When it comes to party planning and food amounts, trying figure out the just how much food you need is hands-down the biggest challenge: you don’t want too little and you don’t want too much and to be honest there is no magic formula, so the determination often comes down to more of an art than any kind of scientific method.
Some elements you need to consider when you are party planning include how long your party will last, the type of food you will be serving (rich, or light), and the age variations of your guests. You also will need to consider if this will be a complete throw-down barbecue in the afternoon, a light brunch, or a simple after-dinner gathering for cocktails.
Luckily, planning your party menu and isn't as hard as it sounds. As long as you follow a few basic party planning guidelines and party planning basics, you can plan your menu and event recipes with confidence. It all starts with an outline of your original ideas for food amounts.
- Review and adjust your menu. After you have made your outline of your menu ideas, you will want to take the time to review it a couple times and make adjustments. What appears to be a good plan today may look a little different to you the next. The best menus come from planning in advance and making adjustments before they’re finalized.
- Round up, instead of down. Successful planning also means that when you estimate the amount of food per person, you should be rounding your numbers up instead of down. No one wants to hear that you ran out of the tastiest hors d’oeuvres just because someone else took more than their share, and you don’t want to serve smaller portions of your main course simple because you don’t have enough.
