Guide: How many Canapes are enough?
3 MIN READ →
So you’re hosting an event! You’ve decided on having a House Party or you’ve locked in an awesome venue. *If still unsure on this, see our guides, ‘Plan a House Party’ & ‘Venue Selection’ guides!
Now for a few important decisions, and one in particular - the food! We’ve catered many events, whether at venues or at homes, and we find most clients struggle a little when deciding how much food will be enough - especially when it comes to Canapes. This is totally understandable, and of course we guide our clients with our experience, but the thing is, the best outcome is a joint effort - we don’t know your guests as well as you do!
Budgets aren’t endless (we get it!), and what you really want, is to find that sweet spot between enough food, and not overdoing it and over-catering! Right? It’s a tricky one for sure.
This said, we’ve outlined a few things to consider below, that we think will help guide your final Canape choices, and ensure you’re confident that your guests will be perfectly catered for during your event :
APPETITE OF GUESTS / Your catering team has done this many times, and has a lot of experience knowing how much food is generally consumed at certain events. However, and as mentioned above, no one knows your guests better than you! So if you’re being guided by your Caterers, but know that your crew are bigger than normal eaters - then cater more for sure!
TIP. Sometimes it’s better to go with your gut, and if you have over done it - then send food home with people, or invite some guests over to enjoy a meal the next day!
TIME OF EVENT / When thinking about how much food you might need, consider the time of the event. Will people have had lunch before, or is your event at lunchtime? Perhaps it’s after Lunch, and before dinner? Or is your event right on dinner time? We definitely suggest catering generously if you’re holding your event just in time for these main eating times!
DURATION OF EVENT / Think about how long will the event go for? Some events like more Corporate ones for example, it might just be a 2 hour event after work. Others more Private in nature, could go for 4 hours, 5 hours, or even longer! Ask your Caterers how long they serve food for, and how spaced out each item will come - you can often choose to serve a lot of food all at once, or space it out a little over the duration of the event.
TYPE OF CANAPES / There are Canapes, and there are Canapes! You’ll have noticed that some are tiny, and others are a lot more substantial. Do your research when choosing your Catering team, and have a look at their photos to get a good idea on the sizes of their items and this will help guide your decisions for sure.
TIP. Most companies offer smaller type Canapes which you might want to start with, yet also offer more substantial options too. If your event is a bit longer, you could offer a few more substantial items later in the event - to ensure guests are nice a full!
DESSERT CANAPES / We love a dessert Canape! You can serve these alongside your cake if you have one, and we find they just close off events perfectly. You might just select one, or ask your Caterer for a 50/50 option to ensure you’ve covered off a few flavour preferences.
FINALLY, OUR PRO TIP!! / Picture all of your selections on a plate! Think about how much you or the average guest at your event would eat during the time in which your event will be held, and imagine all of your Canape selections - on the one plate! If it looks nice & full - you’re well on your way!
So wait…how many?! Well depending on a few of the above considerations, size, time, duration etc - we would say anywhere between 8-12 is a pretty safe!
As always, we are here for you! Need some food, or event assistance? Let’s Chat!
See our other guides here, on ‘How to Plan a House Party’ OR ‘How to select the right Venue’ →