<p>Given she used the word ‘pop’, I suspect the OP lives or is from the Midwest.</p>
<p>If you’re using an outdoor gas or charcoal grill, designate as head grillmaster someone who knows how to grill burgers and dogs without undercooking them or nuking them into burnt crisps…it’s kinda tricky getting the meat cooked properly on a grill. And don’t use chopped meat with more than 20% fat…too fatty and dripping fat will ignite into big giant flame balls. Have fun at party!</p>
<p>Hope your party went well.</p>
<p>Let us know what you ended up serving! Hope it was fun!</p>
<p>I live in Michigan, where any grilling party is a barbecue-- I’m not sure what barbecue as a food is. ;)</p>
<p>It ended up going well. I ended up realizing a few hours before that I didn’t have enough decor to spruce things up and called my coworker in a panic, and she showed up with better tablecloths than I had, centerpieces, candy dishes and candy, and she also bought spinach dip and hummus and the associated chips, crackers, etc. I ended up adding cookies, cheese and crackers, and fruit salad myself , and I’d asked the lone vegetarian what kind of veggie burgers she liked and she said shed bring her own so I wouldn’t get the wrong thing, then decided she was still leaving early and didn’t bring it. But she ate a lot of snack food.</p>
<p>I’m told the food was delicious, I really enjoyed it, but I was surprised to find not much got eaten. I had 36 hamburgers and 48 hot dogs (the way the Costco packages worked out) and I still have 24 unopened hamburger patties and more than half the hot dogs. The snacks got picked at but not a whole lot got eaten. I had three 24 packs of beer that was about 90% gone. I had pop and a LOT of bottled water since normally this crowd drinks a lot of water at parties, and nobody touched the water or most of the pop. We had three dozen cupcakes and maybe six were eaten. </p>
<p>The party started at 4 and everyone was gone by 7:30… I was kind of sad people left so early but it had started getting chilly and everyone left really happy… So I don’t think people left because they were unhappy. My mom wondered if everybody hit the beer too hard and ruined their appetites. I found it all very odd but everybody seemed like they genuinely had a good time and want to know when I am doing it again. (Never. lol.)</p>
<p>In terms of blending the families, the purpose of the party, I think that went well. All my bridesmaids got to meet and I got to bond with my future BIL and SIL, who are our best man and one of my bridesmaids. And I managed to get all the out of town bridesmaids to the dress shop before the party to get measured for their dresses. The families seemed to get along.</p>
<p>Sounds like fun. Hopefully you have the leftover meats in your freezer. Cupcakes freeze well too! </p>
<p>Four hours or so is just the right amount of time for a family gathering!</p>
<p>If you had gotten less food, folks would have eaten it all…Murphy’s Law!</p>
<p>P.S. sounds like you have enough leftovers to have a rerun next weekend:)</p>
<p>Four hours is really a good length for a party, but I can’t imagine any party around here where everyone was gone by 7:30! We are lucky to shoe everyone away at midnight! And that goes for pretty much any party no matter when it starts.</p>
<p>Em - Sounds like a great paty. Congrats. </p>
<p>For folks reading this thread and starting to think about 2014 grad parties, I’ll share my tips. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>It’s really hard to know how many people and how much they’ll eat. Many are party hopping. So for the hs graduation parties at my house we had catered pulled pork plus hot dogs (and plenty of extra packs of hot dogs and hot dog rolls). Dogs and rolls are fairly inexpensive and easily stashed in the freezer. </p></li>
<li><p>Finger foods work well…- devilled eggs, shrimp, pretzels, chips/dips, veggie platter etc </p></li>
<li><p>A graduation cake is nice, but a lot of people had cake elsewhere, so add cookies, browines, fruit, whatever </p></li>
<li><p>Yes… LOTS of water bottles (chilled if possible). If it goes unused, it keeps forever.</p></li>
</ul>