Whether you’re planning a wedding or organising a surprise 30th birthday party, catering can make or break your event. Between considering different allergies and catering to different tastes and preferences, coming up with an awesome catering plan can be quite overwhelming. But fear not, because we’ve got a list of awesome catering ideas to help get your creative juices flowing.
Mexican Merriment
Mexican food is flavoursome, fun and can even inspire an entire theme for your event. There are many different types of Mexican delicacies that you could serve but perhaps the easiest crowdpleasers are tacos and margaritas. You can have various flavours and types of tacos prepared beforehand and served on trays, or you can have a whole station set up where people can put together their own.
You can serve classic or frozen margaritas in cocktail glasses or even get creative with little mini jam jars. Just make sure you also have non-alcoholic options too.
Creative Cupcakes
Cupcakes these days can take all sorts of shapes and forms, especially when you get custom made designer cupcakes. They’re easy to serve, can make fantastic displays and can come in a variety of flavours and styles.
Colossal Customised Cake
Another great cake option is a giant, customised cake. This can be a fantastic centrepiece and could even be surrounded by designer cupcakes too if budget allows. Don’t be afraid to be bold with the design and to make a statement.
Sensational Sushi
Sushi is another great option for buffet style catering. Don’t be afraid to get creative with the layout and display as well as colours and flavours.
Brunchy Bits
If your event is during the day, why not provide a brunch bar with a number of wonderfully sweet and savoury breads, pastries and fruit? Again, this can be displayed as creatively as you’d like.
Classic BBQ
Nothing beats a good old BBQ. If weather permits, especially if you’re throwing a daytime event, the fabulous aromas surrounding a BBQ are hard to top! Guests can watch the chefs at work and it’s also a great way of ensuring guests are served freshly cooked food.
Mini-anything
Generally speaking, you can make a mini version of anything. From crab cakes, burgers, tacos and quiches to donuts, muffins and cream-puffs, there’s no limit to what you can serve if you just make a mini-version.
Burger Bar
Putting together a burger bar is a lot easier than you might think. All you need is an assortment of buns, a few choices of condiments like mustard ketchup and a few other items to add some panache like crispy bacon, onions, pickles, cheese and anything else you can think of. The hard work is done by your guests who get to build their dream burgers!
Grape skewers
This is very simple but surprisingly effective. It’s just a nicer, more creative way to serve grapes. You simply slide a number of grapes onto a skewer and display in a vase.
Donut & fruit kebabs
A slightly less healthy version of the above is the donut and fruit kebab. This involves sliding several mini donuts onto a skewer as well as a few pieces of fruit (such as strawberries) in between them. You can also go next level by providing a chocolate fountain for dipping!
Smoothie bar
This is an activity and a means of catering rolled in to one. Simply load up a table with colourful fruits and yoghurts and let people select whichever combination they wish to make a smoothie.
Conclusion
Catering doesn’t have to be a question of “chicken or fish”. With a little bit of creative thinking and some clever displays, you can wow your guests with food displays that are as fabulous to look at as they are to taste.
