How many sandwiches per person at a wake?
Allow four to five sandwich quarters a head where there is no hot food, and about three where a hot buffet is going out alongside. People eat less at a wake than at a party and they eat in the first hour, so put it all out at once rather than holding half of it back.
Three or four fillings covers most rooms, with one that is not meat and one that is not dairy. Variety matters more than volume. Where families get caught out is ordering against the funeral number instead of the wake number, which is the next question down this page.
If anyone coming has a dietary requirement, say so when you book, not on the day. Halal is available at wakes and celebrations of life here, and so are vegetarian and dairy-free, but all three are easier to plan than to improvise.
How many people should you cater for at a wake?
Fewer people come to the wake than to the funeral, and the drop is not predictable. Some go to the service and head home, older guests in particular often will not manage both, and nobody rings to confirm either way. So give the venue a range rather than one number, and say which end you think is likelier. A room laid out to work for forty or eighty is a normal ask. If you are forced to pick a single figure, pick the higher one, because running short of food at a wake is the version people remember.
What to serve at a funeral tea?
Tea, coffee and sandwiches is the core of it, and it has stayed the core because it works. Add sausage rolls, quiche, a few hot items if the wake runs over lunch, and something sweet at the end: cake, scones, or biscuits. Keep it to food people can eat standing with a cup in the other hand. A sit-down meal turns the room into something more formal than most families want.
What are some good finger foods to serve at a funeral wake?
Things that survive an hour on a table and do not need cutlery. Sandwiches and wraps, sausage rolls, quiche slices, pork pie, cocktail sausages, samosas or pakoras, cheese and crackers, crisps, fruit, and small cakes or traybakes. Avoid anything that needs a plate and a fork, anything that goes soft, and anything with a strong smell in a warm room. One vegetarian option and one without dairy covers most guests without running a separate menu.
How much buffet food for 50 guests?
For fifty, a cold buffet usually means around 200 to 250 sandwich quarters, 50 to 60 sausage rolls, around 50 small slices of quiche, plus crisps, fruit and something sweet. It assumes people are grazing across a couple of hours rather than sitting down to eat. Base it on the number you expect at the wake rather than the number at the funeral, then round up rather than down. Those two work together, because the wake number is the smaller one and the rounding is what protects it.
If you are arranging one and want to talk it through, call 01202 144484.
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