EoFF Meet UP! (AKA the International Meet Up Catering Thrad)

[Jess]

I live close to London and the drink prices really do vary on what kind of establishment you choose to go to.

I think your best bet is a buffet. The cheapest way to do this, I think, would be to book & pay for a function room in a bar & pay for the buffet which the bar will then arrange. It wouldn't be anything extravagant, but it will feed people and the most important part of the event is to have everybody in the same place, right? Also bars tend to be cheaper for drink, unlike hotels. Hotels and wedding venues seriously rip you off when it comes to drink! I'm for the 'Pre-pay for the venue & buffet, and everybody pays for their own drinks on the night' type deal. That seems like less of a headache to organise, too.

In the UK, I have never heard or been to an open bar with a time limit instead of a money limit. I don't think an open bar is a good idea. Some people drink a little, some people drink a lot, and others might not even drink at all. I don't think it's fair for somebody who doesn't drink to have to contribute to the drink kitty when if they were buying their own drinks their evening would be considerably cheaper.

Also, I'll echo the ID statement. Even though you're legal to drink at 18 here, pretty much everywhere operates a "Look 25" policy and if they think you look under 25, they will ID you. I get asked for ID absolutely everywhere I go, and I'm 24. Typically, they'll only accept a drivers licence or passport, but I'm not sure about overseas drivers licence so perhaps a passport is your best bet.

[Shiny]

To be honest, I've done the whole - let's buy a bunch of food and drinks and then all dip in thing - and I hated it. I like to have my own meal of however much I want to personally have, so I'd rather just pay for myself. Yes, it's a bit selfish, but basically I'm not paying for you nerds. If I am feeling particularly nice I may chip in for a bottle of chamapagne or something that can be shared all around.

EDIT: If we do the catering/buffet type thing like Shorty suggested, I can chip in, but I hate that idea too unless you get duplicates of everything. I will not be happy if there isn't enough of something I want to stuff in my mouth. I will be hangry. No one wants to see me hangry.

[Iceglow]

Also, I'll echo the ID statement. Even though you're legal to drink at 18 here, pretty much everywhere operates a "Look 25" policy and if they think you look under 25, they will ID you. I get asked for ID absolutely everywhere I go, and I'm 24. Typically, they'll only accept a drivers licence or passport, but I'm not sure about overseas drivers licence so perhaps a passport is your best bet.

Plus that's only talking Pubs. Anywhere with a late license in London generally operates on the whole "No ID, No entry, you could be 75 we won't let you in." Though I've seen many of my friends from work whom hold German ID such as drivers licenses get by on those so if German, Nordic and French drivers licenses are fine, I would suspect a US one. Just make sure as I said you have ID showing name, picture, date of birth issued by a formally recognized organisation such as the US Government, even if it is only at state level.

[Shorty]

EDIT: If we do the catering/buffet type thing like Shorty suggested, I can chip in, but I hate that idea too unless you get duplicates of everything. I will not be happy if there isn't enough of something I want to stuff in my mouth. I will be hangry. No one wants to see me hangry.

I don't know how things in the UK work with portion sizes, but every buffet I've ever been to where we pay for head counts there is far and away a good amount left over for people to snag seconds and even thirds if they wanted to.

I will definitely find out before confirming we go to this method of eating, but to be clear, I am not down with us going to a bar/pub/restaurant and then dealing with fifty different people in our party ordering separate checks and having it all be a huge mess like that and worrying about space and everything. If we're all still hungry after the event, let's go stuff our faces with appetizers outside the event site! I really and truly think that having a mass food order will make everything easier for everyone.