What’s your menu?

So no dinner will be served at all? In my opinion, heavy appetizers usually cost more than a dinner because you need SO many for people to eat to be full. Our cheaper appetizers were any of the ones without meat, but we only opted for one of those.

You should serve a full meal or change your reception time. Serving enough apps to fill everyone up is going to cost more than an actual meal anyway.

Our hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour were a cheese and charcuterie station, mini grilled cheeses, mini pork buns, and French fries. If your reception is ending at 7 you’ll need to serve a ton of appetizers or a full dinner. A reception would need to end by 430 or 5 in order for it to be acceptable to not serve a full meal.

It'd probably be cheaper and more filling for your guests if you did like an Italian restaurant catering with different pasta options/salads and bread OR a BBQ/Mexican place. You can usually find those catering options for $10-$20 pp depending upon what you select. The apps will cost more if you want a variety and you want them to be filling because they require more work and ingredients.

We can't afford an actual caterer, so we're going with the catering menu at chicken shack. For us to feed 75 people it breaks down to:

PARTY PACK #3Party for 75

150 pc. Chicken
6 pans Shack Potatoes
3 pans Cole Slaw
6 doz. Rolls
$436.35
(Under $6.00 per person)

I can understand why you wouldn't want to serve a full meal but like others have said it may be more costly. If you are going the app route I suggest mini sandwiches, sliders, turkey and cheese, ham and cheese, pulled pork, etc. Fruit platter, pasta salad or hot pasta like a ziti, salad station, meat balls, mini quiche, veggie platter.

An appetizer menu is fine. Besides what was mentioned regarding money, I wouldn't do that during any event that crosses dinner hours (anytime between 4-7). I would suggest that more for a reception that is early afternoon and ends before then. Otherwise, you're likely to have hungry guests that leave early for food. This was my menu, I had appetizers in the beginning of the evening, but switched into simple 'pick-up and go' entree.