<p>My parents will be celebrating their 50th in the coming month.
My brother and his family are overseas. We don’t live in the area and K1 is away at college.
Mom is in late late stage 4 cancer battle and these could be her last weeks.</p>
<p>So she and dad didn’t want a party (their littel group of 3-4 couples wanted to give them a bash). They cosidered doing a dinner out.</p>
<p>My idea was to cater a lovely evening at their home—my brother is “in” on the expenses. Mom and dad are “over the moon excited”
Dinner at their home will be easier on her–she will only need to rest and be ready for her guests. I am also arranging for the house to be cleaned top/bottom so she has no prep.</p>
<p>SOOO-
catering…
Plan is dinner- starting with passed hor’s/apps A main with one to two sides. And a dessert trio perhaps.
It will need to include rental of all linens, plates, flatware and stemware.
I don’t want to have guests to be in the kitchen and want all of the mess to be gone at the end of the evening.</p>
<p>In the past when I have done more formal events, I did all of the cooking/prep etc except for K1s grad dinner which we held in a Mortons (private room)</p>
<p>Can anyone give me an idea on what is a reasonable fee for the service/labor part?
I am looking at a menu that ranges in price per piece for apps, to per doz, or"feeds" 12-15 etc… And the mains are listed at a per plate etc
The service was on top of that
and of course linens/dishes rental will be also added.</p>
<p>So your thoughts? Would you do 2 entrees for choice? Feel free to PM me.
I am trying to get a handle on this–balancing not living in the area–and mom’s needs etc.
If there are anything things to watch for/consider, feel free to mention it.</p>
<p>fogfog, So sorry to hear about your mother’s health. It sounds lovely that you and your brother are doing this for your parents. Are you planning to be there to oversee the caterers, cleaning people,etc., even if your whole family cannot be there. It would seem like a good idea to have someone on site to help, especially given the health issues. If you can’t be there, I would consider possibly hiring someone to take on that role for you and factoring that into the labor cost. Just a thought . Since it is a small group that your parents know well, maybe they have a thought about entree. For instance, maybe they know all involved love a good filet. Good luck with this. Sounds like a wonderful idea.</p>
<p>It’s hard for me to give you specific advice because I don’t know what area you are in, and prices can vary significantly. However, in the past year I had to get quotes for a caterer for my wedding so I can give you some advice on how to get information quickly. </p>
<p>Google caterers in you area and send them a quick email explaining exactly what you posted here. In my experience most caterer’s will respond the by the next day, some even responding within hours with their pricing schedules. That way you will get a lot of quotes in a short period of time to compare.</p>
<p>Generally caterers like to make three to four times the price of the food.
20% for service is common around here.</p>
<p>Figure out your budget per person TOTAL. Send an email to the caterers and tell them you want to spend that amount per person for how many people you have, including cocktails if you’re having them, including all dinnerware and service, and ask them to suggest a menu. Indicate any favorite foods or dislikes.</p>
<p>We have catered three parties (a wedding and two corporate events) using the “we want to spend $XX/person and we want to do nothing beyond letting you in the door” formula and been VERY happy with the results.</p>
<p>We did something similar a couple years ago for some milestone birthdays. Costs will depend hugely on location, but to give you a data point for service costs: 20 guests, one server (buffet but passed apps) and two chefs for eight hours total (prep, event, and cleanup time), $30 per hour per staffer plus 25% gratuity on both food and staffing. </p>
<p>When you’re used to doing your own catering/party prep it is an incredibly luxurious experience to be shooed out of the kitchen and just be able to enjoy the event. And everything gets cleaned up at the end! Then the coach turns back into a pumpkin and the fairy gown back to rags, darn it. :)</p>
<p>Many caterers post their prices on their websites or will be happy to give you a quote. DD did some comparison shopping for her marriage celebration ceremony, and the prices were all over the place depending on the level of service and types of food. She settled for a catering training program run by a local technical college - inexpensive, yet the food was good, and the service was great.</p>
<p>If my folks picked the weekend before their anniversary or the date of their anniversary–DH and I will be there.
If they pick the next two weekends–we both have business things that absolutely cannot be changed without major repercussions…and we both have flts to business mtgs and won’t be in-state.
So I am hoping they pick a weekend we can be there–they say they want us there.</p>
<p>The hang-up—Is mom has decided to have dad paint the living room and dining room. Her bucket list includes finished decorating the house…
so the two dates which were in question are in limbo as to when the painting is done…</p>
<p>Can you and your sibs help pay for help with painting ? Oh my, I love to paint but to do so with a very ill spouse… I know it’s important to your mom to have it done. Maybe some budget could hire a competent helper to take the burden off your dad ( though if he’s like my dad, no helper is good enough…) Get the place painted ASAP would be my advice. (where do they live, I’m free this weekend and pretty darned good)</p>
<p>Agree with dragonmom about trying to get the painting done ASAP. It would be a shame to have that be the reason for you to miss your parents’ 50th, especially under the circumstances. Maybe letting your parents know how important it is to you to be there would help, that you really do not want to miss this. Maybe they just don’t realize how strongly that you really do want to come.</p>
<p>We did an event recently, the caterer included three people there cooking and serving, cleaning up, etc. It was fantastic. To give you a better idea, it was salmon and tritip on the BBQ for an outdoor dinner event plus there was a wine, cheese, fruit, antipasto appetizer area. The buffet dinner also included salad, grilled veggies, fruit, potatoes, bread, etc. </p>
<p>The first caterer we spoke to had excellent recommendations, but was just a bit proud, with the fee per so many apps etc. The person we used said no problem doing a nice event for $20/pp plus tax & tip and she really did a great job.</p>
<p>The linens and other rentals were handled separately. I borrowed champagne glasses from a friend who bought them at IKEA to have for events, I bought some white plates at the dollar store and borrowed some and I bought flatware from restockit.com for something like $0.25-$0.35 per person! I gave the plates I bought to the friend with the glasses, now she has plates & glasses & I hate flatware for up to 50 people, which we can loan out plus it was cheaper than rentals.</p>
<p>How many people are going to be there?</p>
<p>Our painter came the night before the event to do final touch ups!</p>
<p>Get recommendations for good caterers. We had my parents’ 50th catered two years ago, including drinks, service and rentals. The catering invoice came to $70 per person, San Francisco rates, for 63 people. Food was about 2/3 of the cost. Because we were serving alcohol we had to buy insurance for the venue and for the caterer.</p>
<p>It was money well spent. I have never seen my parents that happy.</p>