Planning a Pizza Party

[petef]

Below is my basic plan for a pizza party for your review and comment.
Has anyone here tried this kind of party plan? I'd sure appreciate your
comments or critique.

About a month from now our family is planning a pizza party where each family brings either pizza, Stromboli, or desserts. About 4 families/12 people total will be attending.

I say forget about baking at the party site because they don't have the required oven or equipment. Instead some of us will bake at home and some will pickup pizza or Stromboli on the way over with plans to oven reheat just a few minutes to bring it back to fresh baked. We all have a 30 to 45 minute drive to the party site.

I'm baking pizza at home and have a 30 minute drive. I figure I can only bake 1 pan pizza and 2 fourteen inch pies plus I will pickup 2 more pizzas at a local pizzeria on my way over for a total of 40 slices (3.33 slices per person). Goal being to reheat within no more than 2 hours of the original bake.

Someone else plans to bake 5 eight inch Strombolis (3.3 inch Stromboli each person).

Two other people will bring the desserts.

I have a van, so I can easily transport pizza items laying them flat on the cardboard covered van floor. I can place 2 pies on 16" diameter aluminum pizza pans and leave the pan pizza in the pan (11" by 16" pan) but how to keep them covered for the trip, I'm not sure yet. Looking for suggestions.

I'm planning to reheat in a 500 Deg F oven for just a couple of minutes to bring the pizza back to fresh baked condition. Assuming that all the pizza will be reheated within just 2 hours of the original bake.

Desserts are easy. No problems there.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

---pete---

[petef]

Update:
Transporting the pizzas can be problematic when you don't have multiple pizza boxes to work with. I found a solution. The local party supply store sells 16 inch round serving trays made of both plastic and aluminum for about $2 each. I purchased 4 of each and plan to use the aluminum tray as the base and the plastic tray as the cover. I may have to drill some small 1/8 inch holes at a few points around the perimeter of the trays to accommodate twist ties to hold the trays together.

I also purchased from Staples office supply, a cardboard box 18 x 18 x 18 inches, which will hold the stacked pizza's. I can cover the stack with newspapers to help retain the heat. I originally wanted to buy a plastic container w/lid, but non of the stores I went to had any that would fit the 16 inch pizza trays.

I gotta tell you, planning a pizza party like this one has some unique problems. Some people wanted to bring appetizers, but appetizers don't seem to fit well in this pizza party because we have to eat right away in order to have the pizza fresh baked as possible when I arrive with the pizza pies.

---pete---

[Ev]

Next time, maybe try to find a restaurant supply store and buy a pack of pizza boxes. They're pretty cheap and you can get any size you want. You can also buy the insulated bags to keep them hot.

[petef]

Next time, maybe try to find a restaurant supply store and buy a pack of pizza boxes. They're pretty cheap and you can get any size you want. You can also buy the insulated bags to keep them hot.

I did check online and found pizza boxes but none were sold in small quantities. Then there is the problem of storing such large boxes or large quantities of boxes. My house is already too cluttered. For someone who has lots of storage space in their home, your suggestions are good.

On the other hand, the 16" serving trays I found stack nested and don't take up too much room when storing them. They are also washable and reusable. So hopefully I have a good solution here for the occasional pizza party. The 18" square cardboard box can accommodate Styrofoam sheets and newspaper for added insulation and when I'm done I can fold it flat again. I should be able to transport 4 or more pies with this system.

---pete---

[Micklin]

Would your local pizzeria sell/give you a few boxes?  Most will sell their dough, why not boxes?

[petef]

UPDATE:
Overall, the pizza party was a success!  The concept of making multiple pizza pies at home, transporting them, and reheating was only partially successful. I brought 5 pies, but we actually only needed 3 pies due to all the other food that others brought. Only the pan pizza that I baked turned out well enough to suit my own personal pizza standards. The other 2 round pizza's I baked became too soggy after sitting too long sealed in the containers. I had to actually re-bake the one pie about 8 minutes in an attempt to get the bottom crust crisp again and then it was way over cooked and tough. The rim of the crust wasn't even edible.

If I was to do another "Pizza Party" in the future, I'd only plan to bake & transport 2 pies maximum. I'd bake the pan pizza first and the round pizza last. Goal being to serve the round pizza within 1 hour of fresh baked. I'd make a thicker crust on the round pizza just because a thicker crust would hold up longer before getting soggy. I'd also make sure there was a preheated baking stone baking available for the reheating. The baking stone is crucial! Any more than 2 pies does not seem practical due how the pies get soggy from sitting in a sealed container for an extended period of time. It was an interesting experiment.

Pic below:  Pan pizza by me, Tomato Pie by Coreleone's pizza shop, Grilled vegis, Strombolis, Salad