Lately. I've been lucky to have had a variety of events for my criticl care nurses chapter which has allowed me to pick menus and caterers for smaller functions and "test drive" them a bit, but not pay the bill personally! LOL, I spoke with a caterer today who is preparing a proposal for us for a cocktail party with about 150 guests.My food budget is aprox. $5,000. Some of the munchies we included in the "wish list" includes a sushi bar, seasonal fruit and cheese displays, jerk chicken sticks with mango peach salsa, ham on sweet potato biscuits, beef kababs; Asparagus wrapped in filo dough (forgot what goes with that) stuffed mushrooms were asked for, as well as a hummous bar with pita chips. I understand small shrimp cocktails in jiggers go over well. I am anxious to read her proposal and if all of it can be done on the budget I provided? We listed probably twenty items she could include and play around with to balanace the budget. I'll get her proposal on Tuesday. I can't wait! She can also supply us with a full bar (top shelf brands) at $14/pp, and they will refund unopened bottles and credit us for them. At that price it comes to $2100. just for the liquors/mixers. I think we can make a significant savings by purchasing the alcohol at the military Class Vl store. THe caterer has no problems nor additional fees for using our own obtained liquors. I would need some guidance as to what types of liquors to buy-what is most popular and how much to buy? The caterer will provide 2-3 bartenders for the event at $100/each. I think that is very reasonable. Ill share the planning stages here with you all (or what few might be interested?) as I learn and decide on what I want and what alterations might need to be made to suit the budget.
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
Hopefully things will go better for you. My wife and I worked for the US Army many years ago. My office had several parties. Some were at the local (military) yacht club, a few hundred feet from where I worked. My wife worked at the same (satellite) base. The person who organized the parties found that we could provide the booze, but had to pay the yacht club to pour it. I don't know if the bartenders wanted to get out early, or what, but they poured very heavily. I talked to a woman there who made three trips to the bar. She wanted a bourbon and mixer. The bartender almost filled the large glass (8 oz?) with bourbon, and then a splash of mixer. She couldn't drink it. She made a second trip, requesting a weak drink. She got the same thing. On the third trip, she requested just the mixer, no booze. She got it, and could drink it. That was probably 12 oz of bourbon just abandoned and wasted. I watched the bartenders, and that was what they did for every drink. Out of the probably 100 people who were there, maybe two could walk home. The others had to drive. That was pretty irresponsible.
In article <dabel-080EB5.08292411082007@c-61-68-245- 199.per.connect.net.au>, [email hidden] says...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
Caterers can certainly help but be aware that they plan for wild parties, at least in my experience. When we catered our wedding reception the caterer told us how much booze they were planning on and our jaws dropped right to the floor. We cut that in half and still had at least half of what they brought left over.
You know your guests - are they a thirsty crowd or more the sipping wine type?
"Peter A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
In article <dabel-080EB5.08292411082007@c-61-68-245- 199.per.connect.net.au>, [email hidden] says...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
Caterers can certainly help but be aware that they plan for wild parties, at least in my experience. When we catered our wedding reception the caterer told us how much booze they were planning on and our jaws dropped right to the floor. We cut that in half and still had at least half of what they brought left over.
You know your guests - are they a thirsty crowd or more the sipping wine type? -- Peter Aitken
Peter is on the mark. I still have remnants of booze left over from a catered do five years ago. Of course, it's mostly because I don't know many rum-drinkers, but still ...
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
I'd say the caterer would know, yes. But ask the caterer to help you end-run the caterer on booze purchases? Hmmmm. Also, would the base PX or whatever OP suggested would be cheaper (probably) refund unused booze (probably not, I'd say) like the caterer would?
-- Blinky RLU 297263 Killing all posts from Google Groups. Except in Thunderbird, which can't filter that well. The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html
"Blinky the Shark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Dan Abel said:
In article <[email hidden]>,
Goomba38 said:
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
I'd say the caterer would know, yes. But ask the caterer to help you end-run the caterer on booze purchases? Hmmmm. Also, would the base PX or whatever OP suggested would be cheaper (probably) refund unused booze (probably not, I'd say) like the caterer would?
A local liquor store we buy from frequently has signs up in the store reminding customers that they will take back and refund unopened bottles. So it's worth asking about.
An article I read a while back (probably in the Chicago Tribune) talked about how the trendy thing to do these days is to have a Signature Cocktail at an event. So at John and Mary's wedding they'd have something called "John and Mary's Nuptial Bliss" or the like. These are supposedly new cocktails, but I suspect that often they are tried-and-true recipes with new garnishes.
At any rate, a signature cocktail for your event might mean you could cut back on some of the hard liquor, since folks who would normally drink margaritas or old fashioneds might instead drink Critical Care Delights.
Booze seems to be always a problem. Sometimes it seems everyone is drinking wine and beer and the niext time you can;t get the martinis poured fast enough.
On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:43:38 -0400, Goomba38 <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
Lately. I've been lucky to have had a variety of events for my criticl care nurses chapter which has allowed me to pick menus and caterers for smaller functions and "test drive" them a bit, but not pay the bill personally! LOL, I spoke with a caterer today who is preparing a proposal for us for a cocktail party with about 150 guests.My food budget is aprox. $5,000. Some of the munchies we included in the "wish list" includes a sushi bar, seasonal fruit and cheese displays, jerk chicken sticks with mango peach salsa, ham on sweet potato biscuits, beef kababs; Asparagus wrapped in filo dough (forgot what goes with that) stuffed mushrooms were asked for, as well as a hummous bar with pita chips. I understand small shrimp cocktails in jiggers go over well. I am anxious to read her proposal and if all of it can be done on the budget I provided?
do i have to be a nurse to come? to the party, i mean.
An article I read a while back (probably in the Chicago Tribune) talked about how the trendy thing to do these days is to have a Signature Cocktail at an event. So at John and Mary's wedding they'd have something called "John and Mary's Nuptial Bliss" or the like. These are supposedly new
Man, even when I was drinking Far Too Much I would have drawn the line somewhere before any drink with "nuptial bliss" in the name. Or even "bliss" by itself. Bring on the sterno!
-- Blinky RLU 297263 Killing all posts from Google Groups. Except in Thunderbird, which can't filter that well. The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html
Dan Abel wrote: better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
Quoted message said:
Hopefully things will go better for you. My wife and I worked for the US Army many years ago. My office had several parties. Some were at the local (military) yacht club, a few hundred feet from where I worked. My wife worked at the same (satellite) base. The person who organized the parties found that we could provide the booze, but had to pay the yacht club to pour it. I don't know if the bartenders wanted to get out early, or what, but they poured very heavily. I talked to a woman there who made three trips to the bar. She wanted a bourbon and mixer. The bartender almost filled the large glass (8 oz?) with bourbon, and then a splash of mixer. She couldn't drink it. She made a second trip, requesting a weak drink. She got the same thing. On the third trip, she requested just the mixer, no booze. She got it, and could drink it. That was probably 12 oz of bourbon just abandoned and wasted. I watched the bartenders, and that was what they did for every drink. Out of the probably 100 people who were there, maybe two could walk home. The others had to drive. That was pretty irresponsible.
LOL... I think I can say from my experiences that that is an unusual experience? The caterer is fine with us bringing in our own liquor. The fee is the same. There is no benefit to them to make the drinks either too weak or too strong.
Peter is on the mark. I still have remnants of booze left over from a catered do five years ago. Of course, it's mostly because I don't know many rum-drinkers, but still ...
Felice
If we were planning on purchasing the liquor through them, they'd credit back to us any unopened bottles. I'll check with the military liquor store about the return policy on unopened bottles. I suspect there will be more beer and wine consumed than hard liquor anyway...? We're hoping to get a keg of Yuengling, and I suppose bottles of one other type of beer? Undecided at this point which one though?
On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:43:38 -0400, Goomba38 <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
I understand small shrimp cocktails in jiggers go over well.
Better known as "shooters".... I've never heard of shrimp shooters though. I'm only familiar with raw oyster shooters.
lol..last big work party I went to we had jello shooters! Damn those were a fun "blast from the past" treat and they went fast. I made them myself in fact.
The caterer says the small glass shot glasses contain cocktail sauce and two shrimp each. She said they go very quickly.
An article I read a while back (probably in the Chicago Tribune) talked about how the trendy thing to do these days is to have a Signature Cocktail at an event. So at John and Mary's wedding they'd have something called "John and Mary's Nuptial Bliss" or the like. These are supposedly new cocktails, but I suspect that often they are tried-and-true recipes with new garnishes.
She mentioned this, and talked about how the couples pick drinks to "match" their color schemes. I can imagine some of the drinks being downright foo-foo? The only drinks I personally can imagine serving as a "special" would be a mojito or something similar?
Quoted message said:
At any rate, a signature cocktail for your event might mean you could cut back on some of the hard liquor, since folks who would normally drink margaritas or old fashioneds might instead drink Critical Care Delights.
LOL... I can think of a lot of funny names for drinks if I was naming them to fit the assembled drinkers.
Quoted message said:
Booze seems to be always a problem. Sometimes it seems everyone is drinking wine and beer and the niext time you can;t get the martinis poured fast enough.
Anny
I hope that isn't going to be the case, but since you mention it I'll relax and realize that it doesn't have to do with the party planning itself as much as luck of the day??
Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
Hopefully things will go better for you. My wife and I worked for the US Army many years ago. My office had several parties. Some were at the local (military) yacht club, a few hundred feet from where I worked. My wife worked at the same (satellite) base. The person who organized the parties found that we could provide the booze, but had to pay the yacht club to pour it. I don't know if the bartenders wanted to get out early, or what, but they poured very heavily. I talked to a woman there who made three trips to the bar. She wanted a bourbon and mixer. The bartender almost filled the large glass (8 oz?) with bourbon, and then a splash of mixer. She couldn't drink it. She made a second trip, requesting a weak drink. She got the same thing. On the third trip, she requested just the mixer, no booze. She got it, and could drink it. That was probably 12 oz of bourbon just abandoned and wasted. I watched the bartenders, and that was what they did for every drink.
People are bad enough about wasting stuff that they themselves ultimately pay for. When it's someone else's tab, it can get disgusting.
Quoted message said:
Out of the probably 100 people who were there, maybe two could walk home. The others had to drive. That was pretty irresponsible.
I was a good boy on Friday night. I knew I'd be getting good'n drunk, so I took the bus there, and a cab back from the party I attended.
"Blinky the Shark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Dan Abel said:
In article <[email hidden]>, Goomba38 <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Has anyone here provided the booze for their functions and how did you > determine what to buy?? How much??
My suggestion would be to ask the caterer. She would probably know better than anybody here. Preferences vary according to location.
I'd say the caterer would know, yes. But ask the caterer to help you end-run the caterer on booze purchases? Hmmmm. Also, would the base PX or whatever OP suggested would be cheaper (probably) refund unused booze (probably not, I'd say) like the caterer would?
A local liquor store we buy from frequently has signs up in the store reminding customers that they will take back and refund unopened bottles. So it's worth asking about.
i once complained to a friend at the liquor store that i had dropped and broken a bottle of liquor. he said i should have saved the neck - he could have replaced it if the tax stamp over the cap was intact. but it could be that would mean he would just bilk his wholesaler.
in maryland (or at least montgomery co., which runs all the liquor stores), they don't seem to have the tax stamp.
