Church Dinner.... Need help
 

We are going to begin doing a Sunday dinner once a month as a fund raiser for our Music Department. I have taken the responsibility of coordinating this each month, the more I think about it the more I feel overwhelmed about it, so I'm looking for some advice.
We run about 250-300 on Sunday mornings (I'm sure everyone won't stay, I hope everyone wont stay:runhills) we may be able to seat 100 people in our fellowship hall. I have about 65 people in the Music Department that I can use as rotating staff to facilitate the event and to bring food. I plan to get a committee together of about 5 people to help me over see things and delegate the work.
So I need some ideas on how to do this, from menu ides, serving ideas, should I have people bring food or just donate money for food to be bought, what's a good price. Those of you that have done this before or seen it done at your church please let me know how it works best for your church. I would like for this to be as organized as possible, but nice and simple is what I'm going for.

These are some of the menus we've used with our Young at Heart dinners-

Turkey (or chicken) and dressing
Mashed potatoes
Candied Yams
Green beans
Corn
Rolls
Choice of drink
Choice of dessert

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BBQ
Potato Salad
Baked Beans
Slaw
Buns/Rolls
Drink
Dessert
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Spaghetti
Potatoes
Green Beans
Slaw or salad
French Bread
Drinks
Desserts
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Boneless Ham
Scalloped potatoes
Choice of beans
Slaw
Rolls
Drinks
Desserts

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Chili
Homemade Vegetable Soup
Crackers
Cornbread
Drinks
Desserts

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Hamburger steak
Baked Potato
Salad
Texas Toast
Drinks
Desserts

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Chicken Strips
Mashed potatoes
Green Beans
Corn
Slaw
Rolls
Drinks
Desserts

some questions that might help us offer reasonable suggestions....

a) does the church have full kitchen? if not, whats available?
b) what kind of tables are available (long-tables, round, etc)?
c) what basic design of room (square, rectangle, kitchen attached, etc)

oh... and you could always buy a carton of the take out trays... and just sell dinners to go- then you wouldn't have to worry about seating people.

Dominos!

I have done many.

cost depends on what your market will bare. :)

We get as much donated as possible for the desserts and salads. The main ingredients like meats we usually buy and cook in the kitchen.

Spegatti is the most cost effective.

Also Chicken Spegatti is good.

We have round tables that will seat 6-8 and long tables that we could squeez 10 at. We do have a full Kitchen but it is small and would be crowded if more than 4 were in there at one time, the building is rectangle, and I would "guess" (?) the seating area is at least 20-25 feet wide and about 75 feet long.
We have had buffets set up in there in the past and it is always so crazy trying to get all those people through a buffet line, so we thought about having servers. Since we are going to do it that way I think the Menu should be simple so that there are not any choices except dessert and drink, they will get everything on the menu.
The suggested menu for November is Turkey w/ dressing and gravy, Mashed potatoes, green beans, roll, dessert and drink. I want the cost to be cheap enough so everyone can come but I don't want it too cheap. Maybe $5 or $6 for adults and $3 or $4 for kids 3-10, 2 and under free.

What do you think?

When we did dinners in the past, we usually made more money if we did it on a donation basis. That way, folks who might not have the money will come and give "something" but there were always some that would throw in anywhere from five to twenty to even a hundred bucks. Just something else to consider......

I'd suggest that you set up a donation jar instead... and have the minister announce that all proceeds go for the music dept. In our church, if people know in advance what the proceeds are going for, they will give an extra donation in support of the cause into the jar. We didn't charge per plate.....

You can stop anytime now. You're making me hungry!!