Family Dinner Menu Help!

[prettyinpink]

My Dad's birthday is the 4t. His girlfriend's family does big family birthdays but I have always done a birthday dinner for my Dad. So I asked all of them to come to our house. Eeek!

There will be 10 adults and 4 kids. Here is my menu, its based my dad's favorite things.

Spaghetti,
Salad,
and Garlic Bread.

German Chocolate Cake for dessert.

Do I need to do anything else?

[basilosaurus]

How early are they getting there? In my big (ha! there are 10 of us max) family gathering, we always get together around cocktail hour and have some kind of snack, and then dinner is an hour or 2 later. Yes, we're WASPs, what gave it away?

[prettyinpink]

It will be next Monday night. I would like dinner to be ready to go when they walk in the door, just because I don't really want any help and my kitchen is not large enough for 5 women! I guess I could have munchies for when they all first get here. What should I do?

[basilosaurus]

You can easily do all but the pasta and bread ahead of time, so don't stress about time. Sauce is better after a day in the fridge anyway.

For snacks, cheese and crackers, hummus and carrots, doesn't have to be fancy especially with such a comfort food menu.

[Deleted]

I'd do another vegetable besides just salad like asparagus. What could be fun is if you had a choice between an alfredo or a red sauce.

I'd go with cheese, crackers, bruschetta, and french bread slices for apps.

[Deleted]

I think veggies and dip or crackers and cheese is fine for a munchie, especially if people are going to be arriving kind of spread out. If everyone is arriving at the same time, you could do more of an appetizer. Bruschetta is pretty easy (and you can prepare the topping ahead of time).

Otherwise, pasta with salad and garlic bread is probably one of my favorite meals ever:-) I'd be really excited if I went to someone's house and they fed me that, but it seems like most people try too hard to do something that they think is "fancy." Blech. Pasta, salad, and garlic bread is always a winner:-)

[twoslicehilly]

A hot veggie! Roasted squash/ zucchini with parmesan is easy and yummy. I would also include an appetizer.

[kpol]

Caprese salad or skewers for an appetizer would be delish!

[bigmamma]

YOU don't need to do ANYTHING else. Have the girlfriend bring appitizers/munchies so she feels a part of the "big" dinner.

Everyone else brings a bottle of wine to share.

:-)

[verycontrary247]

Greek peasant salad! Super delicious and easy to prep beforehand.

www.thespicehouse.com/recipes/greek-peasant-salad-recipe

I use black olives instead of kalamata and add mushrooms. /drool

[livinitup]

Are you serving a meat like meatballs or sausage? It sounds delicious.

[decemberrain]

I don't think you need anything else. Try not to worry about it. I would like to say though that your Dad is a great man. (That may have something to do with your menu..)

[basilosaurus]

I agree that you don't need anything else. And I'm a veggie loving freak who normally has a veggie as a main, and maybe on rare occasion meat as a side, but I don't think a veg is missing if you have a good salad.

I was just thinking that if you were going to have people early to socialize, open presents (I'm sure no one is as insane as our family with presents, so that likely isn't a 30 minute ordeal), have cocktails, then a small snack is appropriate.

[prettyinpink]

Thanks ladies. I don't know how early people will come so I'm going to ask R to do a snack so she feels like I included her in this. Other than that I think I'll leave everything like I had planned. My Dad likes really simple salads, so thanks for the recipe M, but I'll stick to the basics.

[sookie]

We had spaghetti last night with green beans (our favorite vegetable), salad, and crescent rolls. I definitely agree with the others on adding a vegetable to the list.