Can someone please advise me about planning a birthday party for my mother?

Question

I'm planning an 85th birthday party for my mom. There will be about 250 people there. I would like to have a "visiting" time from 11 - noon, then eat and visit some more from noon until 1:30. Is that amply time or should I reserve the room for 11- 2?

Answer 1

I would go ahead and reserve it from 11-2. Whether or not your mom wants to hang around for that long, there will for sure among 250 guests be some people who will. Better safe than sorry.

Hope it goes really well!

Answer 2

you definately need the room till 2

250 is a lot of people for your mom to see and speak to and them all be fed too

Answer 3

Depending on what you are serving you need to figure out how much time it will take to get 250 people served and allow everyone to finish before you resume "visiting".  Give yourself the extra 1/2 hour as a cushion.  You may even want to eat at 11:30 as people may not be too keen on standing around for an hour before there is any food served :)

Good luck, sounds fun!

Answer 4

I agree with BlueSea ....  if you want 1 hr. for visiting time, then you might want some light appetizers to go with whatever beverages you're serving while they wait for lunch.   I'd have 2 hrs. for lunch, especially if it's a buffet.  People wander and socialize, and you don't want anyone to feel rushed:)  .....** E-mail the White House (seriously) - there's a link to have President Bush send a congratulatory birthday letter to your mom!  That's available for anyone over 79:)  **   And, if you don't have music planned, Big Band Era would be perfect!  Your mom would have been a teenager/20's in the 40's, and most people always love the music they listened to as a teenager.....