Moms Surprise 70Th B-day

Good morning - what a lovely surprise you will give your mum. We did a tea party for our mum when she turned 70. Finger sandwiches, fruit&veggie plates, scones w/ clotted cream and jam, and of course cake! If I remember correctly we also had brownies and other cookies. It's easy and not too expensive - we served punch and two kinds of tea. Have a wonderful time and Happy Birthday to your mum.

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What a great surprise for your mom! This is lovely. Some great things you can do are chicken salad with crackers, lobster salad with baguette slices, veggies, fruit and cheese tray, a wonderful cheese to serve is Bioursin garlic and herb. It's in the area with specialty cheeses. It is always a hit. The pinwheel sandwiches mentioned before are great too. You can buy your own or make them using tortilla shells, cream cheese and whatever other fillings you like. These should be rolled and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap at least the day before and refrigerated. Slice right before putting them out. This keeps them fresh and helps them set and stick together. I like to do cream cheese with chives, pepperoni and olives. The possibilities are endless with these. I also have a lovely recipe for a grape salad that is always a huge hit. It's basically grapes, nuts, cream cheese, powdered sugar...yummy. Just make sure to do a varity of meat-types, veggie, sweet, and salty. Sausage balls are easy and always a hit too. If you'd like recipes for any of these let me know and I'll send them to you. I'll need an e-mail address.
Also, if you need invitations take a look at my etsy shop for a beautiful invitation I designed for my mom's 60th birthday party:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12018816
Check out the shop for favors or favor ideas. I'd be happy to brainstorm ideas for you and make them or just brainstorm with you and you can make them.

I'd be happy to e-mail you recipes. Just let me know!

Best of luck!

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First of all appetizers are small amounts of food served before a meal, Hors d’oeuvres are small amounts of food served alone without a meal. When a meal is not served most people will eat more than 5 Hors d’oeuvres, usually more and then go back for more as the party progresses. People will also be getting hungry for supper during your scheduled party time. With 3 sisters to help fix food you are very lucky. With kids coming too you will need to think about what they want to eat to and fix different food for them. Have you considered pooling money and hiring a caterer? My house is a zoo too. I don't know if I could pull this off with a 4yr. old, 23 month, and 12 month old.

My sister had a surprise party for my Mom's 80th birthday and it was so fun. My mom went down on her knees when she saw all the people. They had parked at a near by park and walked to my sister's house. I kept my mom busy with an appointment at Wal-Mart photo studio taking pictures with my grand kids. The invitations said noon and we planned on getting there about 12:15 to 12:30 in case anyone was running late. One thing that happened we didn't expect was people called and asked if they could bring something. We told them if they wanted to bring an appetizer/hors d’oeuvres to go ahead. My sister used a lot of recipes for what she served from Taste of Home magazine. I was one of the first 50 to sign up to receive it and I still get it. There is also a section for food to serve a crowd. Here's a link to the appetizer search.

I also looked up appetizers/hors d’oeuvres for a hundred. Ellen's site gave some sound advice.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Search/Recipes/Appetizers

http://www.ellenskitchen.com/bigpots/plan/appetizer.html

Good luck and fun cooking....

G.

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Veggies are always good, with fruit! Or a nice Chip N Dip. A lite snacks. Meatballs in sauce, nuts etc... Keep it simple, they already had lunch. Good luck.

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Remember Mother will be 70, what was the last time she seen all of her family, especially those her age and over.
Does she have a sister out of town, even if she can not afford it how about you siblings chipping in for transportation. If there are others and you can afford it, offer transportation to them. I bet in most cases after the offer they will probably pay for transportation themselves. Remember her family is the most important thing.

My younger sister who just made 71 july 13th. so I had a reunion. No I did not tell any one it was her birthday so when we had it I just called everyones attention and started singing happy birthday. It was not important to those who did not know or remember, if was great for my sister and those who knew it was her birthday.

FOOD for such occassions is not important, probably many will bring food. If not chicken or anything else will do.

God Bless - Have a great day

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Hi A....I think appetizers would be perfect! Maybe a veggie tray and dip, crackers & cheese plate, a couple hot appetizers - mini quiche, etc...,nuts, finger sandwiches, maybe a warm appetizer in the crockpot...I'll look through my recipes for you and try to send some along for large crowds. You could order trays through your local grocery store or put them together yourself to save a little money. Just easy finger foods for everyone to snack on and enjoy the party. And most can be prepared ahead of time so the day of the party, just assemble and you are ready.

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Well it depends, you could have a pot luck and ask everyone to bring something, deli platters, lasagna, meatballs, whatever..just tell them to let you know so you don't get doubles. Or You can order or make Deli platters, a bread spread or sub roles, with chips and either a brownie/cookie platter or veggie platter with dips..:d hope this helps :D

C.

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Because of time of the party, it is really between lunch and dinner so you wouldn't expected to have a meal. If you just want to provide finger foods maybe Chicken fingers, raw vegetables, vege dip, meatballs w/bbq sauce in a crock pot (you can find these premade in the freezer section and just add the sauce), cheese cubes, cheese ball w/crackers.

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I table of munchies towards the beginning of the event and then serve your cake and punch around 4:00. Can be as formal or informal as you like - you know your crowd. Chips and dips, cheese and crackers, mixed nuts, fruit tray - might be fine. But you can make some very nice trays with fancier orderves if your going for a more formal event (think stuffed mushrooms, littled rolled sandwiches, etc..) If each of you bring 2 or 3 trays/bowls it should be enough.

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Just don't do sandwiches because they will get stale in a matter of about 10 minutes! Have you thought about doing some swirl sandwiches (not sure what they're really called), but you can buy them at Costco or Sam's club and they're really good, usually is a wrap with turkey and cranberry cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, yum! They are cut into about 3 bite pieces ... I've used them several times for entertaining and parties. Also fruit and/or veggie trays are always good too. Hop this helps a little :)
-M.

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My sister planned a potato bar at my birthday party. It was such a great idea! We had fun wrapping and baking them beforehand at our own pre-party! we had the potatoes in a pile and hot for the guests and all the potato fixin's laid out on a table where they could prepare them to their taste. I'm semi-vegetarian so it worked for me--and if guests who were meat eaters wanted they could use bacon bits. WE had other food, of course. We surprised my mother a couple of years ago for her 70th. Our culture prefers FOOD at parties rather than snacks so besides the cake and ice cream we've served the likes of gumbo, boiled crab and jambalaya which can all go a long way as well and can be made in large amounts easily. There are also shops here that will prepare them for you which makes it even more convenient.

I just went to a 90th birthday celebration Saturday and besides there cake and punch they had cheese ball, crackers, veggies and dip. It was very nice. Good Luck and have fun!

That is so sweet of you all to do that. I am from the keep it simple method so I'd suggest light snacks like chips, dip, finger sandwiches, fruit and veggie trays. I mean it's from 2 to 5 so some people will have had lunch and you aren't looking to serve dinner. So I say do whatever makes it easy and convenient for you so you won't be too stressed to enjoy this special event.

Fruit and/or veggie tray is a good idea, though we've found from many receptions etc. that people eat fewer fruit and veggies than they express enthusiasm for! Lil' Smokies sausages in barbecue sauce are always popular; mini hors d'oeuvres (like you can find in the frozen food section of Sam's Club), or cold sandwiches go over well. Or maybe bring a warming soup, like corn chowder or lentil soup. Congratulations to your mom!!

Hi A.--- Congrats on your mom's 70th birthday! It is so wonderful to be able to celebrate with her. You have so many options for your party-- 1. You could do a potluck and have friends and family each bring a dish. 2. You could keep it simple with appetizers--Sam's is a great place to purchase those kinds of frozen foods, veggies for salads, and fruit for a fresh fruit tray.

Good luck to you and I'd also like to mention to you that I create personalized DVD's with pictures and music for special occasions. Please visit my website at www.stcmemories.ning.com to view samples. This would be a great present for your mom for her birthday (prior pictures) or even a future gift of the pictures from her 70th birthday party. I will give you a 10% discount also for mentioning Mamasource.

Have a great week!

L. S.

It is great that you and your sisters are planning such a nice surprise for your mother. Since you are giving the party in the afternoon between lunch and dinner, you only need to serve finger foods with your cake and punch. A few suggestions are listed below, not necessary for all, just choose a few.
Meat - Chicken drummettes, meatballs, meat tray-Ham,turkey etc.
Sandwiches - Chicken Salad, Ham,turkey,roast beef, Pimento Cheese
Fruit Tray and or Vegetable Tray
Deviled Eggs
Chips & Dip

Just choose a few of these to serve, maybe one from each category. Anything you decide will be fine, just the thought of celebrating such a special milestone with family and friends will make the day.