One of the more challenging parts of planning an event or party is the food and drinks menu. Your choice of food and catering styles can affect the entire mood and overall success of your event. Whether it’s a private or corporate event, you want to get the food just perfect.

We’ve put together a few simple catering tips and ideas that will help you to plan your next event.

 

Cater for all dietry requirements

With such a wide range of dietry requirements, it’s important to make sure that none of your guests are left out. The easiest way to ensure everything is perfect here is to send out a dietry requirement request to all guests well ahead of time. This will give you enough time to organise the requirements with your caterer.

If you’re unable to confirm dietry requirements with your guests, you’ll want to make sure that you provide a variety of options that will cater to everyone’s needs. Consider meals or canapes that are vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, and it’s also worth squeezing in some nut-free and dairy-free options as well.

 

Provide plenty of variety

We love to see events that have a wide variety of different food options to give guests plenty of choices. While not necessarily a dietary requirement, some people do prefer, for example, certain proteins over others or veggies rather than a salad. Offering up a range of different options gives your guests the freedom of choice and created an event that they’ll be sure to remember.

Having a buffet-styled event is an easy way to add in multiple food selections while also offering an additional way for your guests to mingle and get to know each other throughout the event.

 

Match your food to the environment

It might be a bit strange to have a 4-course sit-down meal at a casual outdoor venue or a cocktail service of small finger foods at an elegant restaurant. With that in mind, it’s important to match the food and style of service to the venue of your event, and perhaps even to the type of guests that will be attending.

 

Don’t forget the drinks

Be sure to spend some time selecting the best range of drinks, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic to complement the food and atmosphere of your event. If you’ll be hiring a caterer for your event, they’ll be able to help create a drinks menu to go along with the food. Here at Cupcakes & Canapes, we have a range of wonderful wines from McWilliams Wines and we’re always happy to provide a beverage package that matches the food menu.

 

Consider a cocktail hour to build the atmosphere

A cocktail hour is an amazing way to let your guests mingle, have a few drinks and enjoy some delicious canapes during the lead up to the main meals.

Most importantly, these are ideal for events where your guests may not all know each other. It helps to set the atmosphere, allow for chatting and introductions, and avoid some of the awkwardness that can come later in the event from not knowing one another.

We’ve been in the catering industry for many years and have helped hundreds of businesses and individuals create the perfect events for their guests. When hiring us to cater your event, we’re always available to help out in choosing the right food and beverages to best suit your events and your guests. You can reach out to us via our contact form, find us on Facebook and Instagram or give us a call.