Gina: Only two posibilities exist.......you didn't have enough so it went very quickly OR it was so darn good they loved every bit.

Most of us would be thrilled if every thing we made was eaten....be thankful. Would you have rathered throwing it out????

The time you chose is for sure a hungry time. Most people were probably running around like crazy that morning trying to get their holiday stuff done before coming to your house and had no time for lunch. You say it started at 2 oe 3 in the afternoon....when did it end.......after or close to supper hour is my bet.

I think you just had hungry guests who were invited to a party with lots of good eats to close to either meal so they skipped one or both.

The food must have been great! Mind posting some of the recipes? :-)

Well, I did make an effort to have tasty things :) . I'm just wondering if I should have more food next time or if people will eat everything no matter how much you have? I guess I'm worrying about not having enough, even though I know I've put less out in the past and not seen this um, consumption LOL!

I had a big crudite platter (nothing special there), ham, cheese and turkey rolls, Indian veggie samosas, mini sausages in puff pastry, coffee cake, cookies, chocolates, chips, devilled eggs, tiny roast beef sandwiches, pasta salad, mini crab cakes, cheese and fruit plate with crackers.
I'm never sure how much food to get for how many people, then I worry about no-shows and having TOO much food. You know, the usual party worries.
The one thing I messed up on was not having any diet drinks or bottled water - there was a diabetic, a couple of dieters, and a couple of teetotalers I had to serve ice water to because all I had was regular sodas, wine, beer, and champagne and fresh orange juice for making mimosas. (That was a hit.)

My thought is 2 is an odd time to have a party.
Think of yourself as a guest.....12 to about 1 is your lunch....then a party at 2....So you skip lunch and eat.
2 or 3 in the afternoon is neither lunch, not tea nor cocktails nor dinner....so people made it their mid afternoon meal break.
Next time have a party at a more usual time and you likely will have a more predictable food consumption.
Linda C

No wonder they were piggies!!!! you served great food at a time when people are bound to be between meals and hungry. Can I come to your next party !!!!

Right or wrong I never worry about too much food I always worry about not enough! I can always send folk home with food or force leftovers on the family for a week .One trick I use is to make a freezable dish or two ( meatballs, spanikopita, crab cakes etc.) that I keep as back up. If all the food goes I pull it out, if not I save for another occasion.

Happy Holidays and I wish all my guests to be piggies!

Wow, did you invite my in-laws? Last time I invited them for a New Years Eve party (after dinner--just snacks and desserts)--they actually pulled chairs up to the buffet table and practically ate from the serving dishes. By 10 o'clock, I was digging in the freezer to see what I had that I could possibly heat up and toss at them--they'd already eaten their way through what had been enough food for a group twice their size, and my back-up reserves in the kitchen. Did find some old, buried, frosty, horrible pizza rolls that my family wouldn't eat--the in-laws weren't that fussy.

If I am to serve an "early dinner", I invite people for 2 or 3pm. For example, a birthday party. That gives us enough time to have activities or just get re-aquainted, open presents, then eat dinner. If I were invited to a party that started at 3 and expected it to last more than an hour or so, I think I would assume some sort of dinner was to be served. Maybe they thought the appetizers WERE dinner LOL.

If I just want to serve "snackies" I do some things:

-call it an "open house" and give a time frame (from 2-5pm for example) on the invitation
-mention somewhere that hors d'oeuvres will be served between 2-5 pm
-make it for after 7pm at night.

I think people were just a little confused ROFL.

{{gwi:336191}}

I have found that most people are pigs! When getting something free, obviously take all you can is the rule. It's also true though that if the food was bad, it wouldn't have been licked clean, so do take that as a compliment.

At the risk of soundng a litle cranky, I don't agree. For most of us the people we invite to our celebrations are generally people we love and like to be around. Most people I know, that I would invite to my home, are not pigs looking for something free......if they were I wouldn't invite then to my home!

I invite people to my home because I like them and enjoy thier company. I want to entertain and feed them well..so when they eat well and enjoy themselves I am rewarded not annoyed........am I missing something?

Sharon, I don't think you sound cranky at all. I think it is really sad that someone could go through life believing this about the people they know. Ann.

You question that people ate it all with a list of food like that????? If people know you cook, and like to cook, I'd skip supper the night before, breakfast and lunch the day of - to eat that food!!!! LOL I do hate to run out though - but, it gives a clear signal that PARTY IS OVER!! LOL

If I was invited to a party that started at 3pm, I'd expect to be served some sort of dinner unless otherwise instructed. A party that begins at 3 is bound to last until after 5...which is the beginning of dinner hour. If they had lunch at noon-ish, they were probably already getting a bit hungry by 3....by 5 they were famished.

We had windows installed Monday. I like to make sure there are plenty of drinks for workers when I'm having work done. I had a 12-pack of coke, 12 diet coke and 12 diet sprite, and powdered gatorade.

There were only 4 guys. They drank all the sodas (I think I had one diet sprite left and all the cokes and Dcokes were gone! Plus DH said he made them gatorade throughout the day.

Wow! I don't think it was a matter of me not having enough!

Karen,

It was 97 on Monday LOL! If I had to work outside I'd even drink water from the hose. Wasn't Wednesday just beautiful?

Denise

Denise,
This morning was a delightful ride into work. Had the sunroof open and was a beautiful sky!

I just never had 4 people drink so much in all my life!

Our house had the A/C off all day with all the work going on, and when they got done at 8 pm, it was 94 inside!

TREKaren -- I'm also in Atlanta ... we had our master bath completely gutted, so there was no ceiling for a while, and then the insulation guys kept standing us up to come blow the new insulation once the ceiling was back in. With various contractors in and out and the door open, air off, like you said, it's OMGHOT! upstairs. I found all three kids in the top bunk one night "because it's closer to the fan". Couldn't convince them that being all smooshed together wasn't helping the situation... LOL! The insulation guys finally came on Thursday and I can tell a difference, but thank heavens for budget billing!

How did we get onto THIS subject? Talk about hijacking a thread! lol

Last night, DH went to install the new ceiling fan in DD's bedroom - the very last touch to her remodel, plus the old one was starting to hum and vibrate. He got the old one out, then found that the thing you screw the ceiling fan to - the thing in the ceiling - it was very loose, because the attachment to the attic beam was worn out. No wonder the old fan rattled and hummed.

Anyway, he didn't feel like crawling in the attic to fix it last night, so DD went to bed with no fan breeze. Well, we didn't get any sleep last night. She was up and down all night! You sure do get used to the breeze of the fan in the hot summer!

Can't think of anything to post regarding the OT -- sorry! Have a great week, all!

One last hijack then I promise to behave! Karen and airedalian, your fan stories reminded me of my 4 bedroom fans. The upstairs air conditioner sprang a freon leak inside the all on Saturday night. Thank goodness it's started to cool off at night or we'd have to stay with friends. It is not quite OMG-HOT at bedtime but pretty darn close. The repair people promise to come tomorrow but I don't think this is going to be an easy repair. I've learn something new about the weather here. Just when it starts to get really cool about 2 a.m., the humidity grows to about 83%! So airedalian, I don't know how you and your family survived the remodel!

Denise

hi there. I had a little christmas party last night. Most of the guests were my guys friends and some family. I had all of the norm- veggie tray, fruit tray, ham rollups. Now knowing that some of his buddies are single and when they come over I feed them I also made sloppy joes and a salad. I had the phone number for a pizza place nearby for the die hards that might be here late. Didnt need it and had little food left. Too much food is always better than not enough. What I do is make more than I need and send it home with the single guys...

Nothing to add only that Sharon said it best.......

I agree with Linda: If I were a guest at a party starting at 2:00 (particularly one serving alcohol) I would anticipate a luncheon-type buffet.

Before your next party, start a list of foods that wouldn't have to be eaten immediately if you don't use them (like cans of peanuts or jars of salsa, for example) and freezable foods (like an extra batch of cookies or a crock pot full of meatballs you could freeze if you don't use). Keep these on hand to prepare and serve at the last minute if the food starts to run out.

It might also help to keep a list of who you invited to the last party, what you prepared, and how fast it was eaten. Remember that people generally eat more in cold weather than warm--so the same people might consumer less at a summer party.

You did, by the way, have a wonderful assortment of food! Now... I have to ask... did you consider a "reasonable" quantity of food per person? My MIL, for example, if having 20 family members over, would consider one carrot stick OR one celery per person, and serve 10 of each. And one cookie OR one slice of coffee cake. And one tablespoon of pasta salad OR one chunk of cheese. See what I mean? Even with a variety, her portions are odd. With "mini" food, people tend to eat more since it's just a "little bit". (We do Ok as we know to eat before we go, LOL)

Julie (who always prepares too much)