Party buffet

I ordered for my 70th from M&S. Drove over to pick the order up first thing and was dumbstruck when this enormous tower of containers was wheeled out! I feared I’d messed up the order and put it through several times! It turns out there was only one thing in each tray so nothing was squashed! It was wheeled out to the car and packed for us. All first class and nicely arranged, I just had to take the lids off.

(Envious of the ceilidh!)

Have I spelt "hassle" right? It looks wrong! ?

I'll give a thumbs up for M & S, too. Attended a gathering where the food came from them and it was very good. Saves a lot of hassle, I think.

There will of course be a caller!! Lots of my friends love a good ceilidh, so there will be no problem getting folk up on the dance floor.

Looks as though M&S is the way to go; although delivery by Waitrose has a certain appeal!

I've always done the catering myself but it is a lot of work and you don't want to be too exhausted to enjoy the occasion.

jenpax absolutely no shame in not knowing the dance steps, but very many people are too embarrassed to join in as a result.

A good caller makes all the difference, it's the joining in that counts for a good ceilidh and anything that helps folk to join in helps!

Definite thumbs up for M & S. I gave them a go as they were cheaper than Waitrose and have used them many times since. If you order online you get updates on the status of your order. Very fresh and well packed too.

jenpax there should be a 'caller' at a ceilidh and, by golly, we needed one at the last one I went to

Wish

jenpax you should wis for an invite, easy to learn, and soooooo much fun.

A ceilidh sounds like great fun - will it be in a village hall?

I love a ceilidh in a village hall!!

Can we all come please (virtually, of course!)

We have used M&S on several occasions for party food. Ordered it online - some items need a few days notice- and we picked up the order from the store. Everything has been delicious and generously sized. My days of slaving in the kitchen for entertaining, when I can buy this high quality food, are done. There are often some offers on which help with costs.

I have ordered Waitrose entertaining and I have to say takes the strain and the hard work out of catering. They do sandwiches, wraps and desserts. However for OH special birthday I did have a catering firm in to do it, and they charged 8.75 per head. That was a while ago though but I under ordered per head, and it worked out fine. Oh, waitrose do deliver but need 5 - 7 days notice.

I was in M&S today and picked up the latest brochure of Food to Order.
Lots of choice for finger and buffet food.
We have a Simply Food ten minutes away and no Waitrose for several miles which is how I made my choice.

Ordering on line and getting it delivered is a good plan. Weve used m&s and Waitrose and found them both good but would go with Waitrose again as they delivered it to the kitchen.

I've had M&S party food and find it good quality and fresh with veggie options. What a good idea to have a ceilidh, hope you have a great time.

Sainsburys are good too think 24 hours notice

What a great idea! I too reach the big 7-0 soon and DH wants a sort of party BUT he hasn't thought about who is going to prepare the food [it certainly ain't going to be me!!!]. Thanks for the ideas.

I helped to finish some left-overs from a friend's M & S buffet and would thoroughly recommend them, especially the mini desserts.

muffinthemoo I am embarrassed to report that I don’t know a single ceilidh dance☺️ I will have to hope I don’t get invited to one.

I used Waitrose for DGD;s christening. The food was good and my order awaited me when I went in to collect it!

Gosh, I thought my friend's must be a one-off Coolgran65; I don't think they were charged for the food they picked up either and our local M&S Food was most apologetic even though it wasn't their fault.

DB and SisIL have ordered party food at Christmas and never had a problem.

I am sure the food will be lovely Luckygirl - just make sure that the order has gone through

Make sure the band have a dance caller, the number of people who can dance even the basic ceilidh dances is vanishingly small these days

Jalina1108 this also happened to my dss when he went to pick up for a party. They knew nothing about it and fortunately he had his paperwork with him. He was told to go and take what he wanted/needed/could find, from the shelves -- at no cost.

If you use M&S, I would recommend phoning them the day before to ensure that they haven't forgotten.
A friend used them for her DH's party and, when her DD went to collect the food, it had not arrived at their local shop. They had to rush around the shop and pick up what they could find.