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Organising Private Party Catering - Our Top Tips 21 Mar 19

As anyone working in the exciting world of party planning with know, throwing a spectacular private party comes down to an awful lot more than a handful of balloons and a jolly good helping of luck on the day. From finding the perfect venue to whittling down the guestlist (and everything in between), there’s a real art to creating a magical party experience. But a party just isn’t a party without some truly fantastic food (and maybe a little wine) to go with it. Private parties come in all shapes and sizes, from extravagant birthdays to small corporate gatherings and throughout our lifetimes most of us will probably be invited to a fair few. But when we think back to the those we remember, the ones that really stuck with us, it’s more than likely there was some fantastic private party catering at work tying the whole event together. Once you start looking around, you’ll find there are many party catering services available, all with really quite different and unique offerings. So if you’re thinking about your next big event but hitting a bit of a roadblock when it comes to choosing the right private catering, our top tips could just help make the whole process feel a little easier.
 

Setting Your Private Party Catering Objectives

If you’re a little new to the world of private party planning, one of the best places to start is to think about the main objective of your event;  why are your guests attending, what would you like them to experience and what are they taking away with them? Once you’ve honed this down to just one or two key objectives, the (sometimes) tricky task of choosing just the right type of private party catering services becomes a little easier. If you’re inviting guests to sit down, relax and share warming stories over a fairly long period of time, then you should probably be looking at some of the indulgent dinner party catering or fine dining catering options around. If maybe, you have some fantastic entertainment lined up allowing people to dip in and out of an array of delicious nibbles, then buffet catering or some fabulous finger food catering could be just the ticket. Of course, private catering can also be perfect for those more formal corporate affairs where an exquisite canape party catering service can provide a very welcomed icebreaker, bringing your guests a little closer to sealing that deal.

Private Party Catering With A Theme?

From ‘bubbles and bowties’ to ‘zombie apocalypse’, the opportunities for themed private parties are endless, and their popularity across the country is certainly not dwindling any time soon. When it comes to private party catering, choosing a beautiful selection of delicacies to rather cleverly complement a theme is very important. If you’ve chosen a ‘vintage tea party’ theme then your  afternoon catering could for example, include a few cakes decorated with pastel coloured frosting to match the flower display on the table. Maybe you’re going for a ‘down-under’ theme, where some deliciously authentic barbeque catering could truly complement this Aussie cuisine and bring your party to life. Birthday party catering is probably one of the most popular themed private party catering requests, and with the average cost of a children’s party coming in at an estimated £191, it’s no surprise that childrens party catering is becoming a rather popular request.

Avoid Private Catering Logistical Nightmares

Once you have your objectives and theme in check, it’s time to starting thinking through the logistics of your private party catering. Confirming your guestlist (and in turn the number of people requiring food), as early as possible will make the organisation of your event that bit easier. If you are going for canape party catering, you’ll need to think about things such as  where your guests will be congregating and for how long you will need the food to be circulated. Where bbq catering or buffet catering services are being used,to avoid any overcrowding you’ll need to make sure there is a simple system in place where people can choose their dish and swiftly move away from the catering area to enjoy their delicious food. It’s during this planning stage that point any dietary or access requirements should be very duly noted and passed on to your chosen private catering services, who will in most cases be more than happy to accomodate. When it comes to the venue, most places with any history of hosting private party catering will jump at the chance to make sure you don’t get caught out on practicalities such as access. Your party catering services will be well versed in working to different venue layouts, but it is worth considering they will need to be able to easily maneuver around the seating area whilst also having clear access to kitchen.

The Finer Details of Party Catering

With the logistical side of things in hand, you can start to look at some of the more creative aspects of throwing a truly spectacular party and the beautiful food your guests have to look forward to. Whether it’s an enticing spread of buffet style catering or intricately exquisite canape catering, some beautiful decorations can really help to complement the delicious and colourful food on offer to your guests. If lavish dinner party catering is on the cards then a floral arrangement could look amazing, however if you’re hosting  themed childrens party catering you may want to hire in some speciality decor (or have a go at making your own).To help the even run as smoothly as possible you may want to delegate some of the catering tasks to those helping out, such as serving champagne, manning the buffet or circulating canapes.

Private Party Catering With Elizabeth Caton

At Elizabeth Caton Food and Wine, our private party catering services will help you with all aspects of your big event, we would love to talk to you about how we can help serve food that is central to the celebrations, and work closely with you to design a menu that will excite you and all of your guests. Since we started out eight years ago, we’ve been offering private catering for events ranging from large banquets to intimate private dinner parties. Maybe you’re looking to impress your guests with creative canapés or an elegant and indulgent afternoon tea. Perhaps you’d prefer a more informal party with a buffet of colourful, generous salads, seasonal tarts, pies and  freshly baked loaves. Or how about a memorable barbecue spread, using the finest meat and fish from our local suppliers?

As well as the food we can organise the hire of glasses, crockery and linen, help you decide which wines to serve, run the bar and bring a charming, presentable and hard working team of waiting staff with us. Whatever the size of the party, when we’re providing party food catering we always take great pride in the quality of our food as well as our friendly and professional service. We always leave the kitchen in your home or venue immaculate, so there will be no washing up with a sore head for you the morning after. If you are interested in any of our private party catering services please do contact us and we would be more than happy to provide more information.