The planning process
Yesterday's blog pretty much spoke to this phase. We had several meetings before the party to do such things as plan the menu, select Santa candidates, assign purchase and cooking responsibilities, etc. No matter how many things we came up with, it seemed there were always more decisions to be made and responsibilities to share. If Carolyn were a control freak she would have kept them all to herself or delegated out but with a very short string. She didn't do that. She isn't a control freak.
Publicity
Carolyn did most of the publicity with cute fliers and announcements in Sunday bulletins, etc. Justin surprised us by getting out a mailing the day after we had discussed it in the Activities Committee. He requested an RSVP by phone call or e-mail but most of the people still RSVP'd by signing up to bring rolls or pies. Of course that's not a bad way to track volunteers.
Purchase and procurement
Justin works in a situation where they make big purchases of food such as large roasts or 200 pre-baked potatoes. So he volunteered to help with the meat and potatoes part of the menu while Carolyn opted to take care of the salad and vegetable. Sign-up sheets went around in Relief Society and Priesthood groups where ward members coming to the party were asked to bring either rolls and butter or a pie or two.
That took care of the menu and procurement assignment. It is also a leap of faith that enough people will follow through so that there really is a party. The meat and potatoes was a key one and, having never worked with him, we weren't sure Dustin was as good as his word. He is. Carolyn and I made a couple of Costco and Sam's Club runs to pick up what we could there and then hit the grocery store a couple of times to get the rest.
Set-up
Carolyn and the committee had in mind that we would have 24 hours to get the building and hall set-up and decorated - until we found out that a family had reserved all the same area for a family birthday celebration. That squoze everything into a four-hour time schedule from the time the family celebration was through to when we started serving food.
We wanted at least one foyer to look Christmasy when people arrived so Carolyn and I decorated this tree the afternoon of the party.Table Set-up
According to the people who were signing lists or calling or emailing, the cultural hall had to be set up with as many tables as it would hold. It would be somewhere between 200 and 250 people. The end count seemed like it was just over 200 in attendance.
Things started looking much better when the tablecoths were placed on the tables.
And it looked even better when the centerpieces were put on the tables. This was another thing that Carolyn had arranged through sign-up lists and a little arm-twisting.
With so many projected attendees, we used both rectangular and circular table clothes.
Having the salad and rolls already on the table took some of the pressure off from everyone having to rush to the food table.
As it was, with servers in charge of handing out the potatoes and glazed carrots, and having two serving line, meant that the whole group was fed in the shortest amount of time I had ever seen on a ward banquet. We die the right thing there.Good attendance
We estimated the final attendance at close to 200 counting the number of dinner plates used. But there was never a line waiting to be served.
Food preparation
Carrot glaze
Salad dressing
Carolyn and I aren't used to large group cooking although we've done some at Baldwin Family Camp. She simply took smaller recipes like for six people and multiplied by 16.66 to get the recipe for 100. Here she's literally whipping up enough Caesar salad dressing for 200 people.
Meat in fridge
The meat (prime rib) came in cases of two 11 to 14 pound blocks of pre-cooked, frozen meat. We thawed them out in the refrigerator - actually several refrigerators as we purchased 4 cases, 8 blocks of meat. I thought it was fascinating that restaurants get meat like this fully cooked and then just finish them up. These were cooked rare so all a restaurant would have to do is warm them up to say 145 degrees and they'd be ready to serve me. At 165 degrees they'd be well done.
Meat on counter
Another view of the meat.
Portable Roasters
Some of the meat was cooked in aluminum pans in regular ovens but we also tried the portable roasters. We had three at our house - one of ours and two borrowed. One block of meat pretty much filled a roaster. They worked perfectly to get the rare prime rib hot and medium rare with well and medium well end pieces.
Salads
The lettuce was cut and divided up for each table. We put the dressing in a separate bowl but in retrospect think it might have been better pre-tossed.
Food Serving
Bishop carving meat
To add a little "sizzle" to the meal, we had the bishop and another member of the ward carve the prime rib and place it on the plates after people had picked up their glazed carrots and twice-baked potato. It turned out to be a bit of a bottle neck but it was impressive.
John Vranich carving meat
Entertainment
For Entertainment, we watched a play that Marilyn Loveridge had worked hard to produce. It was called The Rented Christmas, was well done and well received. And it included a lot of young people in the ward.
And, lastly, following some Christmas carols, we had the traditional visit from Santa. He welcomed each child there to confide in him what they wanted for Christmas and then he gave them a candy cane in flavors such as blueberry and cinnamon.
We thought it was a wonderful party but mostly we're glad that the Activities Committee won't be called on for another party until New Year's Day which is a whole 3 weeks from now. Yikes!
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