venue is actually my parents home, leftovers etc is not a problem at all. They entertain large groups a lot and have plenty of kitchen & fridge space as well. I'm hiring people for serving & cleanup, but cooking would be up to us. Prep time the day before/ morning of is also not a problem.

    I would love to do pizzas, but I don't really have anyone to cook them. Ugh, I may have to do chips and cookies like all of my cousins do. I just want something more fun. Maybe snack mixes or something? I know I'm way overthinking, but I have nothing that needs to be done right now for the wedding so I'm obsessing on details!
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  • I seen an article on here about doing cookies and shot glasses of milk to help with portions, that would be great. and also it mentioned popcorn balls, and milkshakes. lol.
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  • If you have to do the prep yourself, I would skip anything too labor intensive and just have chips and dip.  I'm imagining you heating up trays of food in your dress!  Is there no way the people hired to clean up could thrown some stuff in the oven?  If that's the case, then I would suggest stuff like mozzarella sticks, little hot dogs, etc. that you can get frozen from Costco or a grocery store and just throw in the oven.  Or maybe a chafing dish of cheese with bread and veggies to dip in it, for fondue?
  • We did ice cream too, even though I'm vegan so I couldn't have any & DH isn't a huge fan. He didn't even remember to take any. It was a huge hit. I think there were 3 flavors, but like 5 toppings. We had a server scooping it out, but it can easily be done by the guest. 

    I also agree that cookies, brownies or other desserts that don't need to be kept refrigerated can work. Put them in little bags & in a basket by the door when people leave.
  • Maybe an antipasto display?  We're doing one for our hors d'ouvres reception as a different twist on cheese-and-crackers and veggie trays.  Iinclude an assortment of meats and cheeses (fresh mozzarella, provolone, smoked turkey, ham, proscuitto, salami, etc.), olives, marinated veggies (mushrooms, artichoke hearts, etc.), grape tomatoes, and breads (pita wedges or pita chips, slices of toasted Italian bread or garlic bread, foccacia, cracker-style breadsticks, you get the idea).  If you wanted, you could also put out some dips like hummus or spinach dip (cold or hot, depending on the availability of someone to heat it up, although it does well in a small crock pot).

    All of this could be prepped ahead of time (put onto trays, into baskets) and stored until you're ready to serve.  It would take some refrigerator space, so you would need to negotiate that with your caterer.
  • We are renting a popcorn machine. Its really not a bad price, in my opinion, and as someone that worked at a movie theater throughout high school, its really not hard to make. We ordered glassine bags online, and making it self serve
  • Depending on how late in the night it is, you could have your caterers set up a coffee maker with coffee right before they leave, have some of those bottles of coffee flavorings, and have boxes of Dunkin Donuts or donuts from another source. You could have those "to go" coffee cups with lids.  

    The idea of a late night snack is so your guests have something to eat before they get in their vehicles and leave. I think donuts, or croissants from Costco or Sam's Club would be fine.

    Depending on what you have around you, you could also maybe have someone (caterer?) go and pick up orders of slider hamburgers and fries before they leave, you can keep them warm in the oven at the lowest temp, wrapped in the paper they come in, then serve them about an hour or two before the event is scheduled to end. Our caterer picked them up from a local hamburger joint and put them out in cute baskets, but our caterer was there until the end of the night.





    Chips and dip are also fine.
  • Is there anything that you could order and then have your caterers put in the oven on a heat setting that is enough to keep them warmed before they leave for the night?  That way you could greatly increase your options without really increasing your labor in terms of prepping something.  I'm from Texas so fried chicken is pretty popular here.  If I was in your shoes, I could have orderd some fried chicken and some biscuits from a local place and had them delivered to the venue while the caterers were finishing cleaning up the kitchen area.  They could set the oven to an appropriate temp, put the chicken in there in a large pan, and let it stay warm (and safe from foodborne illness) until you're ready to serve.

    That could still be more work than you want to do, but just thought I would throw another option out there.  Otherwise I can't think of much else that PP haven't already mentioned.  Platters from Costco or your local grocery store would probably be the best way to go. 
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  • Yeah! My post came back! Thanks for all the ideas. Fi is pretty excited about antipasto, so that's how we're leaning, maybe with cookies or ice cream as well. I really does have to be make-it-ourselves unfortunately, since it really is a super-rural area, no fast food places except Subway which I don't like at all), no pizza, no chicken, no grocery, etc. Closest anything is an hour (which is where we live, and we're still small town here), so logistically hard. One of the many reasons I moved out of there right after high school!

    Caterer is people we hired to do a hog roast, so they really don't do anything else but cook the hog and serve it with sides they bring with, so they're no help. But antipasto should work really well, so thanks bunches. I knew there had to be something that wouldn't involve me cooking in my fancy clothes. I'm a slob so that would be BAD!
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  • Fill a crockpot or electric roaster with hotdogs! Have buns and condements and people can help themselves! Not very classy, but who doesnt like hot dogs?
  • Hot dogs is a good idea too. Maybe hot dogs and chips or something? I'll ask fi and see which he prefers!
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