Bday Party Prep Ahead

I'm trying to do as much as I can in advance of Carson's 1st birthday party next month so that I won't have so much to stress out about the week/day of the party. There will be 34-38 people there (including the kids), so I've got to prepare quite a feast. I've decided to go with an italian menu. Definitely a veggie lasagna in my huge lasagna pan, and two meat lasagnas in my smaller 9x13 pans. Hopefully that will give everyone at least one slice of lasagna. I keep thinking I should make a fourth... but think that might be a little overboard. I might possibly do a baked ziti or baked spaghetti pie to supplement - not totally sure on that yet. I'll definitely do up a huge salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, plus hard-boiled eggs, shredded cheese, parm. cheese, and croutons on the side. And some garlic bread or breadsticks, too. What else could I add to the menu?? I had originally been thinking about doing a minestrone soup in the crockpot, but again, is that overboard? Probably. I'll have some hors d'ouevres, too, of course. Probably a raw veggie tray with dip, chips and dip, and maybe spinach artichoke dip if I'm ambitious. So what do you think? Do I need more?

So anyway, I'm going to make up the lasagnas this weekend and freeze them. I went shopping at the new Meijer in Davison today on my lunch hour for the ingredients. I was not looking forward to the produce shopping for the veggie lasagna at a Meijer, but I was pleasantly surprised by this Meijer's produce area. It was so much better than the other Meijer stores I've been to. I ended up being able to get mostly organic veggies for the lasagna - spinach, purple kale, carrots, broccoli, leeks, mushrooms, and peas (frozen) - although some of the veggies are conventional - zucchini and bell pepper. But much better than I've done at Meijer in the past. I think I'm going to roast the veggies first, too. I've never done this before using them in lasagna, usually just put them in raw. But roasted veggies are just much tastier than they are regular, so I think it'll be really good. Maybe I shouldn't try something new for a party, though...