People today should avoid being wasteful of any kind of resources for two reasons. One, there are so many families around the world who have too little of everything, and throwing away possessions that are still perfectly serviceable would be an insult. Second, wasted things mean wasted natural resources. The more things people throw out, more raw materials and energy will be consumed again as companies manufacture new merchandise.

Such wastefulness is often demonstrated in a party. Just take a look at the leftovers that can no longer be served to other people for hygiene and health’s sake. See how many plastic cups, plates, and utensils are thrown out afterward. A single party can sometimes generate a week’s worth of trash for a household.

If using disposable party utensils cannot be avoided, at least select disposable party platters, plates, cups, spoons, and forks that will not add up to the pile of trash produced by the civilized world day after day.

Choose Pro-Green Products

One of the best things party organizers can do is choose utensils that are biodegradable. Paper plates, paper cups, toothpicks, chopsticks, and wooden spoons and forks would be wonderful alternatives to plastic ones. Everyone knows that organic materials will decompose and will later return to the earth where it came from. Plastics, on the other hand, remain as is for decades and can even contaminate water and soil as they are thrown into landfills and dumpsites.

If you’re worried about the plates and cups getting punctured, or leaks when wet condiments are scooped into them, stop. Some of these paper utensils are lined with foil so they can withstand sauces and moisture from cooked food.

By using disposable party platters that are biodegradable, you can at least reduce the harmful, long-term effects of the garbage you’ll throw out at the end of the celebration.

Choose Recycled Party Items

Besides making sure that the party utensils you use can decompose, they should also be made from recycled materials to begin with. It would be pointless to keep buying and using biodegradable products if the materials used for manufacturing them are freshly taken from nature. Carton will indeed decompose eventually, but if the manufacturing company uses fibers from freshly-cut trees to make the items, avoid the brand and opt for those that utilize recycled products for their disposable party platters and utensils.

Reuse Your Own Party Paraphernalia at Home

The only way that you can truly remain environmentally friendly is to simply reuse whatever party utensils and platters you have at home. Make a little sacrifice and just do the dishes after the party. If you do this, there will be no need to go and buy disposable party platters and utensils.

If you still need additional party platters, you can always make your own out of recycled materials as well. For example, the cover of a large biscuit tin covered in foil will work nicely as a platter for finger food or desserts. Just be creative when you make your own disposable party platters and you’ll have more fun in the process.

It is so easy these days to find a party tray full of delicious goodies. You can just go to your favorite restaurant and put in an order for party trays. This is very tempting because it’s almost always a guarantee that the food will be great. This is what everyone tends to expect from expensive catering services.

Unfortunately for most people, expensive catering—or any catering service for that matter—is not a luxury they can afford. No worries though, since they can make cheap party trays by themselves. They will also be able to save money by serving affordable yet delicious fare.

Fruit and Dessert Trays

One of the easiest cheap party trays to assemble is the fruit tray. You can arrange each kind of fruit, preferably the dry ones with skins like strawberries, grapes, cherries, and unpeeled bananas, in separate piles or mix all of them together on the bottom platters. On the upper tiers, assemble the slices of green and red apples, bananas, pears, and more cherries. Give the platter an exotic, tropical touch by adding slices of yellow mangoes, kiwi, and guavas.

There doesn’t have to be dozens of each kind of fruit. Just one tiered platter of sliced fruit will suffice. Just keep in mind two important things: incorporate lots of colors and make sure the fruits are all sliced and fresh.

It is easy to make cheap party trays full of dessert. Simply whip up some sweet and creamy concoctions and scoop them into small, plastic cups. Add bits of strawberries or cherries for additional flavor. Arrange these cups in a dessert tray or you can also assemble them on tiered stands as well, along with home-baked cheesecake, brownies, cupcakes and gelatin. All slices/pieces should have its own paper muffin cup for convenience’s sake.

Deli Trays

Meats, cheeses, chips and crackers are trademark cheap party trays. Stores like Costco and Walmart sell ready-to-serve deli and sandwich platters at very low prices. For only $35 you can already provide enough sandwiches for as many as 25 people.

If you don’t want to serve cold cuts for sandwiches, you can roast a hunk of meat and keep it in the oven until you can finally slice it in time for the party to start. If the result’s really delicious, you can even serve it along with the finger food.

Finger Food Trays

Speaking of finger food, these are very easy to make and you can truly save money by making them yourself. You can buy just one or two pizza dough and you can already make dozens of pinwheels. Quarter the dough and flatten them further until they are thin enough for pinwheels. Add the cream cheese, bits of ham, olives, peas or any other ingredient you want. Roll the dough tightly and then cut in 1-inch lengths. Pop them in the oven and voila! You’ll have cheap party trays full of finger food.

Note that this article aims to provide you with practical ideas for cheap party trays. These tips are not only recommended because they are cheap and won’t require hosts to spend much but also because the aforementioned are very easy to prepare.

Most people would say that it doesn’t matter where you put food or how you present them in a party; as long as it each dish is served fresh and everything tastes really good, guests will be happy.

On the other hand, we cannot deny that food presentation is also very important. This is precisely why chefs and gourmet cooks also study plating, or the art of presenting food in the most enticing and mouthwatering manner. Since we’re talking about buffets though, take the concept of plating one step further and consider an entire party platter or buffet table as the plate which you need to work on.

Decorating a buffet is actually all about playing with tablecloths, serving trays and platters. You will need to use different kinds of party serving platters in order to do this.

Steel, Plastic, and Porcelain

Steel party serving platters are standard and the most commonly used in catered buffets. Depending on the style of the platters and the kind of steel used (some steel platters and serving trays are dull, some have an impressive shine without being completely reflective), these party serving platters can either make a buffet look ultra expensive or very plebeian.

Plastic platters are like steel ones. While others have an expensive and classy look about them, some of them come across as cheap. Plastic platters are normally used for dry finger food, nachos, chips, muffins and pastries. White, black or transparent plastic platters might fit in the buffet tables of a very formal gathering. Colorful party serving platters are more appropriate for a more casual gathering, a children’s party, or theme parties like homecoming, pajama parties, summer parties and so forth.

Porcelain is more classy, although again, the design and appearance of the platter can either confirm or refute that. Since porcelain party serving platters are fragile, they should be used for adult parties where there are no rowdy teenagers or young children with grabbing hands. These are frequently used for hot food, soups, and other main dishes.

By interspersing simple decorations like slim vases with roses or tall figurines between these platters, you can enhance whatever theme it is you want for your buffet presentation.

Single and Tiered Party Serving Platters

Serving platters are normally singles, while party platters where food is displayed can be made with tiers. By laying out the food vertically through tiered or layered party platters, you can achieve two things: first, make specific food in the buffet stand out and catch the attention of the guests, and second, utilize the space of the buffet table far more efficiently.

It looks a lot better when you have tall party serving platters on intervals along the buffet table than when you lay out all the food in flat trays and platters. Naturally, only small pieces of dry food may be placed on the tiered platters (except perhaps for the melted chocolate, which is often served in a multi-tiered fountain).

By combining single party serving platters with tiered ones, you can make a buffet table look so inviting, guests won’t be able to prevent themselves from coming over and heaping their plates full.

It is important for any business to have an effective business marketing and promotion strategy. When it comes to catering services, there is an actual product or output that’s being sold. This is why it’s imperative to have high-quality pictures for marketing campaigns.

If you have a party catering business, you should set up a sample buffet table filled with the dishes that you are offering in your menu. Hire a professional photographer, preferably someone who’s had experience in food photography, to take high-quality photos of the party platters in your sample buffet table. The pictures must be able to showcase the art and creativity of the presentation.

Party platters pictures basically should make the food look very delicious and attractive. The photos can then be used for promotional campaigns, especially for the business’s official blog or website.

Increase Customer Interest with Party Platters Pictures

According to studies, consumers have a higher retention rate for products with a very good visual presentation. A good sales pitch can only go so far in convincing people to try out a new product or service. Once a photo of the sample output is provided and customers are impressed by what they see, their interest will rapidly increase.

Only 10% of verbal promotions are normally retained by consumers. This means that if you call your friends and hand out business cards to people you meet, you might be able to spread the word about your catering service; unfortunately, this isn’t a guarantee that all those people will remember what your catering business’ specialties are.

If you present people with your business’s party platters pictures though, it is possible that they will remember 50% of whatever it is you say to them. The photos will serve as a confirmation of everything that you say. When the time comes they will need an excellent catering service, they will remember your photos and, by extension, your business.

Use Party Platters Pictures for Promotions

We know that spreading news of a fantastic new movie, book, food and whatnot by word of mouth can be very effective. People may be swayed to try out something new if they hear many others talking and singing praises about it but that’s the problem right there. There needs to be repetition in order for oral promotions to work effectively.

That would inefficient though, as far as product marketing is concerned. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you can already make a memorable impression on the very first presentation? This is why party platters pictures are very important for promotion and marketing campaigns. As mentioned above, pictures of your previous catering work can help create a very good and lasting impression. If it is only words alone, people won’t be as convinced to seek out your catering business for parties. Party platters pictures taken by an expert food photographer will fill in where the words of praise and promotion fall short of.

With party platters pictures, you can make your catering business generate buzz not just over the Internet but also in your local community.

Oh, what a joy it must be to be a kid forever! They can find joy in the simplest things. This is why it is so much easier to organize a children’s party than any other celebration. They won’t care if the food prepared is from a party platter bought at Walmart or from a 5-star restaurant. As long as there are tables and chairs for them to sit on, enough utensils for everyone and yummy food on the table, kids will be already satisfied. They will often play amongst themselves anyway if there’s no clown or some other form of entertainment available.

Once you have the tables with matching colored chairs set up in the garden or indoor venue, turn your attention to the kids party platters. These have to be done with creativity in mind. Remember, kids are largely visual creatures. If they like the food they see, there’s a higher chance that they’ll eat it. Here are some things you can do to make kids party platters look more enticing to children.

Use Colors for the Food and Platters

You can never go wrong with making things colorful. Kids have a tendency to pick out items, including food, based on what their favorite color is. Since it is difficult to get lots of food in different colors though, you can instead purchase dishes that can be repacked into colorful food wraps or paper plates.

For example, scoop spaghetti into little, colorful plates and place them on the buffet table. Let the kids take a plate themselves if they want some. Wrap slices of pie or pizza in tissues of different colors. Serve cupcakes baked in colorful cups. Insert differently colored toothpicks with little flags on the meat rolls, chicken nuggets, pinwheels, quesadillas and other kinds of finger food.

There is another advantage to using colorful wraps in kids party platters. It reduces the risk of little kids making a mess on the buffet table because they don’t have to scoop the food into their plates all by themselves. The can just grab one and simply come back for another if they want more. This scheme also keeps their fingers from getting sticky, at least until they start unwrapping and eating the food.

Here is another suggestion. Instead of serving plain sandwiches, use colored and flavored slices of bread to make them more interesting. If you’re good at baking bread, why not make some yourself? You can decide which colors and flavors to use. You can also make sure the kids party platters don’t contain too much preservatives and food coloring.

Sneak in Healthful Bits in Kids Party Platters

It is very difficult for most parents to get their kids to eat fruits and vegetables. One way to get them to at least taste them is to present them creatively. You can in fact include fruits in kids party platters.

Start with fruits that many kids seem to tolerate, such as bananas, apples, grapes, watermelon and strawberries. Cut them in bite sizes and assemble them separately on a tray. If possible, use cookie cutters so that you’ll end up with different shapes as well.