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Our family has always hosted our annual Fourth of July celebration on the Saturday prior to the 4th of July. It traditionally features a massive water balloon fight, several kegs of beer, an amazing firework show, and most importantly, excellent displays of food. We always have something catered, usually chicken and various sandwiches, potato salads, sushi dishes, etc. One year we hired a pig roaster, and it was exciting, but simply wasn't cost effective at all. Last year, however, we decided to do a clambake celebration, and it was the best 4th of July party in our family history.
I would suggest going the seafood route to anyone contemplating throwing the sort of summer celebration that we normally do. True, it is never actually "cheap" to hire professional catering for a party. But, if you are already set with decision of catering the event, the seafood route isn't much more expensive than the usual chicken, potato salad, macaroni, etc, that caterers typically offer.
A couple hundred people often show up for our Independence day celebrations. Not all of the people show up at the same time, but they come and go over the course of the party, and I guess that 200 or more show up every year. For a successful clambake celebration, you ought to have at least 40 people show up. If you don't have that many people, you may find that you end up having too much stuff and not enough participants. When there are enough participants, it would be worthwhile to have a clambake celebration.
The food for last year's clambake celebration was provided by a catering company. The main attraction was the live lobster. Kids and adults enjoyed watching the entertaining performance of the chefs as they prepared and cooked the lobster right in front of them. The catering company also did a great job displaying the rest of the full menu items on rocks and seafood. In addition to the lobster, we were served clams, quahogs and mussels.
What we ordered was considered to be a "standard clambake" but they also had an option for a "New England clambake". Both were similarly priced, but I guess that the New England one had more local menu offerings for New England stuff. I was pleased with the one we ordered, but I cannot say anything about the New England style, because I haven't tried it (yet!)
Last year's 4th of July clambake celebration was so wildly popular that we couldn't dream of changing the food this year! This year's party is already fully planned, including the fireworks, water balloon fight, and beer that everyone enjoyed last year, and we can't wait for July to come!
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