Hi everyone. I've been planning a surprise party for my parent’s 21st wedding anniversary and its coming up Dec. 16th. There is going to be 18 people and I've never tried to cook for anything like this before (I'm 20 and yes I'm cooking most of the food myself!) so I went by serving sizes on websites like allrecipes.com where you can type in the amount of people and it tells you how much of everything you need. So I made four pounds of sausages for sausage and peppers and four pounds of chicken for chicken stuffed pasta shells but to me, it doesn't look like enough. I have croissant sandwiches and a shrimp platter for starters and those two for the main course along with a spinach salad and fruit platter and then a sheet cake for dessert. I believe there is enough food but is there enough of the main course? That’s my issue, but maybe I'm being paranoid?? WDYT?

The real reason I am writing though is because I borrowed some aluminum pans and stands with sterno holders from a friend but I was told there are smaller trays that are supposed to fit inside the aluminum one? Is that true? Where can I get them? Then she said I can either put water or ice underneath to keep the food hot or cold. Is that right? Any info would help; I've been running in circles since August trying to plan this by myself so I'd love some advice! Thanks everyone


Charlotte *